World Literature Today – July 01, 2019

A Chat with

Eddie Muller,

TCM’s “Czar

of Noir”

by J. Madison Davis

CRIME

&

MYSTERY

Eddie Muller: The job was twenty years in
the making, and in none of those years did
I imagine being a host on TCM. After I’d
written Dark City: The Lost World of Film
Noir in 1998, I was asked by the American
Cinematheque in Hollywood to program a
noir film festival largely based on the book.
Well, that festival is now in its twenty-first
year, and in the interim I’ve expanded the
festivals to eight other US cities, written
three more books on the subject (Dark City
Dames, The Art of Noir, and Gun Crazy: The
Origin of American Outlaw Cinema), and
founded the Film Noir Foundation, which

rescues and restores at-risk examples of film

noir. I’d crossed paths with the good folks at

TCM many times, and they recognized that

not only did I have a lot of credibility as an

“expert” on the subject, I was comfortable in

front of crowds and cameras. So they made

me an offer I couldn’t refuse. As if.

J. Madison Davis: Do you choose the selec-

tions, or are they regularly rotated to exploit

TCM’s vast library? I don’t envy you intro-

ducing such stuff as Howard Hughes’s pro-

duction of His Kind of Woman (1951) with

Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Vincent

Price playing the ham of the century. After

all, you can’t go on the air and say, “Here’s

two hours of your life you’ll never get back!”

Muller: I loved introducing His Kind of

Wo m a n—that might have been my favor-

ite intro to date. There’s such an amazing

backstory to the making of it. People often

tell me the wraparounds are more enjoy-

able than the films, which I appreciate—

but it also rankles me. I wish they could see

the same things I enjoy in the films, but I

don’t want to pontificate. I get some back-

lash when I color outside the proscribed

Eddie Muller, the host of “Noir Alley” on Turner Classic Movies, has what just might be the ideal job. TCM is a
cultural gem, a visual museum airing silent and foreign movies, curious travelogues, godawful comedies, and all
the great movies as well—not to mention all those “B” noirs Muller shares with us. Muller’s website calls him a
“wordslinger,” “impresario,” and “noirchaeologist,” but even before TCM put him on the air, he had earned the
nickname of “Czar of Noir.”

10 W LT SUMMER 2019