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Locarno Film Festival · 2026

Locarno Film Festival 2026

Retrospective

This year's retrospective is titled Red & Black – Hollywood Left and the Blacklist. In addition to the features listed below, there are a number of shorts.

Programme

40 films · 2 reviews

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All Night Long

Over the course of a single night, an interracial marriage is sabotaged.

(Country: UK; Year: 1962; Director: Basil Dearden; Writer: Paul Jarrico, Nel King; Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell, Betsy Blair, Paul Harris, Marti Stevens, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Braden, Harry Towb, María Velasco, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Bert Courtley, Keith Christie, Ray Dempsey, John Dankworth)

The Amazing Mr. X (The Spiritualist)

A woman is haunted by the ghostly appearances of her dead husband.

(Country: US; Year: 1948; Director: Bernard Vorhaus; Writer: Muriel Roy Bolton, Ian McLellan Hunter; Stars: Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, Richard Carlson, Donald Curtis, Virginia Gregg, Norma Varden, Harry Mendoza)

Body And Soul

A small-time fighter seeks to rise from the slums to glory.

(Country: US; Year: 1947; Director: Robert Rossen; Writer: Abraham Polonsky; Stars: John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere, William Conrad, Joseph Pevney, Lloyd Gough, Canada Lee, Larry Anzalone, Al Bain, Steve Benton, Eddie Borden, Paul Bradley, James Burke, George M. Carleton)

Broken Arrow

A xx-cavalryman befriends Apaches and lives among them until white warmongers shatter the peace.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Delmer Daves; Writer: Albert Maltz; Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer, Joyce Mackenzie, Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Adler, Trevor Bardette, Chris Willow Bird, Raymond Bramley, Chet Brandenburg, Argentina Brunetti, Harry Carter, Iron Eyes Cody)

Caged

Women behind bars fall prey to blackmail by a lesbian warden.

(Country: US; Year: 1949; Director: John Cromwell; Writer: Virginia Kellogg, Bernard C Schoenfeld; Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorhead, Hope Emerson)

City Of Fear

A fugitive from a jailbreak carries a canister he believes contains heroin – but it instead holds deadly radioactive material. Authorities are desperate to catch him as he poses a deadly risk.

(Country: US; Year: 1959; Director: Irving Lerner; Writer: Robert Dillon, Steven Ritch; Stars: Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer, Steven Ritch, Patricia Blair, Kelly Thordsen, Joseph Mell, Sherwood Price, Kathie Browne, Larry J. Blake, Jean Harvey, Kenner G. Kemp, Michael Mark, Vic Perrin)

Crossfire

A group of friends hunt for their amnesiac friend so they can clear him of a murder charge.

(Country: US; Year: 1947; Director: Edward Dmytryk; Writer: John Paxton, based on the novel by Richard Brooks; Stars: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, George Cooper, Richard Benedict, Tom Keene, William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer, Robert Bray)

Dangerous Citizen: The Life And Times Of Abraham Polonsky

Portrait of the blacklisted writer/director.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Steven C Smith)

Force Of Evil

A corrupt lawyer aids gangsters who prey on small businesses – until his own brother's bank becomes the target.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Abraham Polonsky; Writer: Abraham Polonsky, Ira Wolfert; Stars: John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Marie Windsor, Howland Chamberlain, Roy Roberts, Paul Fix, Stanley Prager, Barry Kelley, Paul McVey, Beatrice Pearson, Arthur O'Connell, Georgia Backus, Margaret Bert, Estelle Etterre, Sherry Hall)

The Front

A cashier poses as a front for blacklisted talents but he soon feels pushed to take a stand.

(Country: US; Year: 1976; Director: Martin Ritt; Writer: Walter Bernstein; Stars: Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy, Andrea Marcovicci, Remak Ramsay, Marvin Lichterman, Lloyd Gough, David Margulies, Joshua Shelley, Norman Rose, Charles Kimbrough, Josef Sommer, Danny Aiello, Georgann Johnson)

He Ran All The Way

A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl's apartment.

