Join host Eddie Muller on Wednesday, December 17, 8 pm, at Oakland's historic Grand Lake Theatre for NOIR CITY Xmas! Doors open at 7 pm with live musical entertainment by the Nick Rossi Trio. To darken your Yuletide spirit, the Film Noir Foundation is presenting I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes, a 1948 Monogram noir starring Don Castle, Elyse Knox, and Regis Toomey, based on the novel by master of suspense Cornell Woolrich.
The evening will also feature the unveiling of the program (and poster!) for NOIR CITY 23, the 23rd year of the world's most popular film noir festival, coming to Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre January 16 - 25, 2026.
NOIR CITY 23 Passports (all-access passes) for January's festival will be available for sale ($200) at the FNF merchandise table located on the theatre mezzanine.
Looking for one of Eddie Muller's books? Walden Pond Books will be the guest bookseller at NOIR CITY Xmas 2025. The bookseller will be located on the theatre mezzanine next to the FNF merchandise table.
Buy your tickets for NOIR CITY Xmas today!
If you'd like to donate unopened, non-perishable food in its original packaging, bring it to NOIR CITY Xmas on December 17 and drop it off in the lobby's provided bins. Here's a shopping list off what the community would like to receive:
✻ Ready-to-eat meals (easy-open cans/pouches): chili, stews, ravioli, soups, chicken, tuna, salmon
✻ Snacks for kids: healthy lunch snacks, fruit/veggie pouches
✻ Non-perishable fruit in cups, bowls or cans
✻ Peanut butter
✻ Cereal (boxes or single-serve bowls)
✻ Nutrition/protein bars
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!
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!
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 on October 1 and on YouTube the following day.
NOIR CITY: Philadelphia returns to The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, November 14-16, 2025, for a three-day extravaganza. Join FNF president Eddie Muller for a film noir lineup that shines the spotlight on women whose cinematic legacy is entwined with film noir. Several of this year’s films star additional actresses profiled in Muller’s Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir — Ella Raines, Ruth Roman, and Jan Sterling
Festival highlights include three rarely screened films: tiki-noir Hell’s Half Acre (1954) with Evelyn Keyes and Marie Windsor, John Farrow’s Faustian tale Alias Nick Beal (1949) with Audrey Totter, and Max Ophüls’ suspenseful 1949 film The Reckless Moment featuring one of Joan Bennett’s finest performances. A 35mm restoration performed by UCLA Film & Television Archive and funded by the FNF will also play: Joseph Losey’s The Prowler (1951), written by Dalton Trumbo with Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes in the leads.
Festival program schedule, double-feature tickets, and weekend passes (includes all ten films) are available on The Colonial Theatre’s website.
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival plays November 12-16 at a new location: the historic Orinda Theatre located in the city of Orinda, approximately 10 miles east of Berkeley and a four-minute walk from the Orinda BART station. We are proud to be co-presenting the 1929 film Asphalt on Sunday, November 16, at 5:00 pm. FNF supporters can use the promo code NOIRSF at checkout for a $2 discount on up to two tickets per order.
The last Großfilm (main feature film) released by Germany’s UFA studio and the silent-era swan song of director Joe May, Asphalt dazzled with its virtuoso recreation of a busy Berlin street. The shoot required so much power to light that parts of the actual city had to go dark during production. Moviemaking magic aside, Asphalt is the story of a man drawn to the wrong woman who finds out too late he’s misjudged her.
As usual, all the films screening at the five-day festival will have live musical accompaniment. Asphalt will be accompanied by the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble. Bassist and composer Sascha Jacobsen is a Latin Grammy-nominated musician who draws on an eclectic range of styles including classical, jazz, flamenco, klezmer, and Argentine tango. The rest of the ensemble features Dan Zemelman (piano), Sheldon Brown (woodwinds), Michele Walther (violin), and Andy Lewis (percussion).
Full festival schedule, tickets and passes are available on the SFSFF website.
Here are the winners of the FNF's NOIR CITY Magazine #44 donation drive held October 9 - 17, 2025.:
★ The three winners of the FNF restoration Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD of Trapped (1950) with Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Payton: Dana Stevens, Leicester, NC; Joseph Murphy, State College, PA; and Cynthia Clark, San Francisco, CA
★ The winner of the Criterion Blu-ray 4K release of Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat (1953), plus a Blu-ray of The Glass Web (1953) reviewed in issue #44 by Sean Axmaker: John Whitford, Oak Ridge, TN
★ The winner of the new release of Kino Lorber’s Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXV featuring the films The Flame (1947), City That Never Sleeps (1953), and Hell’s Half Acre (1954), plus two films featured in Rachel Walther’s “Ripped from the Headlines” article – The Miami Story (1954) and Rumble on the Docks (1956): Nicholas Whitehead, Olympia, WA
★ The winner of the special edition Blu-rays of Kino Lorber releases of Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) and The Killer Is Loose (1956), plus NOIR CITY Annuals 2 and 3 (published 2010 and 2011): Timothy Wille, Celebration, FL
★ The winner of the NOIR CITY Annuals 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 (published 2010–2014). These out-of-print pristine editions were recently gifted to the FNF in very limited quantities by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous: Mark Pheanis, Geneva, IL
★ The three winners to receive five NOIR CITY Magazine digital back issues -- #16, #25, #28, #38, #40 -- sent via WeTransfer to their email addresses: Susan Bartelstone, Floral Park, NY; Nathaniel Guinn, Yukon, OK; Jeffrey Shender, Elkins Park, PA
★The two winners to receive Flicker Alley’s Blu-ray/DVD releases of two FNF restorations – both with San Francisco locations -- Woman on the Run (1950) with Ann Sheridan and The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950) with Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, and John Dall. Special features produced by the FNF are included on each Blu-ray/DVD: Benjamin Emmel, Cheverly, MD and Jean Thompson, Burbank, CA
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Film Noir Foundation! A reminder that anyone who contributes $20 or more to the FNF and signs up our mailing list always receives a free year's subscription to the digital version of NOIR CITY e-magazine. Contributors may receive additional FNF thank you gifts depending on the amount of the donation.
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
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.