Alain Silver

James Ursini

(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.

Film Noir Prototypes

From Nosferatu to Interview with the Vampire

The Vampire Film

(Limelight). This bountiful anthology combines all the key early writings on film noir with many newer essays, including some published here for the first time. The collection is assembled by the editors of the Third Edition of Film Noir: An Enclyclopedic Reference to the American Style , now regarded as the standard work on the subject.

Film Noir Reader

Jürgen Müller

Paul Duncan

"Whether it's Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, or The Big Sleep, roam a screen world of dark and brooding elegance with this essential handbook to Film Noir. From private eyes and perfect crimes to corrupt cops and doomed affairs, editors Paul Duncan and Jürgen Müller examine noir's key themes and their most representative movies from 1940 to 1960."--Jacket flap.

Film noir

The photos in this book include production stills from many noir gems which illustrate the style and capture the impact of this atmospheric cinematic genre. The accompanying text explores the origins of noir and its history from the early 1940s to the present day.

Noir Style

"In this sumptuously illustrated volume, Alain Silver and James Ursini trace and discuss the appearance of the Vampire as a key figure in the folklore and literature (even comics) of many countries, including Central Europe, England, and the United States." -- Dust jacket.

In the 1930s the gangster film in the United States coincided with a very real and very sensational gangsterism at large in American society. Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932) borrowed liberally from the newspapers and books of the era. With the release of just these three motion pictures in barely more than a year's time, Hollywood quintessentially defined the genre. The characters, the situations, and the icons-from fast cars and tommy-guns to fancy fedoras and fancier molls-established the audience expectations associated with the gangster film that remain in force to this day. As with their Film Noir Reader series, using both reprints of seminal articles and new pieces, editors Silver and Ursini have assembled a group of essays that presents an exhaustive overview of this still vital genre. Reprints of work by such well-known film historians as Robin Wood, Andrew Sarris, Carlos Clarens, Paul Schrader, and Stuart Kaminsky explore the evolution of the gangster film through the 1970s and The Godfather. Parts 2 and 3 comprise two dozen newer articles, most of them written expressly for this volume by Ursini and Silver. These case studies and thematic analyses, from White Heat to the remake of Scarface to "The Sopranos," complete the anthology.

The Gangster Film Reader

Dominique Mainon

(Limelight). From the femme fatale of the early cinema to her post-feminist rebirth, this lavishly illustrated book and comprehensive guide traces the history of these dangerously alluring, manipulative, and desperate lethal ladies. Femme Fatale surveys the history of the femme fatale in world cinema, with more than 300 photographs testifying to the power of these mysterious women. The book begins with the silent period and its vamps, like Theda Bara, Pola Negri, Clara Bow, and Bebe Daniels, then moves on to the Pre-Code sound period of American films, which, showing liberated attitudes toward sex and women, featured actresses like Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich, and Greta Garbo. The story continues with the noir 1940s, when the femme fatale became truly lethal including actresses like Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Barbara Stanwyck. In the repressive 1950s, the international femme fatale took the fore Brigitte Bardot, Maria Felix, Elizabeth Taylor, Anita Ekberg, etc. Finally, the authors turn to the revolutionary post-feminist modern period, with an array of lethal ladies from all over the world, like Pam Grier, Salma Hayek, Gong Li, Angelina Jolie, and Sharon Stone.

Cinema's Most Unforgettable Lethal Ladies

Femme Fatale

Beginning with a general overview of film noir and covering its most important themes, this illustrated handbook provides instant and in-depth access to the film noir genre. Films covered include 'Double Indemnity', 'Kiss Me Deadly', 'Gun Crazy', 'Criss Cross' and 'Detour'.

Film Noir

This anthology of 20 essays features a mix of overview pieces, studies of individual films or series, genre perspectives, and auteurist analyses. The first nine essays are reprints from 1952-1975. There are numerous black and white movie stills. No index is provided. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The Horror Film Reader

Biographie visuelle de l'acteur avec environ 150 photographies, une introduction concise et des anecdotes.

Bogart

Robert Porfirio

(Limelight). Departing from the approach of its Film Noir Reader predecessors, this third volume in the series assembles a collection of interviews with film noir directors and a cinematographer, few of whom are alive today. Interviewees include Billy Wilder ( Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard ), Otto Preminger ( Laura ), Joseph Lewis ( Gun Crazy and The Big Combo ), Curtis Bernhardt ( Possessed and A Stolen Life ), Edward Dmytryk ( Murder, My Sweet and Crossfire ), and Fritz Lang ( Scarlet Street and The Woman in the Window ).

