SIFF announces lineup for 17th annual Noir City film festival including 35mm presentations screening at SIFF Cinema Downtown February 14-20

SEATTLE – Noir City returns to SIFF for its 17th year with 18 classic films shining a spotlight on women whose cinematic legacy is entwined with the rise of film noir. Twelve of the films in the lineup will be presented on 35mm at SIFF Cinema Downtown, including the newest Film Noir Foundation restoration of Cry Danger. The lineup also includes a new 4K restoration of Robert Siodmak’s Phantom Lady.

Film Noir Foundation founder, Turner Classic Movies host, and "Czar of Noir'' Eddie Muller will present all screenings February 14-16, with local noir experts and authors Vince and Rosemarie Keenan taking over hosting duties February 17-20. Many of the series’ films feature actresses profiled in Muller’s 2002 book “Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir,” which is being reissued in April 2025 in a newly revised and expanded edition.

Opening Night on February 14 will feature the Dmitri Matheny Quintet, who will be performing jazz from the silver screen at the theater beginning at 5:30pm. Lyrical flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny will be joined by his all-star band prior to the screening of The Narrow Margin.

The annual series moves to SIFF Cinema Downtown for 2025 while work at SIFF Cinema Egyptian continues from the November 2024 pipe leak that temporarily shuttered the theater. SIFF acquired SIFF Cinema Downtown (the former Seattle Cinerama) and reopened the theater to the public in December of 2023. This will be the first year the series is presented at the newly reopened venue.

PASSES
Member: $133 | Non-Member: $158

INDIVIDUAL TICKETS
Member: $15.00 (on sale now) | Non-Member: $20.00 (on sale January 24 10:00am PT)

Reserved seating will not be available.

FULL SCHEDULE:
SIFF Cinema Downtown: February 14-20

Friday, February 14

6:30pm - The Narrow Margin (35mm): Set mostly on a train rife with killers, a tough cop (Charles McGraw) is assigned to haul a mobster’s wife to L.A. to testify against a gang of mobsters. Marie Windsor gives one of her signature performances in this inventive B film thriller.
(USA, 1952, 71 min., Richard Fleischer)

8:45pm - Hell's Half Acre (35mm): Ready for a hundred-proof dose of “Tiki Noir?” Evelyn Keyes goes undercover as a taxi-dancer in Honolulu’s notorious red-light district searching for her missing GI husband. Toss sultry and statuesque Marie Windsor into the mix and it’s noir Nirvana with a slack-key guitar soundtrack.
(USA, 1954, 90 min., John H. Auer)

Saturday, February 15

12:30pm - The Sleeping City (35mm): Cop Richard Conte poses as a doctor to investigate a murder in a big city hospital. Coleen Gray is the dedicated nurse who helps him get to the bottom of things—which may include the East River. Shot on location in New York City's Bellevue Hospital.
(USA, 1950, 86 min., George Sherman)

3:00pm - Mary Ryan, Detective (35mm): Intended as the first in a series of B features about an intrepid policewoman (stylish and vivacious Marsha Hunt), this engaging entry was the only one produced. Although modestly budgeted, it has a sharp and satisfying script from B veteran George Bricker, adept direction, and a supporting cast of B stalwarts such as John Litel, Harry Shannon, and June Vincent.
(USA, 1949, 68 min., Abby Berlin)

6:00pm - Out of the Past (35mm): Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas vie for the honor of being betrayed by Jane Greer, the most desirable of devil dolls, in this quintessential noir masterpiece. A grubby private eye (Mitchum) is hired by a sleek gangster (Douglas) to rein in his fugitive frail (Greer). Equal measures of poetry, poignancy, and hardboiled fatalism.
(USA, 1947, 97 min., Jacques Tourneur)

8:45pm - Cry Danger (35mm): Film Noir Foundation Restoration. When Rocky Mulloy (Dick Powell) is sprung from prison after serving five years on a robbery charge, he returns to Los Angeles looking to settle things with the crooks who set him up. A shady, wounded war vet (Richard Erdman) and his cellmate’s gorgeous wife (Rhonda Fleming) help him play cat-and-mouse with the local gangster (William Conrad) out to get him. A crackerjack crime film—short, smart, sassy, and full of surprises.
(USA, 1951, 79 min., Robert Parrish)

Sunday, February 16

12:30pm - Tension (35mm): Audrey Totter pulls out all the stops portraying her ultimate “bad girl,” vile voluptuary Claire Quimby, in one of the most underrated noir films of the forties. Richard Basehart plays a milquetoast pharmacist married to the over-sexed and chronically unfaithful Claire. But this sad sack has a plan to get revenge.
(USA, 1949, 95 min., John Berry)

