Film Noir and Neo-Noir on TCM: October, 2025

Thursday, October 3, 5:30 AM – 2:25 PM

Dangerous Dames Mini-Marathon

5:30 AM

MURDER, MY SWEET (1944): The film that graduated Dick Powell from romantic musical lead to noir tough guy. Raymond Chandler’s detective and knight errant, Philip Marlowe's (Powell) search for a singer name Velma, leads him through a tangled web of blackmail and murder. Along the way, he finds himself embroiled with a wealthy man’s unscrupulous gold-digging wife (Claire Trevor) and the step-daughter that despises her (Anne Shirley). Mike Mazurki gives a standout performance as the mentally challenged and extremely physically powerful ex-con that hires Marlowe to find Velma. “Cute as pants.” Dir. Edward Dmytryk

7:15 AM

MY FORBIDDEN PAST (1951): In turn-of-the-century New Orleans, a beauty (Ava Gardner) with a skeleton in her closet seeks revenge on her old flame (Robert Mitchum) who married another woman (Janis Carter) while away in South America for two years. Dir. Robert Stevenson

8:45 AM

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946): Drifter Frank (John Garfield) takes a job with roadside diner owner Nick Smith (Ceil Kellaway). Frank begins a torrid affair with Nick’s younger and extremely sexy wife (Lana Turner). Betrayal, murder, perversion of the law, and divine justice follow. Based on the novel by James M. Cain. Dir. Tay Garnett

10:45 AM

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967): In this critically acclaimed and deeply influential classic, the legendary bank robbers and lovers (Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway) embark on a crime spree during the Depression era Dust Bowl of the 1930s and become folk heroes. Their crimes quickly spiral from petty theft to bank robbery, but tensions between the couple and the other members of their gang—getaway driver C.W. (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde's older brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and Buck's wife, Blanche (Estelle Parsons). The film won two Oscars, Estelle Parsons for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Burnett Guffey for Best Cinematography, an additional eight nominations. Dir. Arthur Penn

12:45 PM

OUT OF THE PAST (1947): In this quintessential film noir, small town gas station owner Jeff Bailey’s (Robert Mitchum) past catches up with him when a stranger passing through town recognizes him. He tells his girlfriend Ann Miller (Virginia Huston) about his previous via flashback, of course. Jeff was a private eye falls for the gangster’s moll (Jane Greer) that he’s supposed to find for her lover Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas). She’s allegedly stolen $40,000 from Whit and he wants her and the dough back. As in all good noirs, nothing is really as it seems. Watch for future noir siren Rhonda Fleming as a duplicitous secretary. Based on Geoffrey Homes’ excellent pulp novel Build My Gallows High and shot by legendary cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Dir. Jacques Tourneur

Sunday, October 5, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Hitchcock Double Feature

5:00 PM

REAR WINDOW (1954): A wheelchair-bound photographer passes the time of his disability by spying on his neighbors. One day he witnesses a murder. Or does he? This iconic mystery was adapted from a story by Cornell Woolrich and earned a Best Writing, Screenplay Oscar nomination for screenwriter John Michael Hayes. The film earned three more Oscar nods for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Color and Best Sound, Recording. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

7:00 PM

SPELLBOUND (1945): A beautiful psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) shields an equally beautiful amnesic (Gregory Peck) who’s pretending to be the new doctor at the sanatorium that she works at. Can she help him recover his memory and find out what happened to the doctor he’s impersonating? This David O. Selznick production features a dream sequence by Salvador Dali. Composer Miklós Rózsa won an Oscar for his score. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Wednesday, October 8, 5:00 – Thursday, October 9, 3:15 AM

Otto Preminger Noir

Except Daisy Kenyon which you should watch anyway

5:00 PM

LAURA (1944): In this film noir based on the Vera Caspary novel, dedicated detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the death of the beautiful Laura (Gene Tierney), brutally gunned down at the door of her flat. As he interviews her friends and lovers, a complicated portrait of her emerges and he finds himself falling for the deceased girl. Clifton Webb and Vincent Price give outstanding performances as two bickering rivals for Laura’s affections. Joseph LaShelle won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White for his work on the film. Dir. Otto Preminger

