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

Tuesday, September 2, 4:45 AM – 8:15 AM

Film Noir Double Feature

4:45 AM

ACT OF VIOLENCE (1949): An embittered veteran (Robert Ryan) tracks down Frank R. Enley, a POW camp informer (Van Heflin) now a respected member of his community and married to a wife (Janet Leigh) unaware of his actions during the war. Mary Astor steals the film as the boozy bar fly and prostitute trying to help Enley. Dir. Fred Zinnemann

6:15 AM

NIGHT MUST FALL (1964): Hotel bellboy and ax murderer Danny (Albert Finney) charms the elderly Mrs. Bramson (Mona Washbourne) and takes on the role of butler for her while also charming her daughter Olivia. Cinematography by Freddie Francis A remake of the 1937 film of the same name which was based on the play by Emlyn Willimas. The screenplay was written by Clive Exton who went onto write the majority (20) episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot starring David Suchet. Dir. Karly Reisz

Tuesday, September 2, 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Film Noir Double Feature

9:30 AM

THE STRANGLER (1964); This independent production was released a year after production to capitalize on the Boston Strangler killings. Lonely and disturbed hospital lab worker Leo Kroll (Victor Buono) who is under the thumb of a domineering mother (Ellen Corby) leads a double life as a deranged killer of young women—particularly nurses. Dir. Burt Topper

JULIE

JULIE (1956): Doris Day crosses over to the dark side, in this ultimate example of the "woman-in-peril" film. Shot on-location in Carmel and San Francisco, it literally takes the "husband from hell" premise to new heights in an off-the-charts climax that finds stewardess Day fighting for her life aboard a soaring airliner. Implausibility is steamrolled with berserk gusto, leaving the audience helplessly entertained. Louis Jordan plays Julie's dangerous spouse. Barry Sullivan co-stars. The film earned two Oscar nominations: Best Writing, Best Screenplay – Original for Andrew L. Stone and Best Music, Original Song for Leith Stevens (music) and Tom Adair (lyrics) for the song Julie. Dir. Andrew L. Stone

Friday, September 5, 11:15 AM – 2:15 PM

Criminal Dames Double Bill

11:15 AM

LADY GANGSTER (1942): An aspiring and failing at it actress (Faye Emerson) aids a criminal gang in a robbery and winds up taking the rap. Before she's sent to prison, her conspirators try to double cross her, but she’s too smart from them and manages to steal and stash the loot. Her former partners want the dough and to make life tough for in her the big house. A prison breakout follows…She eventually finds purpose and redemption in an unexpected romance. Look for early performances by a couple of actors who went on to bigger things on T.V.: Jackie Gleason and William Hopper. Dir.: Robert Florey (as Florian Roberts)

12:30 PM

THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS (1952): After pulling off a daring heist in New Orleans, a lady gangster (Joan Crawford) leaves her lover and partner in crime behind and checks into an Indianapolis hospital to undergo experimental surgery to save her failing eyesight. When she falls for her handsome doctor (Dennis Morgan), will she change her ways, and will her lover let her go without a fight? Dir. Felix Feist

Sunday, September 7, 12:45 AM – 7:00 AM

Noir Triple Bill

12:45 AM

KLUTE (1971) Small town detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) journeys to the Big Apple to search for a missing friend. He has only one lead: an obscene letter from the man to New York City prostitute Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda). He unravels both the mystery of the missing man and of the call girl. Fonda won a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the disturbed and disturbing Bree. Dir. Alan J. Pakula

3:15 AM

A WOMAN’S FACE EN KVINNAS ANSIKTE (1938): Legendary star Ingrid Bergman, pre-Hollywood, plays a disfigured gang boss who goes against her criminal cohorts in a last chance at redemption. Swedish with English subtitles. Dir. Gustaf Molander