(Country: US; Year: 1951; Director: John Berry; Writer: Dalton Trumbo, Hugo Butler, Guy Endore; Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle, Gladys George, Norman Lloyd, Robert Hyatt, Clancy Cooper, Vici Raaf, Keith Hetherington, Robert Karnes, Jimmy Ames, Gordon Armitage, Arthur Berkeley, Willie Bloom)

He Who Must Die (Celui qui doit mourir)

When a stuttering shepherd is cast as Christ in the annual Passion Play, events begin to mirror those of 2,000 years ago.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 1957; Director: Jules Dassin; Writer: Ben Barzman, Jules Dassin, André Obey; Stars: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Grégoire Aslan, Gert Fröbe, Melina Mercouri, Pierre Vaneck, Maurice Ronet, Roger Hanin, René Lefèvre, Fernand Ledoux, Nicole Berger, Teddy Bilis, Lucien Raimbourg, Dimos Starenios)

High Noon

A US marshal who, on his wedding day, must decide whether to face a ruthless gang alone or run away with his new bride.

(Country: US; Year: 1952; Director: Fred Zinnemann; Writer: Carl Foreman; Stars: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace Kelly, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr., Harry Morgan, Ian MacDonald, Eve McVeagh, Morgan Farley, Harry Shannon, Lee Van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, Sheb Wooley)

The Hollywood Blacklist: The Survivors Tell Their Stories

Featuring previously unseen footage from an early-1980s Los Angeles party honouring those on the blacklist.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Marie-Dominique Montel, Christopher Jones)

Hollywood On Trial

Early documentary about McCarthyism and the blacklist.

(Country: US; Year: 1976; Director: David Helpern; Stars: John Huston)

The Intimate Stranger (Finger of Guilt)

An American writer who has fled to Britain struggles to clear his name.

(Country: UK; Year: 1956; Director: Joseph Losey; Writer: Howard Koch; Stars: Richard Basehart, Mary Murphy, Constance Cummings, Roger Livesey, Faith Brook, Mervyn Johns)

A King In New York

A deposed European king in New York becomes a reluctant celebrity.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 1957; Director: Charlie Chaplin; Writer: Charlie Chaplin; Stars: Charlie Chaplin, Maxine Audley, Jerry Desmonde, Oliver Johnston, Dawn Addams, Sidney James, Joan Ingram, Michael Chaplin, John McLaren, Phil Brown, Harry Green, Robert Arden, Alan Gifford, Robert Cawdron, George Woodbridge)

Mission To Moscow

An ambassador is sent to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.

(Country: US; Year: 1943; Director: Michael Curtiz; Writer: Howard Koch; Stars: Walter Huston, Ann Harding, Oskar Homolka, George Tobias, Gene Lockhart, Eleanor Parker, Richard Travis, Helmut Dantine, Victor Francen, Henry Daniell, Barbara Everest, Dudley Field Malone, Roman Bohnen, Maria Palmer, Moroni Olsen)

Mr Lucky

A conman finds himself changing his ways after he falls for a charity worker.

(Country: US; Year: 1943; Director: HC Potter; Writer: Milton Holmes, Adrian Scott; Stars: Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper, Alan Carney, Henry Stephenson, Paul Stewart, Kay Johnson, Erford Gage, Walter Kingsford, Florence Bates, Sam Ash, Edwin August, Walter Bacon, John Bleifer)

Native Son

Heavily censored upon its initial American release, French director Pierre Chenal’s provocative adaptation of Richard Wright’s controversial bestseller has been fully restored to its original 104-minute running time.

(Country: US, Argentina; Year: 1951; Director: Pierre Chenal; Writer: Pierre Chenal, Richard Wright; Stars: Richard Wright, Gloria Madison, Willa Pearl Curtis, Nicholas Joy, Ruth Robert, Charles Cane, George D. Green, Jean Wallace, George Rigaud, Leslie Straugh, Lidia Alves, Charles Simmonds, Ned Campbell, Don Dean, Cecile Lezard)

None But The Lonely Heart

A Cockney returns home to help his sickly mother but they're tempted to turn to crime.

(Country: US; Year: 1944; Director: Clifford Odets; Writer: Clifford Odets; Stars: Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, Barry Fitzgerald, June Duprez, Jane Wyatt, George Coulouris, Dan Duryea, Roman Bohnen, Konstantin Shayne, Colin Kenny)

The North Star

A Ukrainian village fights against the Nazis.

