Film Noir - Softcover

Alain Silver; James Ursini

4.33

207 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3822835803 ISBN 13: 9783822835807

Publisher: Taschen GmbH, 2004

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(Applause Books). Film noir is one of the most enduring and popular genres in cinema. But it did not spring up spontaneously, fully formed. Rather, its origins can be traced to sources as varied as Victorian literature, German Expressionism, and American art and photography. In this comprehensive collection of essays that's packed with illustrations and artwork, a team of eminent scholars and film writers present thorough analyses of the influence of prototypes on the classic period of film noir. Some essays focus on particularly influential genres, such as the rogue cop film and "gothic" thrillers; while others discuss the choices of individual filmmakers, including John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock, in their most well-loved films. The editors and all of the featured contributors Sheri Chinen Biesen, Todd Erickson, Richard Edwards, Julie Grossman, Robert Miklitsch, Homer Pettey, Robert Porfirio, Tom Ryall, Marlisa Santos, Jesse Schlotterbeck, and Tony Williams are noted scholars in the field of film noir, most of whom have written book-length studies of their own. From the gangster and horror genres to social realism and Hitchcock's spy films of the 1930s, Film Noir Prototypes offers compelling accounts of the genre's influences. As befits the topic, over 300 illustrations keyed to the text capture the richness and breadth of the classic period's imagery.

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About the Author:

ALAIN SILVER (Los Angeles, CA) has written or edited almost 30 books, many of which focus on the noir movement, such as The Noir Style and The Film Noir Jigsaw. His articles have appeared in Film Comment, Movie (UK), Wide Angle, Literature/Film Quarterly, and Photon. His filmed screenplays include White Nights (from Dostoyevsky), the Showtime feature Time at the Top, Nightcomer (which he also directed), and Sacred Blood. He has also produced more than two dozen independent features, ranging from Cyborg 2 to the recent Torch. He has commented about noir in numerous interviews and on classic period titles released on DVD.JAMES URSINI (Los Angeles, CA) co-wrote and co-edited Film Noir the Encyclopaedia, the Film Noir Reader series and many other books and anthologies. His film noir DVD commentaries (most often with Alain Silver) range from Out of the Past and The Dark Corner to the more recent Criterion releases of Kiss Me Deadly and Ride the Pink Horse. He has been a producer on features and documentaries, wrote and co-directed the independent neo-noir Nasty Piece of Work, and has lectured on filmmaking at UCLA and other colleges in the Los Angeles area.

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