5:00 AM

DARK PASSAGE (1947): Adapted from a story by David Goodis, this noir follows convicted wife murderer Vincent Parry’s (Humphrey Bogart) escape from jail and subsequent hunt for the real killer of his wife. Sympathetic stranger Irene (Lauren Bacall) encounters him during his jail break and aids him. Agnes Moorehead steals the show as Irene’s shrewish friend who knew Vincent and his wife prior to the murder. Dir. Delmer Daves

Tuesday, September 9, 4:15 AM – 7:00 AM

Val Lewton Double Feature

4:15 AM

CAT PEOPLE (1942): Produced by the legendary Val Lewton, this atmospheric and heartbreaking horror film tells the tale of Irina (Simone Simon), a beautiful and charming Serbian emigree who meets and marries all-American architect Oliver (Kent Smith). She is reluctant to consummate their marriage, and he turns to his friend and coworker Alice (Jane Rudolph) with tragic and frightening results. Producer Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur styles merge to produce one of the greatest films of the genre. Lensed by the noted noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Dir. Jacques Tourneur

10:15 AM

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

Monday, September 15, 3:00 AM – 11:15 AM

Agatha Christie Marathon

The 1960s adaptations:

3:00 AM

MURDER SHE SAID (1961): When nobody believes she witnessed a murder, Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) investigates herself along with her friend Jim Stringer, played by Rutherford’s husband Stinger Davis. Based on Agatha Christie’s 4:50 from Paddington. Trivia: Joan Dixon has a small part in the film and would go on to become the definitive Miss Marple in the BBC series that aired from 1984-1992. Dir. George Pollock

4:30 AM

MURDER AT THE GALLOP (1963): Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) suspects foul play when two accidental deaths in a family in quick succession leave behind a considerable fortune for the three remaining members. Robert Morley plays one of her chief suspects. As in the rest of the series, her friend Jim Stringer, played by Rutherford’s husband Stinger Davis. Very loosely based on based on Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral which featured Hercule Poirot and not Miss Marple. Dir. George Pollock

6:00 AM

MURDER AHOY (1964): Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) takes to the seas to investigate murder on a naval training ship for delinquent boys. As in the rest of the series, her friend Jim Stringer, played by Rutherford’s husband Stinger Davis. The screenplay borrowed only one element from Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novel They Do It with Mirrors. Dir. George Pollock

7:45 AM

TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1966): This adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie novel (aka And Then There Were None), transplants the story of ten strangers brought to a modern house on an isolated English island to face death for their previously unpunished crimes of murder to an Austrian castle in the Alps. I have no idea why. Christopher Lee provided the pre-recorder gramophone voice of Mr  U. N. Owen, the stranger’s absent host. Dir. George Pollock

9:30 AM

THE ALPHABET MURDERS (1966): I don’t even know where to start with this one. Okay, I do, it’s terrible. Anyway, this is technically an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s brilliant novel The A.B.C. Murders which was one of many of the Queen of Crimes’ groundbreaking novels. You should read it and skip this. Hercule Poirot (Tony Randall) investigates a string of murders where the victims' initials are in alphabetical order. Inexplicably, Captain Hastings, who was Poirot’s friend and right-hand man over the course of many short stories and novels, in this film plays an intelligence officer trying to deport Poirot. Unlike the 60’s Miss Marple films which deviate from the novels and are lighthearted and genuinely funny, this is just slapsticky and stupid. Margaret Rutherford and real-life husband Stringer Davis have a cameo as their four film series characters Miss Marple and Mr. Stringer. You can watch that clip on YouTube—it is not worth sitting through this film for it. Dir. Frank Tashlin

Monday, September 15, 11:15 AM – 3:15 PM

Noir Double Bill

11:15 AM

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

1:15 PM

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

Tuesday, September 16, 3:00 AM – 5:00 PM

TCM Salutes Lauren Bacall

Here are the noirs...

