Noir City Faces the Music in a Stylish 23rd Year

Eddie Muller, host of Noir City 23 with Miss Noir City Elizabeth Bougerol.

3200 Grand ave, Oakland

January 16, 2026

Heather Ripley, Therese Poletti and Heather Ripley are first on the scene.

Noir City is back in town for its 23rd year, once again turning the Bay Area’s attention to shadowy streets, hard luck stories, and moral gray zones. This year’s theme, Face the Music, brings a lineup of films centered on music for the festival’s 10 day program, with greats like Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Doris Day, Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee, and Charlie Mingus, among many others, gracing Grand Lake Theater’s silver screen.

“Back in the 1940s, nightclubs and jazz played a significant role in creating the noir vibe,” said festival founder Eddie Muller. “So, it was fun to craft a program in which music plays a role in every story, either through the setting or because the characters are musicians.”

This year’s roster strikes a well rounded balance of established noir classics, unsung masterpieces, and a few films that stray from the traditional noir container. While Muller acknowledges that some selections fall outside the well worn boundaries of noir, he stands firm in his curatorial decisions. “Jazz is America’s greatest contribution to the twentieth century,” he said. “And mixing it up with film noir is a perfect way to showcase the music for a younger generation. The stories may be dark and depressing, but the music always soars.”

Opening night delivered two films that were new to this viewer. The first was Black Angel (1946), adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel and starring Dan Duryea, June Vincent, and the gift that keeps on giving, Peter Lorre. Blues in the Night (1941) rounded out the double feature. With music by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, it delivered on Noir City’s theme to perfection.

Aja DeCoudreaux, a former Miss Noir City Strikes a pose with a bold purse.

Noir City also brings out Bay Area film enthusiasts dressed in their noir best at the Grand Lake Theater. Armed with a period appropriate lens and a roving light fitted with a fresnel lens, courtesy of my husband, I decided the best way to celebrate the crowd was with an impromptu noir fashion shoot.