6:45 PM

DAISY KENYON (1947) Otto Preminger’s poignant romantic and drama is often mislabeled a film noir due to its inclusion in the Fox Film Noir Collection. We highly recommend you watch it anyway. Joan Crawford gives a terrific performance as the eponymous character, a career woman caught in a love triangle with a charismatic, married man and a traumatized, widowed war vet. The latter leaves the decision up to her even though they married. Like Vincent Sherman’s The Unfaithful the characters are three dimensional and act like grown-ups. Dir. Otto Preminger

8:30 PM

ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959): In this drily witty courtroom drama, based on real events, a small-town lawyer (James Stewart) more interested in fishing and playing the piano then practicing law gets the case of a lifetime when he defends a soldier (Ben Gazzara) accused of murdering the man who beat and raped his flirtatious wife (Lee Remick). Eve Arden once again does a lot with a small part as his long-suffering secretary. George C. Scott earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as the District Attorney. Duke Ellington composed the jazz score. Dir. Otto Preminger

11:30 PM

ANGEL FACE (1953): An ambulance driver (Robert Mitchum) romances a beautiful but unstable woman (Jean Simons) who gets him a job as a chauffeur and promises him the capital to open his own garage. Murder and disaster follow. Mona Freeman plays the girlfriend he dumps for better things. Her reaction to his behavior, especially when he tries to come back to her, makes her character transcend the usual thankless good girl roles in noir. Dir. Otto Preminger

1:15 AM

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955): A recovering heroin addict (Frank Sinatra) struggles to stay clean when returning to Chicago’s South side, to old friends and old temptations, after a prison stint. His drug dealer Nifty Louie (Darren McGavin) wants to get his hooks back into Frankie, but his love for Molly (Kim Novak) and his dreams of becoming a jazz drummer keep him on the straight and narrow. When Louie is killed, the cops figure him for the murder and come after him. Dir. Otto Preminger

Friday, October 10, 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Noir Double Bill

5:00 PM

HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951): John Garfield plays a desperate criminal on the run from a robbery that ended with a shooting. He takes refuge in the family apartment of a naïve young woman (Shelley Winters). She falls in love with him, complicating further a tense hostage situation. Dir. John Berry

6:30 PM

DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! (1965): A religious fanatic (Tallulah Bankhead) imprisons her late son's “sinful” fiancée (Stefanie Powers) after she announces her intentions to marry. Dir. Silvio Narizzano

Saturday, October 11, 3:15 PM – 9:00 PM

Film Noir Triple Bill

3:15 PM

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952): Pity poor ex-con Joe Rolfe (John Payne). Trying to walk the straight and narrow, he winds up playing the patsy in a devilishly conceived million-dollar bank robbery. Desperate, he trails the thieves south of the border. There, he tangles with tough guys Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef, who are as deep in the dark as he is and falls for good girl Coleen Gray—under the suspicious eye of her cop father (Preston Foster). The first pairing of noir dream team Payne and director Phil Karlson (99 River Street) remains one of the great capers of the 1950s. Dir. Phil Karlson

5:00 PM

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1963): In this late era noir, ex-G.I. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) slowly begins to realize that he was brainwashed by the Koreans while he was a P.O.W. He soon suspects that his former comrade in arms Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), who is also the stepson of a presidential candidate, is being manipulated by the Communists Angel Lansbury gives a remarkable performance as Shaw’s icy mother. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Condon novel. Dir. John Frankenheimer

7:15 PM

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957): A desperate press agent (Tony Curtis) stoops to new depths to help an egotistical columnist (Burt Lancaster) in an emotionally repugnant, but brilliant, performance, break up his sister's romance. Suitably noirish cinematography by James Wong Howe and an acidic script by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman combine with an excellent cast to deliver a remarkable film. Dir. Alexander Mackendrick

