Description
Book SynopsisThis provocative and wide-ranging study revises and refreshes our understanding of noir's characters, themes, and cultural significance.
Trade ReviewDescribes film noir as a genre that challenges the American mythology of upward mobility and self-reinvention. Chronicle of Higher Education Only a few of the many books on film noir are essential. This is one of them... A smart, clearly written book. Choice Osteen has given us a fresh, discerning, and nuanced perspective on a popular style of Hollywood films during the period 1940-1960 and has proved a reliable guide down the sinuous twistings of 'Nightmare Alley.' -- Louis J. Kern Key Reporter
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Film Noir and the American Dream
1. "Someone Else's Nightmare": Exploring Noir Dreamscapes
2. Missing Persons: Self-Erasure and Reinvention
3. Vet Noir: Masculinity, Memory, and Trauma
4. Framed: Forging Noir Identities
5. Noir's Cars: Automobility and Amoral Space
6. Nocturnes in Black and Blue: Memory, Morality,and Jazz Melody
7. Femmes Vital: Film Noir and Women's Work
8. Left-Handed Endeavor: Crime, Capitalism, and the Hollywood Left
Conclusion: American Nightmares
Notes
Filmography
Works Cited
Index