(Country: US; Year: 1943; Director: Lewis Milestone; Writer: Lillian Hellman; Stars: Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan, Ann Harding, Jane Withers, Farley Granger, Erich von Stroheim, Dean Jagger, Eric Roberts, Carl Benton Reid, Ann Carter, Esther Dale, Ruth Nelson, Paul Guilfoyle)

Not Wanted

An unwed mother is compelled to kidnap by guilt.

(Country: US; Year: 1949; Director: Elmer Clifton, Ida Lupino; Writer: Paul Jarrico, Ida Lupino; Stars: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Dorothy Adams, Wheaton Chambers, Rita Lupino, Audrey Farr, Carole Donne, Ruth Clifford, Ruthelma Stevens, Virginia Mullen, Marie Harmon, Roger Anderson, Gregg Barton, Charles Seel)

On The Waterfront

An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.

(Country: US; Year: 1954; Director: Elia Kazan; Writer: Budd Schulberg; Stars: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning)

Point of Order!

Searing expose of the controversial 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings in a landmark political documentary edited from live TV recordings.

(Country: USA; Year: 1964; Director: Emile de Antonio, Dan Talbot; Writer: Robert Duncan)

Red Hollywood

Review preview for Red Hollywood

For an outsider, it's hard to imagine a country growing up without these narratives.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A documentary about the films caught up in Hollywood's hunt for Communist infiltrators.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Thom Andersen, Noël Burch; Writer: Thom Andersen, Noël Burch; Stars: Abraham Polonsky, Paul Jarrico, Billy Woodberry, Alfred Lewis Levitt)

Full review

Ruthless

A ruthless financier sees old resentments rekindled in this noir.

(Country: US; Year: 1948; Director: Edgar G Ulmer; Writer: Gordon Kahn, SK Lauren, Alvah Bessie; Stars: Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer, Martha Vickers, Dennis Hoey, Edith Barrett, Raymond Burr, Joyce Arling, Charles Evans, Robert J Anderson, Arthur Stone, Ann Carter, Edna Holland)

Salt Of The Earth

Docudrama, follows a New Mexico mining community on strike and the women who rise up when the men cannot protest.

(Country: US; Year: 1954; Director: Herbert J Biberman; Writer: Michael Wilson; Stars: Rosaura Revueltas, Juan Chacón, Will Geer, David Bauer, Mervin Williams, David Sarvis, Clinton Jencks, Virginia Jencks, Henrietta Williams, Ernesto Velázquez, Ángela Sánchez, Joe T. Morales, Clorinda Alderette, Charles Coleman, Víctor Torres)

Shakedown

A ruthless photographer will stop at nothing to get on but when he charms a crime boss trouble ensues.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Joseph Pevney; Writer: Alfred Lewis Levitt, Martin Goldsmith; Stars: Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett, Anne Vernon, Jack Reitzen, Peter Virgo, Charles Sherlock, Elsie Baker, Ralph Brooks, Douglas Carter, Peggie Castle, Jack Chefe, Chester Conklin)

Silver Lode

On his wedding day, a man is accused of murder and must prove his innocence.

(Country: US; Year: 1954; Director: Allan Dwan; Writer: Karen DeWolf; Stars: John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran, Emile Meyer, Robert Warwick, John Hudson, Harry Carey, Jr., Alan Hale Jr., Stuart Whitman, Frank Sully, Morris Ankrum, Hugh Sanders, Florence Auer, Roy Gordon)

Smash Up: The Story Of A Woman

A nightclub singer turns to alcohol to cope with her turbulent life.

(Country: US; Year: 1947; Director: Stuart Heisler; Writer: John Howard Lawson; Stars: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Marsha Hunt, Eddie Albert, Carl Esmond, Carleton Young, Charles D. Brown, Janet Murdoch, Sharyn Payne, Robert Shayne, Larry J. Blake, George Meeker, Erville Alderson, George Meader, Ruth Sanderson)

The Sound Of Fury (Try And Get Me!)