Interviews with Filmmakers of the Classic Noir Period

Film Noir Reader 3

Cinema of Obsession traces the history of obsessive love and erotic fixation. Seminal works of obsession, The Blue Angel, Peter Ibbetson, and Phantom of the Opera are seen as setting the groundwork for films that follow. The book defines and surveys examples of the explosive nature of amour fou, issues of male control (no matter how tenuous), and the fugitive couple - love on the run - in such films as Romeo and Juliet, Last Tango in Paris, Vertigo, Basic Instinct, and Wild at Heart. Male masochism is explored through film noirs, including Criss Cross, The Killers, Gilda, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. The book shifts gears in its finale and concentrates on the female gaze, films of female obsession: Jane Eyre, The Piano, The Lover, Fatal Attraction, and Vanilla Sky.

Erotic Fixation and Love Gone Wrong in the Movies

Cinema of Obsession

Presents an overview of the characters, themes, and motifs featured in film noir, including contemporary contributions to the genre.

The Encyclopedia

Los Angeles has always been as much a star in film noir as any actor, be it Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner or Jack Nicholson. In L.A. Noir: The City as Character renowned film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini explore the world of noir cinema in the context of Los Angeles. The book features dozens of noir and neo-noir landmark films from Double Indemnity, Criss Cross, Sunset Boulevard, Gun Crazy, The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, and Touch of Evil in the classic period (1940-1960) to such neo-noir notables as Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Mulholland Drive, and Pulp Fiction. L.A. Noir illustrates how these noir films use L.A.'s diverse cityscape and architecture to convey a unique vision of urban corruption and existential fatalism, not only in the ever-changing, chaotic downtown of Bunker Hill, Main Street, and Chinatown, but in its affluent coastal communities (Santa Monica, Malibu) as well as its deceptively sunny suburbs (South Bay, San Fernando Valley). The authors deftly analyze the key films of noir while integrating them into the geography and history of this "dark city" which became such an important icon of noir literature and film. L.A. Noir is profusely illustrated with approximately 150 photographs-many of them appearing in print for the very first time-including production stills from the movies discussed, archival photos of the locations from the films and new photographs of the locations today, chronicling the ever-changing cityscape of this noir character-Los Angeles.

The City as Character

L.A. Noir

From the femme fatale of the early cinema to her post-feminist rebirth this lavishly illustrated book and comprehensive guide traces the history of these dangerously alluring manipulative and desperate lethal ladies. ÊFemme FataleÊ surveys the history of the femme fatale in world cinema with more than 300 photographs testifying to the power of these mysterious women. The book begins with the silent period and its vamps like Theda Bara Pola Negri Clara Bow and Bebe Daniels then moves on to the Pre-Code sound period of American films which showing liberated attitudes toward sex and women featured actresses like Jean Harlow Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. The story continues with the noir 1940s when the femme fatale became truly lethal ä including actresses like Ava Gardner Rita Hayworth and Barbara Stanwyck. In the repressive 1950s the international femme fatale took the fore ä Brigitte Bardot Maria Felix Elizabeth Taylor Anita Ekberg etc. Finally the authors turn to the revolutionary post-feminist modern period with an array of lethal ladies from all over the world like Pam Grier Salma Hayek Gong Li Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone.

The sweep of the book encompasses almost two centuries as it reconsiders in detail such classics of literature as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

Masterpieces of Supernatural Horror, from Mary Shelley to Stephen King, in Literature and Film

More Things Than are Dreamt of

(Book). The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen documents the public's seemingly insatiable fascination with the warrior woman archetype in film and on television. The book examines the cautious beginnings of new roles for women in the late fifties, the rapid development of female action leads during the burgeoning second-wave feminist movement in the late sixties and seventies, and the present-day onslaught of female action characters now leaping from page to screen. The book itself is organized into chapters that group women warriors into sub-genres, e.g., classic Amazons like Xena Warrior Princess and the women of the Conan films; superheroes and their archenemies such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Catwoman; revenge films such as the Kill Bill movies; Sexploitation and Blaxploitation films such as Coffy and the Ilsa trilogy; Hong Kong cinema and warriors like Angela Mao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zhang Ziyi; sci-fi warriors from Star Trek , Blade Runner , and Star Wars ; supersleuths and spies like the Avengers and Charlie's Angels; and gothic warriors such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Van Helsing . In addition, the book is lavishly illustrated with over 400 photos of these popular-culture icons in action, interesting articles and sidebars about themes, trends, weapons, style, and trivia, as well as a complete filmography of more than 150 titles.

Warrior Women on Screen

Modern Amazons

Discusses the history of the zombie film genre and includes a comprehensive zombie filmography.

James Ursini

About

Books

Join the club