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The Ambler Theater is hosting NOIR CITY: Philadelphia 2026 from Nov. 13-15, featuring nine classic movies in the genre’s iconic black-and-white.
Eddie Muller, host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies and founder of the Film Noir Foundation, will introduce each movie and moderate two events.
“NOIR CITY: Philadelphia is a huge, big deal for the Ambler Theater,” said John Toner, founding director of the Ambler Theater.
Each film will align with the theme of the weekend: “Face The Music.” While passes for the entire weekend are sold out, tickets for individual films are available.
“Tickets are going quickly,” Toner said. “We expect to have sellouts for all the films. So if you’re interested in coming, don’t delay. Get your tickets now.”
The slate of movies includes “Black Angel,” “The Yellow Canary,” “The Man with the Golden Arm,” “The Man I Love,” “Hangover Square,” “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “Young Man with a Horn,” “Sweet Smell of Success” and “Humoresque.”
The Ambler Theater is a part of Renew Theaters, a nonprofit theater chain that also operates the County Theater in Doylestown, the Hiway Theater in Jenkintown and the Princeton Garden Theatre in Princeton. The Ambler Theater is just one of only 27 exhibitors in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with the ability to show analog film.
“It’s very important to our mission that we show classic films. We show as many as we can on 35mm. We’ll be showing two films in this festival on 35mm,” Toner said. “The rest are digital.”
Film noir is an old-school style of filmmaking famous for its cynical protagonists, crime-riddled plots and dark, black-and-white visual aesthetics. However, it can be hard to pin down the genre’s conventions. Muller said that’s why it maintains an “allure.”
“This debate about what actually is it is part of the reason it stays so interesting,” Muller said.
