u/AzoHundred1353

For those that don't know, Eddie Muller, the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is also the President of the Film Noir Foundation and does a regular podcast-type Q&A video series called Ask Eddie on the Foundation YouTube channel, NoirCity, with the Director of Communications, Anne Hockens. For years, it's been a very fun and instructive series for fans of film noir, neo-noir and classic/global cinema in general, with occasional discussion of modern non-noir movies too. So as a sidenote, I highly recommend it for those that find that interesting, to me it's been a real hidden gem.

With Ben Mankiewicz' recent visit to the closet, I noticed that many were hoping that Eddie Muller could visit it one day. Which got me remembering that he said he did, but it was a trip that wasn't recorded on video. One could call it a secret trip to keep in line with mystery noirs and such, heh. Well, until it wasn't a secret, at least. On the episode from June 11, 2026, someone asked him and Anne what their hypothetical picks from the Criterion Closet would be. Eddie quickly pointed out that he actually has been to the closet and has a picture of his visit somewhere, and after letting Anne give her hypothetical picks, he told his actual picks from the closet and showed them on screen.

For some of his brief reasoning on why he chose his picks, here it goes:

1. Mulholland Drive by David Lynch (It's one of Eddie's favorites, in his Letterboxd Four Faves even, and he wanted the full 4K package.)

2. Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock (Again, it's a favorite of his.)

3. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion by Elio Petri (He's never seen this one before but has heard about it a lot, so he got it for that reason.)

4. Leave Her to Heaven by John M. Stahl (Another favorite, he's particularly a fan of the cinematography so he wanted as good a copy as he could get.)

5. Don't Look Now by Nicolas Roeg (Another favorite, he called it his favorite scary movie of all time and one of the great cinema achievements.)

6. Gate of Hell by Teinosuke Kinugasa (He hasn't seen this one, but has heard of it and its acclaim, so he got it.)

7. One False Move by Carl Franklin (He considers this one of the great crime films of recent-ish times, and he didn't have a copy, so he got it)

8. Two-Lane Blacktop by Monte Hellman (He hasn't seen this one in decades, so he wanted to revisit it.)

9. The Ranown Westerns Box Set by Budd Boetticher - This consists of 5 films, namely: The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station (Eddie's a huge fan of these and has called them Western Noir before as well.)

10. The Complete Jacques Tati Box Set - This consists of Six feature films, namely: Jour de fête, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, Mon oncle, PlayTime, Trafic, and Parade (He said he's seen three of Tati's films, and now he can see the rest.)

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Anne Hockens' hypothetical picks too. So as a bonus, I might as well here. She has not been to the Criterion Closet, so she used her copies that she already owns to show what she would pick for a visit video:

1. All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk (She admires Sirk's films very much, and it's her favorite Rock Hudson film.)

2. I Walked with a Zombie by Jacques Tourneur and The Seventh Victim by Mark Robson: Produced by Val Lewton set (She's a huge fan of the Val Lewton-produced cycle of Horror Noir.)

3. Cat People by Jacques Tourneur and also Produced by Val Lewton (Again, she's a Val Lewton Horror Noir fan.)

4. Peeping Tom by Michael Powell (She calls the film brilliant and mentions the hit that Powell's career unfortunately took because of it.)

5. The Third Man by Carol Reed (Another favorite film of hers, and also a favorite of her father.)

6. Army of Shadows by Jean-Pierre Melville (She's a huge Melville fan, and considers this his best film and most personal/powerful.)

7. Le Cercle Rouge by Jean-Pierre Melville (Again, she's a Melville fan and considers this her favorite film of his for fun and rewatchability.)

8. Tokyo Drifter by Seijun Suzuki (She mentioned that Suzuki said "I couldn't afford special effects, so color was my special effect." She also compared it to a Vincente Minnelli musical but as a Yakuza film.)

9. Tokyo Story by Yasujirō Ozu (She's a huge Ozu fan, says it would be very hard to pick just one Ozu film, but that's the one she would go with.)

For those wanting to hear them speak more about their picks, it's this specific episode at 1:24:33 and I believe I left a timestamp in the comments there somewhere if you need it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=jBk7UkEbcRQ