Mar 23, 2026 7:48pm PT

Noir City Hollywood Carries a Tune: Eddie Muller and Alan K. Rode on the 2026 Fest’s ‘Face the Music!’ Theme, and How Jazz Lent a Serious Subtext to Classic Crime Films

Chris Willman

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Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

ChrisWillman

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Noir City Hollywood American Cinematheque

For 28 years, the Noir City film festival has been unfolding every spring under the aegis of the American Cinematheque, give or take a couple of early name changes since it began in 1999. The festival has had enough themes over those years that you might imagine its curators had already used up whatever subtopics of film noir might have counted as something new under the black sun. But hosts Eddie Muller and Alan K. Rode are back at their usual haunt, Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre, on April 3-5 and 5-12 with a fresh selection of vintage classics and obscurities under the banner “Face the Music! 20 Tales of Music, Mayhem, and… Murder!” In other words, horns and homicide, together again.

Noir City Hollywood Carries a Tune: Eddie Muller and Alan K. Rode on the 2026 Fest's 'Face the Music!' Theme, and How Jazz Lent a Serious Subtext to Classic Crime Films