A Visit to the 17th Annual Noir City Film Festival

It's hard to believe, but tonight marked the fifth year in a row I've attended Opening Night of Hollywood's Noir City Film Festival, and it's my sixth year to attend the festival.

Noir City plays at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard through Sunday, April 19th. My rundown of each date on the schedule may be found here. Noir City is always one of the very best film experiences of the year, and I plan to attend a majority of this year's screenings!

My husband and I began our evening with a nice dinner at the historic Pig 'N Whistle before heading next door to the Eygptian.

It almost felt like being back at last weekend's TCM Classic Film Festival, watching Illeana Douglas walk into the theater!

Leonard Maltin was also on hand, and I had the chance to tell him how much I enjoyed his TCM Fest introductions and inquire about the ankle he'd turned right before the festival, which necessitated his intros being delivered from a chair. He says it's doing much better!

I purchased Eddie Muller's brand-new book GUN CRAZY: THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN OUTLAW CINEMA, which he kindly signed for me at intermission:

The Opening Night program consisted of a very entertaining Ann Sheridan double bill, WOMAN ON THE RUN (1950) and THE UNFAITHFUL (1947). Below, Alan K. Rode (left) joins Eddie Muller to intro THE UNFAITHFUL:

I enjoyed both movies very much, especially WOMAN ON THE RUN, which had some great dialogue and an unexpected plot twist, not to mention a cute dog. Look for reviews of both films here in the near future.

As always, this introductory post to the Noir City Festival will be updated throughout the festival with review links for all films seen in the festival. As the saying goes, watch this space!

New reviews of films seen at the 2015 Noir City Film Festival: WOMAN ON THE RUN (1950); THE UNFAITHFUL (1947); DARK PASSAGE (1947); THE HIDDEN ROOM (1949); THE SLEEPING TIGER (1954); THE SUSPECT (1944); THE UNDERWORLD STORY (1950); ABANDONED (1949); WITNESS TO MURDER (1954); JEOPARDY (1953); BERLIN EXPRESS (1948); THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943); THE NINTH GUEST (1934); LET US LIVE (1939); HEAT LIGHTNING (1934); and SAFE IN HELL (1931).

Previously reviewed films seen at this year's festival: THE CHASE (1946); THE LEOPARD MAN (1943); CIRCLE OF DANGER (1951); RIDE THE PINK HORSE (1947).

Posts on past Noir City Festivals which contain review links for all films seen each year: A Visit to the 16th Annual Noir City Film Festival (2014); A Visit to the 15th Annual Noir City Film Festival (2013); A Visit to the 14th Annual Noir City Film Festival (2012); A Visit to the 13th Noir City Film Festival (2011); A Visit to the Noir City Film Festival (2010).

Additional 2015 coverage: Here are articles by Leonard Maltin and Susan King.