There are four days to go before the lineup for NC 23 will be announced at NC Xmas. The festival theme "Face The Music" is the only clue we have to help identify the films prior to Eddie's annual dog-and-pony show.

Actually, we did get one other clue--it does appear that all of the titles in NC23 will be American. And if we are guessing that the theme refers to those noirs with nightclub settings, then we have a good source for at least listing the possible titles available to us in Vince Keenan's "Songbirds" article that appeared in what is still the best of the NC e-zine annuals (#4 from 2011). It's hard to believe that it has been that long ago, but there it is.

Vince didn't create a definitive list of these films in his entertaining gambol through the nightlife of noir, but we have filled in a few gaps below. The titles Vince identified are shown in bold type--a total of 26--and we've supplied an additional eleven (though one of those, THE WILD WILD ROSE, the 1960 Hong Kong noir version of CARMEN featuring the fabulous Grace Chang--which we screened in 2015 at the Roxie in our first A RARE NOIR IS GOOD TO FIND--is almost certainly not going to be in the lineup).

But with 36 titles to choose from, we probably have 90% of the titles that will be announced to the NC Xmas throng on Wednesday.

We'll see how many surprises Eddie has up his sleeve...

BLUES IN THE NIGHT (1941)
I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941)
THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942)
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (1944)
DETOUR (1945)

MILDRED PIERCE (1945)
GILDA (1946)
MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL (1946)
BLACK ANGEL (1946)**
THE KILLERS (1946)

DEAD RECKONING (1947)
THE FLAME (1947)
I WALK ALONE (1947)
THE MAN I LOVE (1947)
NORA PRENTISS (1947)

ROAD HOUSE (1948)
RACE STREET (1948)
THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1948)
SCENE OF THE CRIME (1949)
DARK CITY (1950)

IN A LONELY PLACE (1950)
THE SCARF (!851)
THE RACKET (1951)
THE BIG NIGHT (1951)
DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952)

AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD (1952)
HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1952)
VICKI (1953)
PRIVATE HELL 36 (1954)
NAKED ALIBI (1954)

THE PHENIX CITY STORY (1955)
KISS ME DEADLY (1955)
LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955)
THE HOUSTON STORY (1957)
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958)

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959)
THE WILD WILD ROSE (1960, Hong Kong)

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**probably the biggest omission by Vince in his article--it's virtually all about music!