Film Noir: A Very Short Introduction

Description

James Naremore introduces film noir, highlighting key themes, films, and styles, and exploring why the genre is so difficult to categorize. First associated with Hollywood thrillers of the 1940s and 50s, film noir has become fully international in its nature and appeal, attracting the interest of great directors right up to our present time.

• Considers the fascinating genre of film noir, discussing what makes a film 'noirified', and why these films are so difficult to categorize
• Highlights the key themes, films, and styles of film noir
• Discusses some of the most iconic film noirs, among them The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, The Third Man, Chinatown, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Lost Highway
• Considers how noir also manifests in literature, theatre, radio, and television
• Written by the author of the prize-winning More Than Night
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over nine million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

James Naremore, Emeritus Chancellors' Professor, Indiana University

James Naremore is Emeritus Chancellors' Professor at Indiana University, where he taught literature and film courses in the departments of English, Comparative Literature, and Communication and Culture. He has lectured widely in the US, Britain, and Europe, and has been a guest professor at the University of Hamburg in Germany, the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and UCLA. His many writings on film, which have been translated into ten languages, include books on acting, genre, and theoretical issues; as well as on directors Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Vincente Minnelli, and Charles Burnett. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Gallery of Art, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was also awarded the President's Medal from Indiana University.

Table of Contents

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

Reviews

"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