A desperate family man finds himself encouraged to become a criminal.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Cy Endfield; Writer: Jo Pagano, Cy Endfield; Stars: Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson, Lloyd Bridges, Katherine Locke, Adele Jergens, Art Smith, Renzo Cesana, Irene Vernon, Cliff Clark, Harry Shannon, Donald Smelick, Robert Altuna, Frank Baker, Jane Easton)

Spain Again

A neurosurgeon returns to Spain after 30 years to revisit the people and places he fought for during the Civil War.

(Country: Spain; Year: 1969; Director: Jaime Camino; Writer: Alvah Bessie, Jaime Camino, Román Gubern; Stars: Manuela Vargas, Mark Stevens, Marianne Koch, Alberto Berco, Luis Ciges, Francisco Rabal, Pere Portabella, Manuel Muñiz, Luis Serret, Enrique Giménez 'El Cojo', Joaquín Pujol, Alberto Puig, Flor de Bethania Abreu, Alvah Bessie, Manolo Brenes)

Stranger On The Prowl

A man accused of murder goes on the run, taking a young thief with him.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1952; Director: Joseph Losey; Writer: Ben Barzman; Stars: Paul Muni, Joan Lorring, Vittorio Manunta, Luisa Rossi, Aldo Silvani, Arnoldo Foà, Alfredo Varelli, Héléna Manson, Enrico Glori, Franco Balducci, Leonardo Scavino, Linda Sini, Giulio Marchetti, Giuseppe Addobbati, Henri Alekan)

Tender Comrade

With their men drafted, factory women band together to live collectively.

(Country: US; Year: 1944; Director: Edward Dmytryk; Writer: Dalton Trumbo; Stars: Ginger Rogers, Robert Ryan, Ruth Hussey, Patricia Collinge, Mady Christians, Kim Hunter, Jane Darwell, Richard Martin, Robert J. Anderson, Patti Brill, Donald Davis, Edward Fielding, Mary Forbes, Richard Gaines, Freddie Mercer)

Thieves' Highway

A GI returns home and determines to go on a mission of vengeance over his father, who was crippled in an accident.

(Country: US; Year: 1949; Director: Jules Dassin; Writer: AI Bezzerides; Stars: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell, Joseph Pevney, Morris Carnovsky, Tamara Shayne, Kasia Orzazewski, Norbert Schiller, Hope Emerson, Percy Helton, Walter Baldwin, Robert Bice)

Welcome Mr Marshall! (Bienvenido Mr Marshall!)

Review preview for Welcome Mr Marshall!

A lot of the film's subversiveness comes from the juxtaposition between what the narrator says (and you can almost hear the chuckle in Rey's voice) and what we see.

Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
A small Spanish village is thrown into disarray by the news that a delegation of Americans is on its way, bringing the possibility of untold riches.

(Country: Spain; Year: 1953; Director: Luis García Berlanga; Writer: Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis García Berlanga, Miguel Mihura; Stars: José Isbert, Fernando Rey, Lolita Sevilla, Elvira Quintillá, Manolo Morán, Alberto Romea, Luis Pérez de León)

Full review

We Were Strangers

Cuban revolutionaries plot to kill a dictator.

(Country: US; Year: 1949; Director: John Huston; Writer: Peter Viertel, John Huston; Stars: Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armendáriz, Gilbert Roland, Ramon Novarro, Wally Cassell, David Bond, José Pérez, Morris Ankrum, Lelia Goldoni, John Huston, Roberta Haynes, Mimi Aguglia, Ted Hecht, Loretta Russell)

Woman In Hiding

A woman marries for love... but discovers her husband married for money and that her life is at risk.

(Country: US; Year: 1950; Director: Michael Gordon; Writer: Oscar Saul; Stars: Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff, Peggy Dow, John Litel, Taylor Holmes, Irving Bacon, Don Beddoe, Joe Besser, Fred Aldrich, Gertrude Astor, Ralph Brooks, Morgan Brown, Peggie Castle, Angela Clarke)

The Young One (La joven)

A jazz musician on the run finds himself observing a lecherous game warden and the teenage girl he has taken in.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 1960; Director: Luis Buñuel; Writer: Luis Buñuel, Hugo Butler; Stars: Zachary Scott, Bernie Hamilton, Key Meersman, Crahan Denton, Claudio Brook)