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, 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.
Preface
1. The idea of film noir
2. The modernist crime novel and Hollywood noir
3. Censorship and politics in Hollywood noir
4. Budgets and critical discrimination
5. Styles of film noir
6. The afterlife of noir and the changing mediascape
Further reading
Index
"James Naremore, film noir's most subtle historian, has given us the most incisive, wide-ranging study of this powerful cinematic tradition. His book admirably analyzes trends in the critical literature, traces the social and cultural contexts of noir, and introduces strikingly original ideas—notably noir's ties to literary modernism. As a bonus, Naremore presents carefully judged and gracefully written appreciations of important movies from The Maltese Falcon to Mulholland Drive and beyond. His book is an indispensable work for both novice and connoisseur." - David Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison
ISBN : 9780198791744
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