Occasional Evenings: Hangmen Also Die! — a Film Screening and Discussion

In May 1942, days after Czech resistance fighters assassinated high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, the so-called “Hangman of Europe,” director Fritz Lang met fellow émigré Bertolt Brecht on a Los Angeles beach to discuss adapting the events into a screenplay. The result, Hangmen Also Die! (1943)—Brecht’s lone Hollywood credit—has been described as “on paper, the most important film ever made concerning cinema and modernity,” and “among the most brutal depictions of Nazi occupation in a Hollywood film.” The film’s shadowy cinematography, shot in deep focus by James Wong Howe, establishes a noirish mise-en-scène; and its narrative, operating largely in accordance with Hollywood’s anti-Nazi propaganda strictures, bucks convention as its focus shifts from surgeon-turned-assassin František Svoboda—a traditional hero—to the collective Czech resistance. 

Join us Thursday, October 16th, at BISR Central for a special screening of Hangmen Also Die! Following the film, BISR’s Isi Litke and Jude Webre will explore its cinematic, social, and historical context, with an eye to our own: How do the film’s formal strategies invoke and eschew classic noir? How was it shaped by Brecht and Lang’s shared modernist commitments—as well as their embittered disputes? How has spectacular political violence historically related to collective struggle? What were the imperatives and constraints of Hollywood anti-fascism? 

The event—a complement to our course The Dark Totality: an Introduction to Film Noir, taking place in-person at BISR Central in October—is free with a suggested $10 donation. As always, beer, wine, seltzer, and snacks will be served. Seating is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP below.

Event Schedule

Thursday, 6:30pm ET
October 16, 2025

$0.00

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