3:00 AM

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944): This is not a noir, but we are writing it up since it is playing with three other Bogie and Bacall films which are noir. Hawks introduced Lauren Bacall to the world in this adventure tale based on Hemmingway’s novel of the same name. He also introduced her to her co-star Bogart who fell in love with her and she him much to Hawks’ chagrin. It was, in fact, Hawks’ wife Slim that spotted Bacall on a magazine cover and insisted he make her over as an actress. Back to the plot of the movie, Skipper Bogie gets involved with the French resistance, meets a sexy singer (Bacall) accompanied by Hoagie Carmichael, and must decide between his self-interest and his better nature. Dir. Howard Hawks

7:15 AM

DARK PASSAGE (1947): Adapted from a story by David Goodis, this noir follows convicted wife murderer Vincent Parry’s (Humphrey Bogart) escape from jail and subsequent hunt for the real killer of his wife. Sympathetic stranger Irene (Lauren Bacall) encounters him during his jail break and aids him. Agnes Moorehead steals the show as Irene’s shrewish friend who knew Vincent and his wife prior to the murder. Dir. Delmer Daves

1:30 PM

THE BIG SLEEP (1946): In Howard Hawks’ clever and sophisticated adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel, private eye Philip Marlowe’s (Humphrey Bogart) investigates the involvement of an opium addled (and nymphomaniacal) society girl (Martha Vickers) in the murder of a pornographer. He also must determine if her sister (Lauren Bacall) is helping or hindering him. Dir. Howard Hawks

3:30 PM

BACALL ON BOGART (1988): Lauren Bacall hosts this extraordinary documentary on her life on- and off-screen with her late husband, Humphrey Bogart. The pair made several seminal noirs together Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946), Delmer Daves’ Dark Passage (1947) and John Huston’s Key Largo (1948). Bogart also starred in the film noir that started the genre, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1939). Dir. David Heeley

Tuesday, September 23, 3:00 AM – 5:00 PM

TCM salutes Orson Welles

Here are the noirs...

5:45 AM

TOUCH OF EVIL (1958): Orson Welles’ masterpiece about a narcotics agent (Charlton Heston) who unintentionally put his wife (Janet Leigh) in grave danger when he investigates a crooked cop (Orson Welles). Utterly fantastic supporting performance by Marlene Dietrich as a Mexican Gypsy whore- no, really, I mean it. Dir. Orson Welles

7:45 AM

MR. ARKADIN aka CONFIDENTIAL REPORT (1955): Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles), one of the richest men in Europe, hires Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden), an amoral young man, to help him uncover clues about his past. He claims that he suffers from amnesia and that he has no idea how he came by his wealth. Guy races against an unknown murderer bent on killing anyone who can reveal information about Arkadin. Things get even more complicated when he falls for Arkadin’s daughter. Dir. Orson Welles

9:45 PM

THE STRANGER (1946): A small-town schoolteacher (Loretta Young) encounters a determined investigator (Edward G. Robinson) who suspects her new husband (Orson Welles) may be an escaped Nazi war criminal. Can he convince her before it’s too late? Dir. Orson Welles

Friday, September 26, 1:45 AM – 3:00 AM

FNF Restoration Double Feature

1:45 AM

EL VAMPIRO NEGRO THE BLACK VAMPIRE (1953): A virtually unknown remake of Fritz Lang's seminal 1931 thriller M, this 1953 Argentine noir is a female-centered take on the tale. Olga Zubarry stars as a cabaret performer trying to protect her young daughter (Gogó) from a mysterious murderer while parrying the advances of the prosecutor (Roberto Escalada) pursuing the killer. Nathán Pinzón, who also appeared in Viñoly Barreto's The Beast Must Die (La bestia debe morir) a year earlier, gives an impressive against-type performance as the disturbed pedophile hiding in plain sight. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the Film Noir Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust, a stunning restoration of the film was created by UCLA Film & Television Archive, and now is available to watch in the U.S.–with special thanks to Fernando Martín Peña and Argentina Sono Film.

