Film Noir (eBook)

William Luhr (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2012
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
9781444355932 (ISBN)

Infos

Film Noir offers new perspectives on this highly popular and influential film genre, providing a useful overview of its historical evolution and the many critical debates over its stylistic elements.

• Brings together a range of perspectives on a topic that has been much discussed but remains notoriously ill-defined
• Traces the historical development of the genre, usefully exploring the relations between the films of the 1940s and 1950s that established the 'noir' universe and the more recent films in which it has been frequently revived
• Employs a clear and intelligent writing style that makes this the perfect introduction to the genre
• Offers a thorough and engaging analysis of this popular area of film studies for students and scholars
• Presents an in-depth analysis of six key films, each exemplifying  important trends of film noir: Murder, My Sweet; Out of the Past; Kiss Me Deadly; The Long Goodbye; Chinatown; and Seven

William Luhr is Professor of English at St. Peter's College, Co-Chair of the Columbia University Seminar on Cinema and Interdisciplinary Interpretation, and Standing Editor of the Oxford University Press Online Bibliography on Cinema and Media Studies. He is the editor of The Coen Brothers’ Fargo (2004) and The Maltese Falcon: John Huston, Director (1995) and the author of, amongst others, Screening Genders (with Krin Gabbard, 2008), Thinking About Movies: Watching, Questioning, Enjoying, third edition (co-author with Peter Lehman, 2008) and Raymond Chandler and Film, second edition (1991).

Inhalt

List of Plates ix

Acknowledgments xiii

1 Introduction 1

2 Historical Overview 20

3 Critical Overview 50

4 Murder, My Sweet 73

5 Out of the Past 100

6 Kiss Me Deadly 123

7 The Long Goodbye 146

8 Chinatown 171

9 Seven 191

Afterword 215

References 217

Further Reading 223

Index 225

Rezensionen

"It is the most comprehensive and lucid study of the genre
I have read ... I was also impressed with Luhr's handling of
the shift in Hollywood from the 1930s to 1940s. The morally
compromised "heroes" of the 1940s were unthinkable in the 1930s.
Like all good film critics, Luhr makes me want to see my favorite
films again because he has shown me things I missed. And then there
are all those films I didn't see that are now on my list because of
William Luhr." (Carl Rollyson, 16 June 2012)



"A superb guide to the main streets, back alleys, penthouses and
abandoned lots of film noir. A comprehensive survey of canonical
movies, written with a fan's eye for noir's killer-cool and an
academic's desire for contextual precision and analytical
insight."

--Peter Stanfield, University of Kent

"William Luhr is the intrepid sleuth of cinema studies, tracking
down film noir under all the aliases - classic
noir, pre-noir, neo-noir - that its
infinite variety has produced. Writing with energy, clarity, and
verve, Luhr explodes narrow conceptions of noir as
conclusively as the Great Whatsit blew up postwar innocence in
Kiss Me Deadly. Carry a copy of this timely, spirited book
in your trenchcoat. It is a boon for film scholars, general
readers, and movie buffs alike."

--David Sterritt, Chairman, National Society of Film
Critics

"Informed by a rich body of previous scholarship, conceptually
sophisticated, yet written with grace and clarity, Film Noir
by William Luhr provides an ideal introduction for students and
fans to the dark corner of American culture represented by these
gloriously perverse crime films."

--Jerry W Carlson, PhD, The City College & Graduate
Center CUNY

"William Luhr, who knows all the many questions raised by film
noir, supplies lucid, elegant, provocative answers. His knowledge
is deep, his comments far-ranging. This is an essential addition to
the vast literature on the genre."

--Charles Affron, New York University

"Writing with broad expertise and deep sensibility, Professor
Luhr heightens our nostalgic delight in noir films while also
pointing to the lost spectatorial experience of film noir's once
present tenseness."

--Chris Straayer, New York University Department of
Cinema Studies

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.1.2012
• Reihe/Serie: New Approaches to Film Genre
• Reihe/Serie: New Approaches to Film Genre
• Reihe/Serie: New Approaches to Film Genre
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Schlagworte: Cinema • Communication & Media Studies • Cultural Studies • detective movie • Filmforschung • Film noir • Film Studies • Genre • Kiss Me Deadly • Kommunikation u. Medienforschung • Kulturwissenschaften • Medienkritik • Murder My Sweet • Neo-Noir • Pulp • The Long Goodbye
• ISBN-13: 9781444355932 / 9781444355932