A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir PDF Download

Author: John Grant
Publisher: Limelight Editions
ISBN: 9781557838315
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 765

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Book Description
Offers a reference guide to film noir, extending from relevant films from before the genre was established to contemporary neonoirs and other types of film derived from the genre.

Author: Eddie Robson
Publisher: Virgin Books Limited
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Hollywood showed its dark side in the 1940s and 50s with a wave of highly stylized movies featuring sinister plots, shady characters, sexual tension, chaos and confusion. These films have fascinated critics, students, moviegoers, and moviemakers ever since. Classics including THE MALTESE FALCON, THE BIG SLEEP, and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE are analysed, with iconic actors, such as Robert Mitchum and legendary directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles profiled.

Author: Andrew Spicer
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810873788
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 533

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Book Description
Film noir_literally 'black cinema'_is the label customarily given to a group of black and white American films, mostly crime thrillers, made between 1940 and 1959. Today there is considerable dispute about what are the shared features that classify a noir film, and therefore which films should be included in this category. These problems are partly caused because film noir is a retrospective label that was not used in the 1940s or 1950s by the film industry as a production category and therefore its existence and features cannot be established through reference to trade documents. The Historical Dictionary of Film Noir is a comprehensive guide that ranges from 1940 to present day neo-noir. It consists of a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, a filmography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on every aspect of film noir and neo-noir, including key films, personnel (actors, cinematographers, composers, directors, producers, set designers, and writers), themes, issues, influences, visual style, cycles of films (e.g. amnesiac noirs), the representation of the city and gender, other forms (comics/graphic novels, television, and videogames), and noir's presence in world cinema. It is an essential reference work for all those interested in this important cultural phenomenon.

Author: Ian Cameron
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780289800485
Category : Film noir
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This illustrated volume covers the films, directors and themes of the film noir genre 1945-1955. Including an analysis of film noir classics such as "Double Indemnity" and "The Big Sleep", it shows how the shadowy world portrayed related to social and political uncertainties of the McCarthy era.

Author: Michael F. Keaney
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147660438X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
This work presents 369 British films produced between 1937 and 1964 that embody many of the same filmic qualities as those "black films" made in the United States during the classic film noir era. This reference work makes a case for the inclusion of the British films in the film noir canon, which is still considered by some to be an exclusively American inventory. In the book's main section, the following information is presented for each film: a quote from the film; the title and release date; a rating based on the five-star system; the production company, director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and main performers; and a plot synopsis with author commentary. Appendices categorize films by rating, release date, director and cinematographer and also provide a noir and non-noir breakdown of the 47 films presented on the Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre, a 1960s British television series that was also shown in the United States.

Author: Alain Silver
Publisher: Overlook
ISBN: 9780715637302
Category : Film noir
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
Beginning with a general overview of film noir and covering its most important themes chapter by chapter (lovers plan murder, corrupt police, doomed love, psychological noir, etc.), this copiously illustrated handbook provides instant and in-depth access to the film noir genre for amateurs and aficionados alike. Among the films covered are these "Top Ten": "Double Indemnity", "Kiss Me Deadly", "Gun Crazy", "Criss Cross", "Detour", "In A Lonely Place", "T-Men", "Out of the Past", "The Reckless Moment", and "Touch of Evil".

Author: Patton Oswalt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451673221
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakable addiction. It wasn't drugs, alcohol or sex: it was film. After moving to L.A., Oswalt became a huge film buff (or as he calls it, a sprocket fiend), absorbing classics, cult hits, and new releases at the New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton's life schoolbook, informing his notion of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships. Set in the nascent days of L.A.'s alternative comedy scene, Oswalt's memoir chronicles his journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective and a cast of now-notable young comedians supporting him all along the way"--

Author: Kimberly Truhler
Publisher: Goodknight Books
ISBN: 9781732273597
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Explores twenty definitive film noir titles from 1941 to 1950 and traces the evolution of popular fashion in the decade of the 1940s, the impact of World War II on home-front fashion, and the influence of the film noir genre on popular fashion.

Author: Bruce Crowther
Publisher: Burns & Oates
ISBN:
Category : Film noir
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description

Author: Mark T. Conard
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813171709
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
A drifter with no name and no past, driven purely by desire, is convinced by a beautiful woman to murder her husband. A hard-drinking detective down on his luck becomes involved with a gang of criminals in pursuit of a priceless artifact. The stories are at once romantic, pessimistic, filled with anxiety and a sense of alienation, and they define the essence of film noir. Noir emerged as a prominent American film genre in the early 1940s, distinguishable by its use of unusual lighting, sinister plots, mysterious characters, and dark themes. From The Maltese Falcon (1941) to Touch of Evil (1958), films from this classic period reflect an atmosphere of corruption and social decay that attracted such accomplished directors as John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and Orson Welles. The Philosophy of Film Noir is the first volume to focus exclusively on the philosophical underpinnings of these iconic films. Drawing on the work of diverse thinkers, from the French existentialist Albert Camus to the Frankurt school theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, the volume connects film noir to the philosophical questions of a modern, often nihilistic, world. Opening with an examination of what constitutes noir cinema, the book interprets the philosophical elements consistently present in the films—themes such as moral ambiguity, reason versus passion, and pessimism. The contributors to the volume also argue that the essence and elements of noir have fundamentally influenced movies outside of the traditional noir period. Neo-noir films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Fight Club (1999), and Memento (2000) have reintroduced the genre to a contemporary audience. As they assess the concepts present in individual films, the contributors also illuminate and explore the philosophical themes that surface in popular culture. A close examination of one of the most significant artistic movements of the twentieth century, The Philosophy of Film Noir reinvigorates an intellectual discussion at the intersection of popular culture and philosophy.