In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity

by Frank Krutnik

Taking issue with many orthodox views of Film Noir, Frank Krutnik argues for a reorientation of this compulsively engaging area of Hollywood cultural production. Krutnik recasts the films within a generic framework and draws on recent historical and theoretical research to examine both the diversity of film noir and its significance within American popular culture of the 1940s. He considers classical Hollywood cinema, debates on genre, and the history of the emergence of character in film noir, focusing on the hard-boiled' crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain as well as the popularisationof Freudian psychoanalysis; and the social and cultural upheavals of the 1940s. The core of this book however concerns the complex representationof masculinity in the noir tough' thriller, and where and how gender interlocks with questions of genre. Analysing in detail major thrillers like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past and The Killers , alongside lesser known but nonetheless crucial films as Stranger on the Third Floor, Pitfall and Dead Reckoning Krutnik has produced a provocative and highly readable study of one of Hollywood most perennially fascinating groups of films.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Crime

268 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 1991

Reviews

[anisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’d say i’m not particularly well-versed in film noir as it doesn’t interest me much, but this was very interesting; it’s also a plus that i got this book for free at the library’s “free books” section on campus, soooo. of course. i’ve taken note of all the films listed in the book and i hope i can one day come around to watch them all, or at least many of them.

[Phil Gaines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Krutnik has some interesting ideas three decades ago. But they do not have the staying power of the critical positions taken by Naremore, Silver/Ursini, etc.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank Krutnk is clearly a fan of Film Noir movies, and his book makes a case that the traditionally accepted cannon of films are in fact a genre, unified by the presentation and analysis of masculinity on screen. In many ways, Film Noir could be seen as a sort of "Men's Melodrama," working as a counterpoint to the popular "Women's Melodrama" of the time.

Whether I believe that or not is sort of irrelevant, because Krutnick makes a good case for this argument. However, reading the book does leave a dissatisfied taste in my brain, mostly because the book is SO textbook about the subject matter. In A Lonely Street reads like a college dissertation, cleaned up and with added appendices. Which is probably is, given the peculiar binding and the unknown publisher distributing it.

The movies he discusses are all masterpieces in my opinion, but his style of analysis relies heavily on psychoanalysis and a focus on Freudian interpretations, and I find a focus on that kind of criticism lazy and often unrewarding. The kinds of movies that share noir characteristics also share a tendency toward falling into that sphere of analysis, easily. But to ignore other readings, or by not making an attempt to spruce up the writing beyond its mechanically-dry academic mumbo-jumbo, one instead finishes the book feeling bored and disinterested, something that should never be associated with such spectacular and visually impressive films.

As a reference book, Krutnik succeeds very well, and this will make a good resource after viewing one of the source films he pulls into this text. But as something to read on it's own merits, or as something that really contributes to the study of these films in a dynamic and academically conversational way, this book falls a little short.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a film noir buff and so this book naturally tempted me -- however, it contains a bit too much academic Freudian analysis for the casual reader. That said, there are many good in-depth discussions of some classic noirs: The Dark Corner, Out of the Past, The Killers, Double Indemnity, Pitfall, The Woman in the Window, and Dead Reckoning. These are some great films that Krutnik sees as part of a "tough thriller" genre which he sees as the heart of the true film noir. In the appendix, he identifies other genres which are related but not part of the core: the rogue cop thriller, the "women's picture" crime thriller, the gangster film, the "semi-documentary"/police-procedural thriller, the "social problem" crime film, and the outlaw-couple film. The appendix is almost better than the rest of the book, as it leaves the heavier Freudian analysis aside. I'll admit I skimmed for the good parts and enjoyed them!

[Tim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great points about characteristics of the genre, but I would kill for analysis that wasn't based so heavily in Freudian theory.