Hail Barbara Stanwyck!

A festival honoring Barbara Stanwyck starts Wednesday at BAM. Brooklyn’s own Ruby Stevens was born July 16, 1907 and rose the ranks in films from snappy pr-Code comedies like Baby Face and Frank Capra movies like Meet John Doe to stunning performances in Ball Of Fire, The Lady Eve, Double Indemnity and Sorry Wrong Number. She never gave a bad performance. Read Anthony Lane’s terrific piece on her, “Lady Be Good,” in this week’s New Yorker. What pleases me about the festival is that they’re including her last theatrical film on May 6th -- William Castle’s 1964 The Night Walker, co-starring her husband Robert Taylor, about a woman’s repeated nightmares which seem all too real. It’s campy and wonderful. Watch this trailer for it and see if you don’t agree. Hail Stanwyck!