Noir City Fit to Print Edition

Things have been a mite hectic around here. So much so that I neglected to trumpet from the rooftops that the latest issue of Noir City, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation, came out this month, and it’s a particularly special one. Our one-of-a-kind cover story is the reason why.

Gloria Grahame is perhaps the most popular actress in all of film noir. The details of her life have been well-documented. Offering a fascinating and fresh perspective on her legacy: Emmy Award winner Dana Delany, who candidly admits that Gloria has been her lifelong muse. Dana’s heartfelt, meticulously researched essay is a unique opportunity to venture inside the craft, “actor to actor.”

Working with Dana on this story was an absolute joy, and the result speaks for itself. I was remiss in not posting this update before Dana made her debut appearance on TCM’s Noir Alley alongside FNF honcho Eddie Muller introducing Gloria in Human Desire (1954), but if you hurry you can read Dana’s work before she returns to the show on Saturday, October 2 (with a repeat broadcast on Sunday, October 3) for more Gloria with The Glass Wall (1953).

Also in this issue—

Randy Dotinga on how classic film noir hid LGBTQ characters in plain sight;

Nora Fiore, Twitter’s Nitrate Diva, surveys astrology in crime films;

Nathalie Atkinson interviews Pornsak Pichetshote, writer of the new noir comic The Good Asian;

Eddie Muller tells the story behind the noir-stained paintings of the outsider artist known as Ely Legerdemain;

Novelist S.A. Cosby—you’ve read his books Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, right?—explains why Point Blank (1967) is his favorite neo-noir;

And more.

I’ve got my usual column, a few book reviews, and a conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, whose Velvet Was the Night is the noir novel of this summer.

The best way to get Noir City is to contribute twenty dollars or more to the FNF and its ongoing campaign to restore and preserve film noir. But now there’s a whole new wrinkle.

We’ve launched a print edition of Noir City, available via Amazon’s print on demand service. If you thought ace designer Michael Kronenberg’s graphics looked stunning in our digital mag, wait till you see his handiwork in hard copy.

While you’re at it, why not pick up our debut print edition, the Modern Noir Master issue from earlier in 2021 featuring m’colleague Ray Banks’s interview with filmmaker Mike Hodges—and exclusive testimonials from Hodges’s frequent collaborators Michael Caine (Get Carter, Pulp) and Clive Owen (Croupier, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead)?

What the hell, I might as well beat all the drums and hip you to the latest edition of our Noir City Annual, featuring the best the magazine published in 2020. The year’s installment is a few months late—thanks, Covid—but the writing remains as fresh as ever. It’s the first book I’ve ever edited, and I’m proud of it. Stock up on your noir reading as shadows begin to lengthen.