Historical Dictionary of Film Noir
Historical Dictionary of Film Noir

Author: Andrew Spicer

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2010-03-19

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 0810873788

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Film noir_literally 'black cinema'_is the label customarily given to a group of black and white American films, mostly crime thrillers, made between 1940 and 1959. Today there is considerable dispute about what are the shared features that classify a noir film, and therefore which films should be included in this category. These problems are partly caused because film noir is a retrospective label that was not used in the 1940s or 1950s by the film industry as a production category and therefore its existence and features cannot be established through reference to trade documents. The Historical Dictionary of Film Noir is a comprehensive guide that ranges from 1940 to present day neo-noir. It consists of a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, a filmography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on every aspect of film noir and neo-noir, including key films, personnel (actors, cinematographers, composers, directors, producers, set designers, and writers), themes, issues, influences, visual style, cycles of films (e.g. amnesiac noirs), the representation of the city and gender, other forms (comics/graphic novels, television, and videogames), and noir's presence in world cinema. It is an essential reference work for all those interested in this important cultural phenomenon.

Historical Dictionary of Crime Films
Historical Dictionary of Crime Films

Author: Geoff Mayer

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2012-09-13

Total Pages: 515

ISBN-13: 081087900X

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The crime film genre consists of detective films, gangster films, suspense thrillers, film noir, and caper films and is produced throughout the world. Crime film was there at the birth of cinema, and it has accompanied cinema over more than a century of history, passing from silent films to talkies, from black-and-white to color. The genre includes such classics as The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather, Gaslight, The French Connection, and Serpico, as well as more recent successes like Seven, Drive, and L.A. Confidential. The Historical Dictionary of Crime Films covers the history of this genre through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on key films, directors, performers, and studios. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about crime cinema.

A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir
A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir

Author: John Grant

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-09-21

Total Pages: 830

ISBN-13: 1493081659

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Featuring rumpled PIs, shyster lawyers, corrupt politicians, double-crossers, femmes fatales, and, of course, losers who find themselves down on their luck yet again, film noir is a perennially popular cinematic genre. This extensive encyclopedia describes movies from noir's earliest days – and even before, looking at some of noir's ancestors in US and European cinema – as well as noir's more recent offshoots, from neonoirs to erotic thrillers. Entries are arranged alphabetically, covering movies from all over the world – from every continent save Antarctica – with briefer details provided for several hundred additional movies within those entries. A copious appendix contains filmographies of prominent directors, actors, and writers. With coverage of blockbusters and program fillers from Going Straight (US 1916) to Broken City (US 2013) via Nora Inu (Japan 1949), O Anthropos tou Trainou (Greece 1958), El Less Wal Kilab (Egypt 1962), Reportaje a la Muerte (Peru 1993), Zift (Bulgaria 2008), and thousands more, A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir is an engrossing and essential reference work that should be on the shelves of every cinephile.

Historical Dictionary of American Cinema
Historical Dictionary of American Cinema

Author: M. Keith Booker

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-06-01

Total Pages: 655

ISBN-13: 1538130122

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One of the most powerful forces in world culture, American cinema has a long and complex history that stretches through more than a century. This history not only includes a legacy of hundreds of important films but also the evolution of the film industry itself, which is in many ways a microcosm of the history of American society. Historical Dictionary of American Cinema, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 600 cross-referenced entries covering people, films, companies, techniques, themes, and subgenres that have made American cinema such a vital part of world culture.

Historical Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes
Historical Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes

Author: Neil McCaw

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 1538123169

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Historical Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes contains a variety of information about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, as both narratives and also cultural phenomena. The volume will help readers look deeper into those stories and the meanings of the various reference points within them, as well as achieving a deeper understanding of the range of contexts of Holmes, Conan Doyle, and detective fiction as a genre. This book examines the broad global Sherlock Holmes phenomenon related to the ways in which the stories have been adapted into a range of other media, as well as the cultural status of Holmes all over the world. Historical Dictionary of Sherlock Holmes contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries that contain detailed examinations of the themes and features of the 60 stories that make up the Sherlock Holmes canon. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories.

A Companion to Film Noir
A Companion to Film Noir

Author: Andre Spicer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-06-27

Total Pages: 662

ISBN-13: 1118523717

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An authoritative companion that offers a wide-ranging thematic survey of this enduringly popular cultural form and includes scholarship from both established and emerging scholars as well as analysis of film noir's influence on other media including television and graphic novels. Covers a wealth of new approaches to film noir and neo-noir that explore issues ranging from conceptualization to cross-media influences Features chapters exploring the wider ‘noir mediascape’ of television, graphic novels and radio Reflects the historical and geographical reach of film noir, from the 1920s to the present and in a variety of national cinemas Includes contributions from both established and emerging scholars

Somewhere in the Night
Somewhere in the Night

Author: Nicholas Christopher

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1439137617

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Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.

Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema
Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema

Author: Jasper Sharp

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2011-10-13

Total Pages: 565

ISBN-13: 0810875411

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The cinema of Japan predates that of Russia, China, and India, and it has been able to sustain itself without outside assistance for over a century. Japanese cinema's long history of production and considerable output has seen films made in a variety of genres, including melodramas, romances, gangster movies, samurai movies, musicals, horror films, and monster films. It has also produced some of the most famous names in the history of cinema: Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Beat Takeshi, Toshirô Mifune, Godzilla, The Ring, Akira, Rashomon, and Seven Samurai. The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema is an introduction to and overview of the long history of Japanese cinema. It aims to provide an entry point for those with little or no familiarity with the subject, while it is organized so that scholars in the field will also be able to use it to find specific information. This is done through a detailed chronology, an introductory essay, and appendixes of films, film studios, directors, and performers. The cross-referenced dictionary entries cover key films, genres, studios, directors, performers, and other individuals. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Japanese cinema.

One Hundred Film Noirs
One Hundred Film Noirs

Author: Jim Hillier

Publisher: Screen Guides

Published: 2009-05-18

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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Film noir's popularity with cinema audiences, enthusiasts and scholars has remained unabated since post-war French critics began discerning a new trend in American film with the release of such stylish and atmospheric crime features as Double Indemnity and Murder, My Sweet. Many of Hollywood's greatest directors such as Fritz Lang and Robert Siodmak are now closely associated with film noir's psychologically acute observations of the darker contours of the American urban landscape. Thanks to evocative cinematography, sharp writing and powerful performances, these films have had an enduring influence on international visual culture. 100 Film Noirs provides an authoritative overview of film noir past and present by examining its core films and themes and providing an accessible introduction to critical debates. The book goes beyond the classical canon to examine the ways in which noir continues to have a diverse influence on American cinema. It demonstrates the way that noir has intervened in other more established Hollywood genres and also considers numerous lesser-known examples of the field. Importantly, 100 Film Noirs has a strong international dimension and provides new and revealing insights into film noirs from France, Germany, Japan, India, Mexico and beyond.