The joint will be jumping when the venerable NOIR CITY film festival kicks out the jams at the Grand Lake Theatre, January 16–25, 2026, with an exciting 10-day program of crime and mystery films featuring . . . musicians! From early examples of Hollywood noir like Blues in the Night (1941) to jazz-fueled sixties’ gems like All Night Long (1962) and A Man Called Adam (1966), the movies feature genuine musical legends performing alongside film noir favorites including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Kirk Douglas, Ann Sheridan, and Robert Mitchum.
Among the real-life musicians appearing onscreen at NOIR CITY 23: Elvis Presley, Doris Day, Louis Armstrong, Keely Smith, Dexter Gordon, Ella Fitzgerald, Hoagy Carmichael, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peggy Lee, Oscar Levant, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Mingus, and many more.
“Back in the 1940s, nightclubs and jazz played a significant role in creating the noir vibe,” explains festival founder and host Eddie Muller. “So, it was fun to craft a program in which music plays a role in every story, either through the setting or because the characters are musicians.”
As he usually does, Muller balances the roster between established classics (To Have and Have Not (1944), Gilda (1946), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), and seldom-screened titles like The Strip (1951), The Crimson Canary (1945), and Face the Music (aka The Black Glove), a 1954 British rarity that provided the “kicker” for this year’s festival.
Muller acknowledges that some of this year’s offerings veer outside the proscribed boundaries of noir, but he offers no apologies: “Jazz is America’s greatest contribution to the twentieth century,” he declares, “and mixing it up with film noir is a perfect way to showcase the music for a younger generation. The stories may be dark and depressing, but the music always soars.”
Many of the films on the schedule are fictions in which music plays a major part; others are based on actual performers, like the 1955 Doris Day vehicle Love Me or Leave Me in which Day gives a scintillating performance as 1920s singing and dancing sensation Ruth Etting. Kirk Douglas’ Young Man with a Horn from 1950 (also starring Day) is based on the life of cornetist Bix Beiderbecke (with Harry James providing the actual horn work).
Similarly, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dexter Gordon give memorable portrayals in, respectively, A Man Called Adam and Round Midnight (1986), playing composites of real-life jazz artists. “Jazz may dominate the program,” Muller notes, “but we’ve also got samplings of classical (1946’s Humoresque), country (1958’s Thunder Road), and rock ‘n’ roll (1958’s King Creole) — I finally hit on a theme that accommodates my favorite Elvis movie.”
Go to NOIR CITY for showtimes and tickets
Face the Music! Join Film Noir Foundation founder and TCM host Eddie Muller for 10 days at NOIR CITY 23 (January 16 - 25, 2026) as the Czar of Noir presents 24 films revolving around musicians! The darker side of the musical life is explored in films that range from star-studded classics to lesser-known B films. In addition to great tales of mystery and suspense, the films feature exceptional soundtracks providing a fabulous sampling of mid-twentieth-century classical, pop, and jazz scores.
The 24-film NOIR CITY 23 program will be announced Wednesday night, December 17, at NOIR CITY Xmas (Grand Lake Theatre) and at NoirCity.com
Secure your spot for all the entertainment and excitement at January's NOIR CITY festival with an all-access NOIR CITY 23 PASSPORT for $200 (plus service fee). This all-access festival pass grants the bearer:
✻ Entry to all films during the 10-day NOIR CITY 23 festival
✻ Separate passport holders' queue for early admittance to the theater for all shows
✻ $40 savings over individually purchased double feature tickets
Proceeds from the NOIR CITY festival help fund the Film Noir Foundation's restoration and preservation efforts year-round. Remember -- the NOIR CITY Passport makes a perfect holiday gift for the film lover in your life, too!
Buy your NOIR CITY 23 Passport today!
Preserved by the Film Noir Foundation in 2013 and now beautifully restored through the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Never Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) is a significant example of the cross-cultural cinematic legacy shared by the United States and Argentina during the post-WWII era. Based on two short stories by American master of suspense fiction Cornell Woolrich, the film is brilliantly directed by Argentine filmmaker Carlos Hugo Christensen with extraordinary cinematography by Pablo Tabernero. ORDER YOUR COPY
Says FNF founder Eddie Muller about this recent restoration, “It is a revelation to experience the work of an all-American author, in Spanish, and rendered as well – or perhaps better – than any Hollywood adaptation of his work.” + READ MORE
Argentine director Román Viñoly Barreto's El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) is available from Flicker Alley in a deluxe Blu‑ray/DVD edition. A virtually unknown remake of Fritz Lang's seminal 1931 thriller M, this 1953 Argentine noir is a female-centered take on the tale. + READ MORE
We are proud to announce the release of two FNF restorations as Blu‑ray/DVD combos from Flicker Alley: The Bitter Stems and The Beast Must Die, two classics of Argentine noir.. → READ MORE
Did you know that The Film Noir Foundation regularly livestreams on our Facebook page in which Eddie Muller answers questions submitted by our e‑mail subscribers? All previous broadcasts are available on our YouTube broadcast archives page.
