Synopses & Reviews
This first book published on film noir established the genre a classic, at last in translation.
When it appeared in France in 1955, A Panorama of American Film Noir was the first book ever on the genre: this classic is at last available in English translation. This clairvoyant study of Hollywood film noir is "a 'benchmark' for all later work on the topic" (from the Introduction by James Naremore). A Panorama of American Film Noir addresses the essential amorality of its subject from a decidedly Surrealist angle, focusing on noirs dreamlike, unwonted, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel atmosphere, and setting it in the social context of mid-century America.
Beginning with the first film noir, The Maltese Falcon, and continuing through the postwar grande epoque, which included such films as Gilda, The Big Sleep, and The Lady from Shanghai, Borde and Chaumeton examine the dark sides of American society, film, and literature that made film noir possible, even necessary.
A Panorama of American Film Noir includes a film noir chronology, a detailed filmography, an index of names, and a selection of black-and-white stills.
Review
"[A] seminal work of cinema description and analysis and therefore an essential purchase..." Library Journal (Starred Review)
Synopsis
When it appeared in France in 1955, A Panorama of American Film Noir was the first book ever on the genre: this clairvoyant study of Hollywood film noir is at last available in English translation.
A Panorama of American Film Noir addresses the essential amorality of its subject from a decidedly Surrealist angle, focusing on noir's dreamlike, unwonted, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel atmosphere, and setting it in the social context of mid-century America.
Beginning with the first film noir, The Maltese Falcon, and continuing through the post war "glory days," which included such films as Gilda, The Big Sheep, Dark Passage, and The Lady from Shanghai, Borde and Chaumeton examine the dark sides of American society, film, and literature that made film noir possible, even necessary.
A Panorama of American Film Noir includes a film noir chronology, a voluminous filmography, a comprehensive index, and a selection of black-and-white production stills.
"Incredibly, this is the first English translation of the very influential 1955 French book that initially identified, described and assessed the Hollywood movies that we now term film noir . . . a seminal work of cinema description and analysis and therefore an essential purchase for most libraries." --From the Starred Review in Library Journal
Raymond Borde (1920 - 2004), founder of the Cinematheque de Toulouse, wrote extensively on film history.; among his short films is a study of the artist Pierre Molinier.
Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Depeche until his death.
Synopsis
When it appeared in France in 1955, A Panorama of American Film Noir was the first book ever on the genre. Now this classic is at last available in English translation. This clairvoyant study of Hollywood film noir is "a ‘benchmark’ for all later work on the topic" (James Naremore). A Panorama of American Film Noir addresses the essential amorality of its subject from a decidedly Surrealist angle, focusing on noir’s dreamlike, unwonted, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel atmosphere, and setting it in the social context of mid-century America.
Raymond Borde (b. 1920), founder of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, has written extensively on film history.
Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Dépêche until his recent death.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Filmography: p. 165-228.
Synopsis
This first book published on film noir established the genre--a classic, at last in translation.
About the Author
Raymond Borde (b. 1920), founder of the Cinematheque de Toulouse, has written extensively on film history.
Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Depeche until his recent death.
Paul Hammond is a writer, editor, and translator living in Barcelona. He edited and translated The Shadow and Its Shadow: Surrealist Writings on the Cinema, and he is the author of Constellations of Miro Breton.
Table of Contents
A Season in Hell or the Snows of Yesteryear? vii
Preface xxiii
1 Introduction 1
The "noir series"
The series idea
A preliminary convention
2 Toward a definition of film noir 5
The crime adventure story
Psychological ambiguity
Moral ambivalence
The theme of violence
The strange
The disappearance of psychological bearings and a specific sense of malaise
3 The sources of film noir 15
Literature
Psychoanalysis
The social context and the influence of the war
European sources
Gangster and horror films, and the cartoon
4 The war years and the formation of a style (1941-1945) 29
1941, a pivotal year in Hollywood
The Maltese Falcon
The Shanghai Gesture
This Gun for Hire
The contributions of Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Curtis Bernhardt, and Fritz Lang
The rallying of academicism
The "noirified" period film
5 The glory days (1946-1948) 53
The end of the war and its consequences
1946: Gilda, The Big Sleep, The Lady in the Lake
1947: The Lady from Shanghai, Dark Passage
1948: Sorry, Wrong Number, Ride the Pink Horse
Minor productions
Films about criminal psychology
Hitchcock's oeuvre
Police documentaries, and gangster and prison films
6 Decadence and transformation (1949-1950) 83
Film noir's integration in adjacent series: He Walked by Night, The Enforcer, White Heat
Three successful Elia Kazan, Jules Dassin, and John Huston films
A noir version of amour fou: Gun Crazy
7 The demise of a series (1951-1953) 97
New series: science-fiction, anti-Communist films, and the myth of the "thinking cop"
Macao and the return of Sternberg
Strangers on a Train
The neorealist detective film
A poetic transposition of the noir series: The Band Wagon
8 Influences 113
Noir's influence on the feature-length social documentary: Crossfire, Thieves' Highway, The Set-Up
The psychoanalytical series
Parodies and cartoons
European film noirs
9 French film noirs 127
10 A balance sheet 139
The validity of cinema criticism and its methods
A technical assessment of the noir series
Eroticism of the thriller
Moral questions
The role of violence
A psychosocial balance sheet
Net assets and liabilities
A season in hell
Postface 155
Chronological index of the main series 161
Filmography 165
Index