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Film Noir (Pocket Essentials)

Film Noir (Pocket Essentials)
By Paul Duncan

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Product Description

The laconic private eye . . . the corrupt cop . . . the heist that goes wrong . . . the femme fatale with the rich husband and dim lover—all are trademark characters of the movement known as film noir, that elusive mixture of stark lighting and even starker emotions. "Noir" explores the dark side of post-war society—gangsters, hoodlums, prostitutes, and killers—and shows how it corrupted the good and the beautiful. Many of these films are now touchstones of classic Hollywood—The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Double Indemnity (1944), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). This Pocket Essential charts the progression of the noir style as a vehicle for filmmakers, who wanted to record the darkness at the heart of American society as it emerged from World War into Cold War. As well as an introductory essay on the origins of film noir, this guide discusses all the classics from the heyday of the movement in detail and includes a handy reference section for readers who want to know more.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #2389832 in Books
  • Published on: 2000-07
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 78 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Duncan has written Pocket Essentials on Alfred Hitchcock, Noir Fiction, and Stanley Bergman.

Customer Reviews

Handy, quick reference to Film Noir5
As someone who likes to dabble in film studies and is looking for some guidance into watching films with a more critical eye, this is an excellent, little introduction into Film Noir. The author gives a brief history (we are talking about only a handful of pages) of film noir and follows up by summarizing and analizing seven films that help define the genre. None of this is meant to be comprehensive, but it does serve to give the reader a good feel for the entire film genre. Perhaps the best feature of the book is a 40+ page, annotated listing of Film Noir films--a great feature for any one wanting to watch more Film Noir but not knowing which titles to start with.

My only complaint is that the writing is often fragmented and not always thoroughly worked through. It seems to me that there could have been some more editorial guidance in creating the final product.

Worth buying for extensive list of noir titles3
These brief vademecums, or "idiots'" guides, are generally a waste of time and money. This one, however, provides a valuable consumer resource: an extensive list of films noirs, with minimal information (director, studio, one or two starring actors, year, brief plot summary). It's far more complete a list than is contained (for instance) in the venerable compendium Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, and it helps to identify films of interest that may be coming up on cable movie channels at 4a.m. Plus, it's cheap enough.