→ Subscribe to our mailing list, so you can get your question answered.
The latest ASK EDDIE broadcast on Facebook on December 18 and on YouTube the following day.
If you're an out-of-towner looking for festival lodging in Oakland, the Oakland Marriott City Center is offering a discounted room rate of $145/night (plus tax) to NOIR CITY 23 attendees Thursday, January 15 – Monday, January 26, 2026. Located at 1001 Broadway in downtown Oakland, the hotel is 2.1 miles from the Grand Lake Theatre.
To take advantage of this special $145/night rate, your booking must be made on or before December 29, 2025.
For additional information, you may contact the hotel at 510/451-4000.
Book your discounted stay today!
CONFIRMED 2026 NOIR CITY DATES
NOIR CITY 23: Jan 16-25
Grand Lake Theatre, Oakland, CA
NOIR CITY: Seattle: Feb 13-19
SIFF Cinema Downtown, Seattle, WA
NOIR CITY: Hollywood: Apr 3-5 & 10-12
Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, CA
NOIR CITY: Portland: Aug 21-23
Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR
In this revised and expanded edition of his essential volume Dark City Dames, Eddie Muller—FNF founder and Turner Classic Movies host—offers a uniquely intimate look at the women who defined film noir, now featuring updated text, photos, and ten new star profiles.
In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes readers into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain—from veteran “bad girls” Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book provides in-depth profiles of these formidable women during the height of their careers, circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories—teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston—offer a fascinating counterpoint to their movies. Then, Dark City Dames revisits each woman fifty years later to witness their hard-won—and triumphant—survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script. Muller conducted far-ranging interviews with the original six women profiled in Dark City Dames, in the process becoming a friend and confidante to each.
In this revised and expanded edition, he updates their stories and shares illuminating, never-before-told memories of his time with them. This edition also includes compelling new profiles of ten additional women who left an indelible mark on film noir, including Joan Bennett, Gail Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Claire Trevor—all packaged in a stunning redesign that offers the ultimate look at performers who helped define a still-resonant and inspiring epoch of Hollywood history.
➥ ORDER from publisher Running Press
➥ ORDER from Amazon
FNF prez Eddie Muller's newest book, NOIR BAR: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir combines two of his greatest passions, film noir and cocktails.
In the words of the author, "Noir Bar offers a booze-based excursion through America's most popular film genre, pairing easy-to-master recipes with the kind of behind-the-scenes anecdotes that I like to include in my film intros and books." Some of the drinks are the ones being imbibed on screen and some are named after the films, the characters or the actors themselves. The recipes came from a variety of sources including Ernest Hemmingway and Sam Fuller. Some were even created by Eddie himself. Eddie also draws on his past as a bartender to coach you on the supplies and the techniques you will need to create these libations in your own home. The book is stylishly laid out and filled with movie stills, poster art, behind-the-scenes images, and cocktail photography. The book is available from Running Press.
The revised and expanded edition of FNF prez and Noir Alley host Eddie Muller's Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir is now available for purchase from the TCM Shop or your favorite bookseller. + READ MORE
Come follow us on Tumblr to indulge your passion for noir! We'll be posting daily, celebrating all things noir with exclusive stills and images you won't see anywhere else, as well as trailers, film clips, and more.
Share our posts with your friends; your love of the art form is the Foundation's biggest asset in its mission to preserve and restore classics of the genre. We are also fully committed to present our rescued films in the way they were meant to be seen: in 35mm at our NOIR CITY festivals around the country.
NOIR CITY MAGAZINE - DIGITAL VERSION
For access to the best writing on noir available today, and to enjoy one of the most cutting-edge interactive multimedia cinema publications in the world, subscribe to NOIR CITY®.
Start by adding your name to our mailing list and then making a donation to the FNF of $20 or more. View the Table of Contents for the current issue here.
Keep us posted on noir news and events in your area! Email Anne Hockens, Film Noir Foundation news and events editor.