Film Noir Production

Film Noir Style: The Killer 1940s looks at the fashions of the femmes fatales who were so good at being bad, and the suits and trench coats of definitive noir actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd. Film and fashion historian Kimberly Truhler explores twenty definitive film noir titles from 1941 to 1950 and traces the evolution of popular fashion in the decade of the '40s, the impact of World War II on home-front fashion, and the influence of the film noir genre on popular fashion then and now. Meet not only the fabulous women of noir, including Betty Grable, Veronica Lake, Gene Tierney, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, and many others, but also the costume designers that created and recreated these famous stars as killers—and worse—through the clothes they wore.

David Landau’s Film Noir Production: The Whodunit of the Classic American Mystery Film is a book meant for those who like a good story, one the Noir Films always delivered, concentrating on the characters more than anything else. Readers will find in these pages many behind-the-scenes tales of the productions of certain hard-boiled film classics and the prime players involved in their creation, from Darryl Zanuck and Raymond Chandler to John Seitz and Billy Wilder. This book features: A clear understanding of how movies are actually made and all the creative artists that contribute, creating a better appreciation for the many talented artistic collaborators that worked in the Hollywood Studio System and who together created film noir. A behind-the-scenes look at the making of a classic film noir movie that typifies the chapter’s subject, allowing the reader to view that film in a new light and think about it from a new prospective. Appendices of suggested films to screen, film noir books for further reading, and downloadable files containing discussion points and class assignments for each chapter. An informative and conversational writing style, making the subject matter easy to digest and fun to read. This book is an indispensible companion text for anyone studying or interested in film noir, film history, the bygone days of the Hollywood film factories or how movies are actually made.

This first book published on film noir established the genre--a classic, at last in translation.

Introduction. -- Theory of genre. -- Film noir: the genre defined. -- Objections. -- Style. -- Period style. -- Alfred Hitchcock. -- Meanings. -- Last words.

Film noir, one of the most intriguing yet difficult to define terms in cinema history, is usually associated with a series of darkly seductive Hollywood thrillers from the 1940s and 50s - shadowy, black-and-white pictures about private eyes, femme fatales, outlaw lovers, criminal heists, corrupt police, and doomed or endangered outsiders. But as this VSI demonstrates, film noir actually predates the 1940s and has never been confined to Hollywood. International in scope, its various manifestations have spread across generic categories, attracted the interest of the world's great directors, and continue to appear even today. In this Very Short Introduction James Naremore shows how the term film noir originated in in French literary and film criticism, and how later uses of the term travelled abroad, changing its implications. In the process, he comments on classic examples of the films and explores important aspects of their history: their critical reception, their major literary sources, their methods of dealing with censorship and budgets, their social and cultural politics, their variety of styles, and their future in a world of digital media and video streaming. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The iconic actor Charles McGraw appeared in over 140 roles on films and television, including the classic noir pictures The Killers (1946) and The Narrow Margin (1952). Whether portraying tough cops or sadistic killers, McGraw brought a unique authenticity to the screen. Emphasizing his impact on the film noir style, this comprehensive biography examines McGraw’s lengthy career against the backdrop of a changing Hollywood. Through numerous personal interviews with his surviving intimates, close acquaintances and co-workers, his tumultuous personal life is detailed from his earliest days to his bizarre, accidental death. Also included are an extensive critical filmography of McGraw’s feature film career, a complete list of television appearances and previously unpublished film stills and personal photos.

Film Noir is an overview of an often celebrated, but also contested, body of films. It discusses film noir as a cultural phenomenon whose history is more extensive and diverse than American black and white crime thrillers of the forties. An extended Background Chapter situates film noir within its cultural context, describing its origin in German Expressionism, French Poetic Realism and in developments within American genres, the gangster/crime thriller, horror and the Gothic romance and its possible relationship to changes in American society. Five chapters are devoted to ‘classic’ film noir (1940-59): chapters explore its contexts of production and reception, its visual style, and its narrative patterns and themes chapters on character types and star performances elucidate noir’s complex construction of gender with its weak, ambivalent males and predatory femmes fatales and also provide a detailed analysis of three noir auteurs, - Anthony Mann, Robert Siodmak and Fritz Lang Three chapters investigate ‘neo-noir’ and British film noir: chapters trace the complex evolution of ‘neo-noir’ in American cinema, from the modernist critiques of Night Moves and Taxi Driver, to the postmodern hybridity of contemporary noir including Seven, Pulp Fiction and Memento the final chapter surveys the development of British film noir, a significant and virtually unknown cinema, stretching from the thirties to Mike Hodges’ Croupier Films discussed include both little known examples and seminal works such as Double Indemnity, Scarlet Street, Kiss Me Deadly and Touch of Evil. A final section provides a guide to further reading, an extensive bibliography and a list of over 500 films referred to in the text. Lucidly written, Film Noir is an accessible, informative and stimulating introduction that will have a broad appeal to undergraduates, cinéastes, film teachers and researchers.

"Film Noir Fatal Women" focuses on a single aspect of film noir-America's only film movement. Its 400 illustrations reveal the graphic and sensory core of the femme fatale in noir's classic period. As both visual icon and dramatic persona, the Fatal Woman underlies countless doomed narratives of film noir. From torch singers to gun molls, secretaries to sociopaths, black widows to B-girls, both blondes and brunettes, abused and empowered, the entire catalogue is up for discussion"--