Description
Book SynopsisFilm Noir offers new perspectives on this highly popular and influential film genre, providing a useful overview of its historical evolution and the many critical debates over its stylistic elements.
Trade Review“It is the most comprehensive and lucid study of the genre I have read … I was also impressed with Luhr's handling of the shift in Hollywood from the 1930s to 1940s. The morally compromised "heroes" of the 1940s were unthinkable in the 1930s. Like all good film critics, Luhr makes me want to see my favorite films again because he has shown me things I missed. And then there are all those films I didn't see that are now on my list because of William Luhr.” (Carl Rollyson, 16 June 2012)
Table of ContentsList of Plates ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Historical Overview 20
3 Critical Overview 50
4 Murder, My Sweet 73
5 Out of the Past 100
6 Kiss Me Deadly 123
7 The Long Goodbye 146
8 Chinatown 171
9 Seven 191
Afterword 215
References 217
Further Reading 223
Index 225