Sunday, October 12, 5:00 PM – 9:15 PM

Hitchcock Double Feature

5:00 PM

NOTORIOUS (1946): Ruthless but attractive U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) recruits party girl Alicia (Ingrid Bergman), the daughter of a German spy who committed suicide in prison, to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in post-WW2 Brazil. In this morally gray but thrilling espionage tale by Ben Hecht, love plays second fiddle to duty: Alicia makes the supreme sacrifice and marries suspected ringleader Alexander (Claude Rains) to aid her lover Devlin’s mission. Rains and Leopoldine Konstantin (who plays Alexander’s overly devoted mum) steal the picture from one of the most gorgeous romantic pairs of all time with their sterling performances. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

7:00 PM

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956): A family vacationing in Morocco accidentally stumbles on to an assassination plot and the conspirators are determined to prevent them from interfering. Jay Livingston and Ray Evans garnered the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for the film’s song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)”. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Friday, October 16, 5:00 PM – Saturday, October 17, 12:45 AM

Angela Lansbury Noir Quadruple Feature

5:00 PM

GASLIGHT (1944): A newlywed (Ingrid Bergman) fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion where her aunt was murdered ten years earlier. Joseph Cotten stars as the handsome stranger who aids her. Charles Boyer stars as the handsome husband who terrorizes her. Angela Lansbury plays the pretty maid who may be in league with Boyer. Based on Patrick Hamilton’s Angel Street. The film won two Oscars, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Ingrid Bergman and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White for Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis, Paul Huldschinsky, and earned five more nominations. Dir. George Cukor

7:00 PM

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945): One of the most famous fantasy stories of all-time is given a sumptuous and sinister telling in this classic MGM film version. Renowned artist Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore) paints a glorious portrait of the dashing and callow narcissist Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield), whose ardent wish is that the painting age in his stead. When Dorian realizes his wish has been granted, he embarks on a hedonistic lifestyle that destroys all who dare love him. In only her third screen appearance, Angela Lansbury was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar® for her portrayal of Sibyl Vane. Screenplay by Albert Lewin, based on the story by Oscar Wilde. While not truly a film noir, we think that our FNF followers will enjoy it as our NOIR CITY 14 attendees did. Dir. Albert Lewin

9:00 PM

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1963): In this late era noir, ex-G.I. Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) slowly begins to realize that he was brainwashed by the Koreans while he was a P.O.W. He soon suspects that his former comrade in arms Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), who is also the stepson of a presidential candidate, is being manipulated by the Communists Angel Lansbury gives a remarkable performance as Shaw’s icy mother. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Condon novel. Dir. John Frankenheimer

11:15 PM

KIND LADY (1951): Ethel Barrymore stars as a wealthy art collector who takes in a young painter and his ill wife. When another couple (Angela Lansbury and Keenan Wynn) show up, things get ugly, and she finds herself held captive in her own home. Walter Plunkett and Gile Steele received Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White for their work on the film. Dir. John Sturges

Friday, October 17, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

20th Century Fox Noir Double Feature

5:00 PM

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945): Gene Tierney gives an astonishing, and Oscar nominated performance as Ellen, an insanely jealous woman. Ellen will stop at nothing to destroy anyone that she perceives as a threat to her being first place in her husband Richards’s affections. The truth begins to dawn on Richard (Cornell Wilde) after a tragic “accident”. When Ellen realizes that Richard no longer loves her, she designs the ultimate revenge. Based on the novel by Ben Ames (a highly recommended read). Dir. John M. Stahl

7:00 PM

BLACK WIDOW (1954): A theatrical producer (Van Heflin) is suspected of cheating with and then murdering a young, attractive and devious aspiring writer. You’d think the fact he’s married to Gene Tierney would have cleared him! Ginger Roger gives an outstanding performance as the actress come diva that lives upstairs. George Raft investigates the murder. Dir: Nunnally Johnson