3:00pm - Alias Nick Beal (35mm): This Faustian tale of soul corruption has campaigning politician Thomas Mitchell making a devilish pact with slick fixer Nick Beal (Ray Milland)—who may be Lucifer incarnate. Beal ensnares the faithful family man in a scandalous affair with delectable devil-doll Audrey Totter, over whom he casts a devious spell.
(USA, 1949, 93 min., John Farrow)

6:00pm - Caged (35mm): The best “women behind bars” movie ever made. Sentenced to prison for her role in a robbery that killed her husband, innocent Marie Allen (Oscar-nominated Eleanor Parker), undergoes a degrading transformation in the “joint.” Writer Virginia Kellogg went undercover as an inmate in several southern prisons to research the groundbreaking and controversial script.
(USA, 1950, 97 min., John Cromwell)

8:45pm - 99 River Street (35mm): Very few films captured as well as 99 River Street, the pulpy delights of 1950s paperback crime fiction, making this perhaps the signature film of slam-bang director Phil Karlson. Amid the gaggle of tough guys, Evelyn Keyes and Peggie Castle radiate sexy charisma. A “one long night” thriller that delivers nail-biting suspense start to finish.
(USA, 1953, 83 min., Phil Karlson)

Monday, February 17

6:00pm - Murder, My Sweet (35mm): Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell), quintessential L.A. private eye, searches for an ex-con’s girlfriend, but winds up swimming in deceit and double-crosses. A brilliant evocation of novelist Raymond Chandler’s favorite corrupt city, featuring tempting Claire Trevor as the femme fatale, a role that revamped her career.
(USA, 1944, 95 min., Edward Dmytryk)

8:45pm - My True Story (35mm): Mickey Rooney directed this unusual drama, produced in association with True Story magazine. Helen Walker (Nightmare Alley) gives a fantastic performance as an ex-con who gets railroaded into working with a gang of thieves who are after an unusual payoff—a supply of myrrh, the secret ingredient used in “Temptation” perfume.
(USA, 1951, 67 min., Mickey Rooney)

Tuesday, February 18

6:00pm - Raw Deal: Dennis O’Keefe busts out of prison hellbent on settling scores with double-crossing gangster Raymond Burr. Along for the ride are good-girl social worker Marsha Hunt and bad-girl gun moll Claire Trevor, duking it out for the soul of this vengeful homme fatale.
(USA, 1948, 79 min., Anthony Mann)

8:30pm - The Killing: You’ll think you’ve died and gone to hardboiled heaven. Or is it hell? Kubrick was only twenty-eight when he unleashed this twisty and twisted masterpiece studded with diamond-hard dialogue courtesy of pulp master Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden arranges a clockwork racetrack robbery only to learn the hard way what happens to best-laid plans.
(USA, 1956, 85 min., Stanley Kubrick)

Wednesday, February 19

6:00pm - Detour: Ann Savage’s ferocious performance as “Vera” is at the black heart of this classic—the ultimate in noir fatalism. Tom Neal plays Al Roberts who hitchhikes cross-country to reunite with his estranged girlfriend. Things go from bad to worse once vixenish vagabond Vera gets her hooks into him.
(USA, 1945, 68 min., Edgar G. Ulmer)

8:30pm - Phantom Lady (4K Restoration): Ella Raines is “one hep kitten” as she high-heels her way through the noir demimonde, searching for the one woman who can save her boss from a murder rap. Director Siodmak wrings every bit of shadowy mystery from the novel by master of suspense Cornell Woolrich. New 4K digital restoration!
(USA, 1944, 87 min., Robert Siodmak)

Thursday, February 20

6:00pm - The Long Wait: Johnny McBride (Anthony Quinn) is injured in a car accident and wakes to discover he has no memory and no fingerprints! Then he discovers he’s wanted for murder! This Mickey Spillane story has one of the genre’s kinkiest climaxes, making maximum use of fulsome fifties femme Peggie Castle.
(USA, 1954, 94 min., Victor Saville)

8:30pm - Ace in the Hole: On its release, critics called this the most bitter, cynical, mean-spirited movie ever made. It still might hold the honor. What’s certain is how scarily prescient Wilder’s tale of media manipulation turned out to be. Kirk Douglas is stupendously rotten as a reporter reclaiming the spotlight. A genuine masterpiece.
(USA, 1951, 111 min., Billy Wilder)

About SIFF:

Beginning in 1976 with the annual Seattle International Film Festival, then expanding into year-round programming, SIFF is a 501c3 cultural arts organization dedicated to the creation of vibrant experiences and spaces that champion film discovery and arts education. SIFF envisions a thriving arts ecosystem where film discovery encourages a more empathetic, joyful, and connected world.

In its four theaters, SIFF offers year-round screenings, Film Talks and a series of spotlight festivals throughout the year. SIFF also serves the community through educational programs and SIFFsupports, a partnership program that hosts and provides technical support to a variety of special screenings and festivals.

For showtimes and event updates, visit siff.net.