Film Noir Reader 2

Film Noir Reader series #2

by Alain Silver, James Ursini (Editor)

Generously includes film stills and essays on crime films, The Postman Always Rings Twice , “Hitchcock's Noir Landscape ” “Samuel Fuller's Tabloid Cinema ” “Son of Noir ” “Noir Science ” “Girl Female Centered Neo-Noir ” and “Abstract Expressionism and Film Noir.”

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

358 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Alain Silver has co-written and co-edited a score of books including The Samurai Film, The Noir Style, The Vampire Film, Raymond Chandlers Los Angeles, director studies of David Lean and Robert Aldrich, and four Film Noir Readers. His articles have appeared in numerous film journals, newspapers, and online magazines. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA and is a member of the Writers Guild of America west and the Directors Guild of America.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays on film noir, including some of the earliest works to discuss and define the genre (cycle? style? attitude?). I particularly liked the selections by Francis M. Nevins about author Cornell Woolrich, Grant Tracey's chapter on director Samuel Fuller, Robert G. Porfiro's examination of the relationship between film noir and jazz, and James Ursini's look at noir science fiction ("Metropolis"; "Blade Runner").

As a multi-author collection, with works spanning several decades, there is a degree of repetition at times; certain films inevitably will be examined by anyone studying noir films (case in point: "Double Indemnity"). The various authors also have divergent definitions of film noir, from a fairly narrow stylistic focus to almost any film with dark themes and downbeat endings.

Overall, this is a solid collection of essays and a great follow-up to Silver and Ursini's first "Film Noir Reader".

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays on the film noir genre

[Zoë · Rating 3 out of 5]

More solid perspectives on film noir here. I particularly liked...

---Stephen Farber on 'Violence and the Bitch Goddess,' an essay on violence and anxiety about women in film noir;

---Elizabeth Ward on 'The Unintended Femme Fatale,' which gives a view of films where the fatal roles are reversed or subverted;

---and William Corey on 'Girl Power: Female-Centered Neo-Noir,' which surveys women centred post-noirs of the 1980s and 90s.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essays old and new, of variable quality. The most interesting are a piece by Francis M. Nevins that tracks the differences between the various films based on Cornell Woolrich novels and the original texts; and Grant Tracey's entry, which begins to help me make sense of what Sam Fuller is up to.