Historic Colonial Theatre Hosts 2nd Annual NOIR CITY: Philadelphia Film Festival November 15-17

NOIR CITY: Philadelphia returns for its second year to the historic Colonial Theatre (227 Bridge St, Phoenixville, PA, 19460) from November 15 to 17. Film Noir  Foundation president Eddie Muller, familiar to a national audience as the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies, will introduce thematically paired double bills, blending noir tales from Argentina, France, Japan, and Italy with English-language films from the United States and United Kingdom. The  three-day, 10-film program will showcase heists, prison breaks, missing persons, cultural alienation, and  plenty of classic, old-fashioned murder. 

“This year’s NOIR CITY program is tailored to satisfy folks who love noir that’s full of the colorful  vernacular slang so essential to American and British noir—as well as adventurous viewers intrigued by a  familiar story—a crime committed for passion or profit—playing out in cultures with different values,  mores, and styles,” says the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller. “The popularity of classic film noir is at an all-time  high, and the Film Noir Foundation is dedicated to rescuing neglected examples of the form, as well as  fostering an appreciation of the genre as an international cinematic movement, not merely an American  phenomenon.” 

Kicking off the festival is a screening of the FNF’s most recent restoration, the 1952 Argentine film Never  Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta), based on two short stories by American master of  suspense fiction, Cornell Woolrich. Also included in the NOIR CITY: Philadelphia schedule are English language rarities including Black Tuesday (1954) and Across the Bridge (1957). International titles  include Zero Focus (Zero No Shoten, Japan, 1961) and Smog (1962), a surrealist masterpiece by Italian  director Franco Rossi, recently restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. The festival ends Sunday  evening, November 17, with a heist double bill of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and the 1963  French film Symphony for a Massacre. 

A book signing with Eddie Muller is set for Saturday, November 16, with books available for purchase from Muller’s recent publications — Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by  the World of Film Noir, and Kid Noir: Kitty Feral and the Case of the Marshmallow Monkey.  

NOIR CITY: Philadelphia Screening Schedule: 

Never Open That Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) – 1952 Argentina Friday, November 15 at 7 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Street of Chance – 1942 USA 
Friday, November 15 at 8:30 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Black Tuesday – 1954 USA 
Saturday, November 16 at 1:30 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

The Hole (Le Trou)- 1960 France 
Saturday, November 16 at 3 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Across the Bridge – 1957 United Kingdom 
Saturday, November 16 at 6 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Zero Focus (Zero No Shoten) -1961 Japan 
Saturday, November 16 at 8 p.m. 
1903 Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

The Asphalt Jungle – 1950 USA 
Sunday, November 17 at 1 p.m. 
White Rabbit Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Symphony for a Massacre (Symphonie pour un massacre) – 1963 France Sunday, November 17 at 3 p.m. 
White Rabbit Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25

Murder by Contract – 1958 USA 
Sunday, November 17 at 6 p.m. 
White Rabbit Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Smog – Italy 1962 
Sunday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. 
White Rabbit Theatre 
Tickets: Starting at $25 

Single tickets for NOIR CITY: Philadelphia are $25 and double feature tickets are $40. Tickets can be purchased here. To see the full schedule and list of films and showtimes, click here.