Empire State Building Murders

In December 2007, a letter turned up at a post office in New York City that a certain Penny Baxter had written to Jim Kowalski back in 1949. She claimed that her husband, Mafia boss Tony Carlucci, wanted to murder her. For the elderly Jim Kowalski, this letter brings back a lot of memories. He's one of the few people left who experienced from up close how the love between an ambitious girl and her Mafia boss-boyfriend was doomed to failure, and how lots of heads rolled in the wake of history. Empire State Building Murders is an ode to American film noir, a feature film dressed up like a documentary. Director William Karel edited countless film excerpts from old classics into a black-and-white drama in which the Empire State Building plays a key role. Using material from such classics as The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Casablanca and Gun Crazy, Karel also got real actors from the 1930s and 1940s to play characters in his 2008 Mafia drama. Living legends like Kirk Douglas and Ben Gazzara talk about the past, in which Lauren Bacall is Penny, and even Humphrey Bogart comes along for the ride. Completely in the style of the time, we also hear dialogue like "They split up just before midnight," and "That girl was trouble. She had a pair of knockers that would stop your heart." (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)