Product Description

This examination of the cinematic style of film noir originals and their neo-noir remakes compares thirty-five films, beginning with Billy Wilder's classic Double Indemnity and concluding with Jim McBrides's Breathless. In-depth analyses of the films explain the qualities and characteristics of film noir, while providing critical readings of both the originals and the remakes. As this study reveals, the noir style significantly impacted American film and neo-noir remakes attest to its continued popularity in cinematic art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2756101 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 232 pages

Review
“...recommended for basic cinema collections serving lower/upper-division undergraduates.”–Choice

About the Author
RONALD SCHWARTZ is Professor of Romance Languages and Film at City University of New York.

Customer Reviews

Excellent noir survey
This book is an excellent introduction to the differences between classic film noir (1940-1960) and neo noir (post 1960). Schwartz does this by comparing classic film noirs which were later remade as neo-noirs. If you enjoy this film genre, you will find this tome a real treat. Recommended by all means.

How about some value for money
I paid a c-note for Brion's "Le Film Noir" back when a dollar was worth more than a Euro, but for this book? I saw the scintillating reviews (one posted in duplicate) and read it at the AMPAS library, which are the only shelves on which I would ever expect to find a publication from Greenwood (or McFarland or Scarecrow). This "tome" (who wrote that review?) is a lot less pretentious than Jon Tuska's "Dark Cinema," Greenwood's foundation noir text; but really, after Foster Hirsch and Silver & Ursini have both weighed in at length on neo-noir, was this book necessary? It is not exceptional if marginally enlightening, so for hard core noir readers only. If you really have a $100 to spare and want to fill out your a noir library, buy Detours & Lost Highways, The Noir Style, a couple of Noir Readers or some other essential book you may be missing and still have enough left over for the Warner Bros Noir Collection.

Noir Author Moves On
Since publication of this wonderful book in 2001 just before the 9/11 events which took place in Manhattan (it cost $75 then) and despite the scarcity of stills, RS finished a worthy paperback for Scarecrow Press entitled "Neo-Noir" viz. amazon.com for some controversial reviews. Also, after several years, the author completed "The Great Spanish Films from 1950," a magnum opus of 417 pages for Scarecrow which received a dazzling review from the American Reference Books Annual 2009, Vol. 40, item #1071 in which Prof. John Gillespie says the "author shown good judgment in choosing the films and in the text, has supplied a wealth of fascinating, readable material on the subject...recommended for large academic institutions and other libraries" and for anyone who wants to get an excellent grasp on Spanish Cinema from the fifties through the new millenium. It contains over 100 stills and is updated through 2008 as well as containing indices for Spain's Cinema Circle Awards and Goya Awards through 2008 (the equivalent of Spain's Oscar.) Schwartz is also working on a book tentatively titled "Film Noir Style."
12 May 2009