Year in and year out, Eddie Muller and the Film Noir Foundation (FNF) team deliver an impeccably curated selection of films noir, combining canonical classics with wonderful rarities ripe for rediscovery. There will be a distinctly feminine slant to the proceedings at Noir City DC this year as we shine a spotlight on 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. 

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 expanded edition of Muller’s book includes new profiles of these women.)