NOIR CITY returns to Chicago’s Music Box Theatre, September 5 -11 with a slate of 18 films including two 1990 neo-noirs: Stephen Frears masterful adaptation of Jim Thompson’s novel The Grifters, starring John Cusack, Angelica Huston, and Annette Bening, which opens the festival on Friday, and Dennis Hopper’s The Hot Spot based on the novel by Charles Willilams, starring Don Johnson, Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen, playing on Saturday night. The 16 classic era film noirs include two rarely screened 1949 gems, John Farrow’s Faustian tale Alias Nick Beale and Max Ophüls’ suspenseful, and surprisingly tragic, The Reckless Moment. The films play Monday and Wednesday night respectively.
Two 35mm restorations performed by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and funded by the FNF will also screen. First, on Sunday evening, The Prowler (1951). Screenwriter Donald Trumbo and director Joseph Losey came together to create a rather perverse, James M. Cain inspired tale of adultery with Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes in the lead roles. Then on Wednesday night, Robert Parrish’s Cry Danger (1951). Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming star but the film is absolutely stolen by character actors Richard Erdman and Jean Porter who make the most of screen writer William Bowers’ witty, cynical dialog.
Screenings from Friday, September 5th-Sunday, September 7th will be hosted by FNF prez Eddie Muller. Screenings on Monday, September 8th-Thursday, September 11th will be presented by FNF board member Alan K. Rode, author of Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film.
Schedule, tickets and passes are available on the Music Box’s website.
CONFIRMED 2025 NOIR CITY DATES
NOIR CITY: Chicago: September 5-11
Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL
NOIR CITY: Detroit: September 19-21
Redford Theatre, Detroit, MI
NOIR CITY: D.C.: October 10-23
AFI Silver Theatre, Silver Spring, MD
NOIR CITY: Philadelphia: November 14-16
The Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA
NOIR CITY returns to the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, October 10-23 with a slate of films highlighting women whose cinematic legacies are entwined with the rise of film noir. Many of this year’s films star the six actresses profiled in Muller’s 2001 book Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir which was reissued in April of this year in a newly revised and expanded edition with the title Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir.
Please note: FNF prez Eddie Muller will not be in attendance this year. FNF board member, author, and film historian Foster Hirsch will introduce screenings October 10–12. FNF board member, author, and film historian Alan K. Rode will introduce screenings October 17–19.
Jane Greer, Marie Windsor, Audrey Totter, Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage are the core cadre of women featured in this year’s program, which includes many of their signature films, including, respectively, Out Of The Past (1947), The Narrow Margin (1952), Tension (1949), The Prowler (1951), The Killing (1956), and Detour (1945).
In addition to those acclaimed favorites, the program also highlights films starring nine other actresses notable for their performances in crime films of the era: Joan Bennett, Peggie Castle, Rhonda Fleming, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Ruth Roman, Jan Sterling, Claire Trevor and Helen Walker. (Not coincidentally, the recently expanded edition of Muller’s book includes new profiles of these women.)
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
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 August 14 and on YouTube the following day.
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
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
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.
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
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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
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