The Panasonic FX-500 claims to have all manner of manual adjustments in a swank, compact body. It's almost certainly got the same sorts of high-ISO noise issues as any other unnecessarily high ISO compact.

There are also several older Panasonic cameras that are co-branded with Leica. I think some of those have raw modes, which is a good thing. I guess the new Canon G9 also has a raw mode. The nice thing about raw is that it gives you some ability to make your own tradeoffs about noise reduction vs. resolution, never mind the ability to aggressively fix incorrect exposures, white balances, and so forth.

I would have suggested the new Sigma DP-1, but DPReview's review, which discusses how staggeringly slow the camera is, makes it sound like speed issues are a deal-breaker. Too bad, because it's exactly the right idea.

I suppose you could always pony up for a Leica M8...