Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Standard histories of film noir commence the coining of the term (which means "black film") by French writers in the years after the war when they saw a new mingling of grit, wit, and swooning Thanatos in movies like The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. Alain Silver's and James Ursini's nearly libidinous collection of "duo-tone" (i.e., black and white) movie stills reaches far afield, finding noir's style radiating from the Brucke painters in the 1920s, Edward Hopper's wee-small-hours townscapes of the 1940s, and Weegee's bloody, beautiful photos. In page after oversized page, the authors park perceptive readings beside images of classic rainy streets (Underworld, USA, The Money Trap), doomy women in lipstick (Laura, Gilda), disturbed interiors (Sunset Boulevard), and wrenching ironies (DOA). The commentary reveals how light, frame, composition, body language, and a few other irreducibles charge individual scenes and contribute to the look of noir as a whole, beginning with gangster and horror films in the 1930s and closing with Silence of the Lambs in 1992. The texts lapse occasionally into heavy breathing about Meaning, but the authors invite us to get what we want from this most stylish of American movie genres by just flipping the pages. With hardly a cliché image in the bunch, we can eagerly fall afresh into Jane Russell's outstretched arms (in Macao), zoom down the black sidewalk stretching behind a dying John Garfield (in He Ran All the Way), and contemplate once more the tissue of lies between Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon. --Lyall Bush
Book Description
The first illustrated book to capture the inimitable look and style of film noir
In The Noir Style, Alain Silver and James Ursini return to the subject for which they are famous, analyzing the look of film noir from the classic period (The Maltese Falcon in 1941 through Touch of Evil in 1958) through to the present day. Replete with sinister and scintillating black and white photos--both interior design shots that define the look of noir, and production stills from such noir gems as Out of the Past and The Killers--this book handsomely and uniquely illustrates the graphic impact of film noir, in images that practically speak for themselves.
The accompanying text explores noir's origins while devoting individual chapters to explorations of such classic noir motifs as Night and the City and the Deadly Female. A lavishly elegant book--10 x 11 format, four-color jacket, and duotone prints throughout--The Noir Style is the most engaging and informative addition to the literature of film in years.
Praise for Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style:
"It's what you always want in a film reference book, but rarely find: comprehensive, intelligently organized, voluminously illustrated, and possessed of its own distinctive voice."
--Lawrence Kasdan
The Noir Style
The Noir Style,Alain Silver,James Ursini,Overlook Hardcover,0879517220,Film & Video - General,Film & Video - History & Criticism,Film Noir,History and criticism,Performing Arts,Performing Arts/Dance,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,United States,Performing Arts / General
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