NOIR CITY: Hollywood returns to the Egyptian Theatre with 23 films for eight days this month -- March 20-23 and March 27-30. The lineup of classic film noir shines a spotlight on women whose cinematic legacy is entwined with the rise of film noir. FNF president Eddie Muller and board member Alan K. Rode will share hosting duties.
Many of this year’s films star the six actresses profiled in Muller’s 2002 book Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir, which is being reissued in April 2025 in a newly revised and expanded edition. Jane Greer, Audrey Totter, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Coleen Gray, and Marie Windsor are the core cadre of women featured in this year’s program, which includes some of their signature films, including, respectively, Out of the Past (1947), Tension (1949), The Prowler (1951), Detour (1945), The Killing (1956), and Hell's Half Acre (1954).
The festival opens with a nitrate screening of Road House starring legendary actress (not to mention, director, writer, producer) Ida Lupino. In addition to the classic noir films screening this year, the festival will present four neo-noirs: The Last Seduction (1994), The Grifters (1990) featuring a Q&A with co-star Annette Bening, Destroyer (2018) featuring a Q&A with director Karyn Kusama and screenwriter Phil Hay, and Bound (1996) featuring a Q&A with co-star Jennifer Tilly.
Festival program schedule and tickets for NOIR CITY Hollywood are available here
CONFIRMED 2025 NOIR CITY DATES
NOIR CITY: Hollywood: March 20-23 & 27-30
Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, CA
NOIR CITY: Boston: June 13-15
The Brattle, Cambridge, MA
NOIR CITY: Portland: July 11-13
Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR
NOIR CITY: Chicago: September 5-11
Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL
NOIR CITY: Philadelphia: November 14-16
The Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA
Lucas Cullen (in green suit above), the recipient of 2024’s FNF-Nancy Mysel Legacy Grant, looks back on his past year at the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation. READ MORE
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
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.
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 March 13 and on YouTube the following day.
The TCM Classic Film Festival returns to Hollywood, April 24-27 with screenings and events taking place at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX, the TCL Theatre Multiplex, the Egyptian Theatre, the El Capitan Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Our man Eddie Muller will be introducing films again this year and we will let you know his schedule when we know. Be sure to follow us on social media for daily festival updates.
This year’s theme is “Grand Illusions: Fantastic World on Film and the programming announced so far includes the musical fantasy Brigadoon (1954), as well as the world premier of a restoration of The Enchanted Cottage, a fantasy romance, as well as straight up sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
Director Michael Schultz is this year’s TCM Classic Festival honoree. His box office hit Car Wash (1976) and his notorious but successful The Last Dragon—made for Motown’s Barry Gordy—will screen. The festival will also pay tribute to the late David Lynch with screenings of Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990). Legendary actress Michelle Pfeiffer will be celebrated with a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Friday, April 25th. She will also be in attendance for a screening of The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).
Onto the noir and noir adjacent screenings! Two Joan Crawford films will play in nitrate. First, Daisy Kenyon (1947), courtesy of the Library of Congress. Joan Crawford plays a commercial artist caught in a love triangle with an unhappily married man (Dana Andrews) and a widowed war veteran (Henry Fonda) in director Otto Preminger’s poignant romantic drama. The legendary film noir Mildred Pierce (1945) is the other, print courtesy of the British Film Institute.
The World premiere 4K Ignite Films restoration of The Big Combo (1955) created by the UCLA Film and Television Archives with funding from the Film Foundation also screens. Cornel Wilde stars as a relentless police detective determined to take down a sadistic crime boss, in this film directed by Joseph H. Lewis.
On the social commentary side of noir, Sidney Poitier and John Cassavetes star in director Martin Ritt’s Edge of the City (1957); two blue collar workers’ new friendship is tested by racial tensions and the threat of a violent gang. For pure suspense, Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine star in Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller Suspicion (1941), a wealthy young woman who becomes increasingly suspicious that her charming but mysterious husband may be plotting to kill her for her inheritance.
Don’t want to buy a pass? After passholders have been seated, open seats will be sold on a first come, first served, standby basis at the individual venue box offices, and be sold just prior to the individual program start time.
We will let you know when the schedule is available!
Passes are available for purchase here.
Hardcover releasing April 8, 2025
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.
➥ PRE-ORDER from publisher Running Press
➥ PRE-ORDER from Amazon
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
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NOIR CITY MAGAZINE - DIGITAL VERSION
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