CHICAGO – The late playwright August Wilson left a gift to the world in the form of his “American Century Cycle,” a series of plays each individually set in a decade of the 20th Century, focusing on the black experience. Chicago’s Goodman Theatre presents Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” now through May 19th, 2024 (click here).
Podtalk: Eddie Muller for ‘Noir City Chicago,’ Aug. 25-31, 2023
CHICAGO – The Czar of Noir is coming to town, bringing his very popular “Noir City Chicago” back to the Music Box Theatre for 2023. Eddie Muller, the host of Turner Classic Movies “Noir Alley,” will appear on behalf of a specially curated series of noir genre classics. For more information, full schedule and tickets, click NOIR CITY.
“Noir City: Chicago” is a week-long celebration of “film noir” … the dark category of film drama that usually takes place at night, and features a rogues gallery of dames, gumshoes, coppers and crooks … and will be hosted by Muller from Friday to Sunday, and Film Noir Foundation’s Alan K. Rode the rest of the way. For the kickoff night on August 25th, Muller will be sailing away with Bogie and Bacall on “Key Largo” (1948), followed by the Orson Welles essential “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947) and wrapping up with John Garfield in “Force of Evil” (1948).
Czar of Noir Eddie Muller (inset)
Photo credit: MusicBoxTheatre.com/Craig Merrill for EddieMuller.com
Eddie Muller is the recognized world expert on film noir, nicknamed the “Czar of Noir” by James McEllroy, author of “L.A. Confidential.” His father, also named Eddie Muller, was a renown sports writer for the San Francisco Examiner, covering the golden age of the underbelly in the boxing world. Eddie the Second followed in his father’s footsteps, beginning his career as a journalist. While plying that trade, he attended film school in the late 1970s, garnering a finalist nod for a student Academy Award in 1979 for “Bay City Blues,” his homage to literary noir-ist Raymond Chandler.
From there, he delved into the noir world in both film and design, and has written novels and film books like “Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.” Besides programming the traveling Noir City film screenings for the past ten years, he is host on Turner Classic Movies Noir Alley, every Sunday morning. He also co-wrote the Hollywood biography “Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star,” and was friends with the actor until his passing in 2018.
In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, the Czar of Noir Eddie Muller previews the 2023 Edition of “Noir City Chicago” …
By PATRICK McDONALD |