3:30 AM

WOMAN ON THE RUN (1950): A lost gem rediscovered! Thanks to the efforts of the Film Noir Foundation, this terrific 1950 film noir, the only American print of which was burned in a 2008 fire, has been rescued and restored to its original luster. Join the wild chase around San Francisco as a man goes into hiding after witnessing a gangland execution. Police bird-dog his wife Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), certain she’ll lead them to her husband, whose testimony against the killer could bring down a crime kingpin. But Eleanor and her hubbie are Splitsville—she never wants to see him again. When roguish newspaperman Danny Leggett (Dennis O’Keefe) charms Eleanor into helping him track down the hidden husband—there are unexpected, stunning, and poignant results. This nervy, shot-on-location thriller is a witty and wise look at the travails of romance and marriage, and perhaps the best cinematic depiction ever of mid-20th century San Francisco. Dir. Norman Foster

Saturday, September 27, 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Film Noir Double Bill

3:00 PM

CAPE FEAR (1962): Ex-convict, sex offender, and sociopath Max Caddy (Robert Mitchum) plots to destroy Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) the district attorney who sent him to prison. Caddy wages a ruthless game of psychological warfare on Bowden, seemingly threatening Sam’s wife (Polly Bergen) and 12-year-old daughter without breaking any actual laws. Dir. J. Lee Thompson

5:00 PM

THE THIRD MAN (1949): This fantastic film about a naive American, Joseph Cotten, investigating the death of his friend, Orson Welles, in post-World War II Vienna never loses its impact no matter how many times you watch it. “Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”. Director of Photography Robert Krasker won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White for the film. The film also garnered Oscar nominations, Carol Reed for Best Director and Oswald Hafenrichter for Best Film Editing. Dir. Carol Reed

Tuesday, September 30, 3:00 AM - 5:00 PM

TCM Salutes Nichols Ray

Here are the noirs...

6:00 AM

THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1949): Nicholas Ray’s fiercely romantic noir about a young innocent, Farley Granger who gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape after serving an unjust prison sentence. Cathy O'Donnell plays the girl who becomes his lover in an ill-fated romance. Based on the Edward Anderson novel Thieves Like Us. Dir. Nicholas Ray

7:45 AM

A WOMAN’S SECRET (1949): In this woman’s picture mixed with humor and some noir elements Gloria Grahame plays the ditzy but sly singer Esterllita who is shot at the opening of the film, presumably by her agent and mentor Marian (Maureen O’Hara). The police arrest Marian. But did she do it? The film employs a series of flashbacks to portray the events leading up to the crime prior to the resolution of the mystery. Director Ray and Grahame would later marry and work together on the seminal film noir, In a Lonely Place (1950). Dir. Nicholas Ray

9:15 AM

BORN TO BE BAD (1950) A coterie of affluent San Franciscans is turned inside-out by the appearance of Christabel Caine (Joan Fontaine), a sweet and demure waif who turns out to be "about as helpless as a wildcat." In short order, she replaces her cousin (Joan Leslie) in the affections of a millionaire philanthropist (Zachary Scott) while carrying on a torrid affair with a bohemian novelist (Robert Ryan). Dir. Nicholas Ray

11:00 AM

ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1952): Robert Ryan gives an emotionally charged performance as a city cop on the verge of a breakdown. After nearly killing a suspect, he’s sent out to the country to find the murderer of a young woman. There he encounters the blind sister (Ida Lupino) of the main suspect. Can he overcome his personal demons and connect with her? Added bonus: John Ford Players Ward Bond and Olive Cary portray the murdered girl’s parents. Dir. Nicholas Ray

12:30 PM

THE LUSTY MEN (1952): In this Nicholas Ray helmed Western noir, a faded rodeo star (Robert Mitchum) mentors a younger rider to help him raise the money he needs to buy his dream ranch through rodeo competition (Arthur Kennedy) and then falls for his wife (Susan Hayward). As one would expect, complications ensue. Dir. Nicholas Ray

4:30 PM

PARTY GIRL (1958): Don’t miss this great Nick Ray film, not available on DVD, a gritty bringing down the racket story featuring an interesting love story between a beautiful showgirl (Cyd Charisse) and a gangster’s mouthpiece (Robert Taylor) set in Chicago during the mob infested nineteen twenties. See if you can see spot the scene Brian De Palma stole for The Untouchables. Dir. Nicholas Ray