{"id":2007,"date":"2011-12-31T21:37:55","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T21:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crimeculture.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=2007"},"modified":"2012-01-06T17:37:51","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T17:37:51","slug":"film-noir-encyclopedia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeculture.com\/?page_id=2007","title":{"rendered":"Film Noir Encyclopedia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, Robert Porfirio (eds),\u00a0Film Noir: The Encyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0(The Overlook Press, 2010)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lee Horsley, Lancaster University<\/p>\n

\"Encyclopedia\"<\/a>I first bought this classic reference book in the early 1980s \u2013 a battered second-hand copy of the 1979 Random House edition, edited by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward.\u00a0\u00a0Without it, I don\u2019t think I would ever have watched and enjoyed as much film noir as I have done over the last quarter of a century. An enthusiasm for some of the great films of the classic period was channeled into a quest to extend my knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Encyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0transformed my ability to find related films, to grasp the connections between them, to understand central themes and motifs, to follow the work of favourite directors, to check on details of plots and cast lists.\u00a0\u00a0It has ever since remained one of my essential books on the cinema. As Alain Silver says in his Preface to the 4th Edition, theEncyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0was always intended to be accessible to casual readers and a resource for scholars, providing both detailed references and an overview of the noir style \u2013 and that is exactly the way in which it has functioned.<\/p>\n

The new edition has cut down on its lengthier plot summaries and made other economies by removing some of the filmographic data and the very valuable appendices, which cross-indexed not just by chronology and studio (retained in the new edition) but also by directors, writers, directors of photography, composers, producers, actors and actresses.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think I will actually, as the Preface suggests, \u201cretire [my] early hardcover and its frayed dust-jacket,\u201d because there is still much there that I will want to go back to.\u00a0\u00a0But the new material for which these economies make room is hugely worthwhile.\u00a0\u00a0There are now over four hundred detailed entries on the classic period of film noir, from\u00a0Stranger on the Third Floor<\/em>(1940) to Samuel Fuller\u2019s\u00a0The Naked Kiss<\/em>\u00a0(1964). The second main section, on neo-noir, includes nearly a hundred and fifty neo-noir movies, all given the same detailed treatment as the entries for canonical film noir.\u00a0\u00a0There are, in addition, many more stills and film posters.<\/p>\n

The longer discussions \u2013 Introductions and \u2018Sidebars\u2019 \u2013 establish a strong analytic framework. Silver has been very influential in defining film noir as a distinctively American style, and his Introduction to the classic period persuasively develops his argument for viewing canonical film noir as \u201ca self-contained reflection of American cultural preoccupations in film form.\u00a0\u00a0In short, it is the unique example of a wholly American film style.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0He sees in its dark images and dark mood an inscription of the ills of American society in the 1940s and 1950s.<\/p>\n

I would perhaps myself want to put more emphasis on the influence of various strands of European cinematic modernism and the connections with hard-boiled fiction and literary noir, but this is a minor complaint.\u00a0\u00a0Silver by no means ignores these antecedents and connections, acknowledging the links with hard-boiled fiction, French existentialism and (in a Sidebar, \u201cGerman Influence and Proto-Noir\u201d) the impact of German cinema.\u00a0\u00a0His primary emphasis, however, is on the immediate historical context of McCarthyism and the cold war, and on forces at work within the film industry (audience response, technical innovations, and so on).\u00a0\u00a0He makes a compelling case for film noir as a cohesive visual style and for the consistency of such character motifs as alienation.\u00a0\u00a0His supporting analysis includes a particularly good discussion of\u00a0Ride the Pink Horse<\/em>, with its integration of dramatic tension with \u201cstylistic connotations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The section on neo-noir is a very valuable addition, separating the classic cycle of films more clearly from those created by filmmakers deliberately attempting to recreate the noir mood, whether in remakes or new narratives.\u00a0\u00a0The films included here are the work of \u201cfilmmakers cognizant of the stylistic heritage from noir\u2019s classic period\u201d and approaching this \u201cwith a conscious, expressive intent\u201d. They often underscore the genre\u2019s forlorn romanticism, \u201cthe need to find love and honor in a new society that venerates only sex and money\u2026\u201d \u2013 in films ranging from\u00a0Point Blank<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Taxi Driver<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Sin City<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Fight Club<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Entries on individual films are, as in previous editions, a mine of information about plots, themes, contexts and visual style. Each entry begins with production information (director, producer, editor, cast, studio, date) followed by a concise plot summary. Important aspects of each film are then analysed and the film is, in most instances, placed in context \u2013 in its socio-political context, or in relation to the evolving canon of films noirs.\u00a0\u00a0So, taking entries from the classic period more or less at random,\u00a0D.O.A.\u00a0<\/em>is located in relation to the defining features of noir: marked out by its unusual degree of cynicism and its \u201cunique point of view\u201d, it \u201cbecomes noir through certain key sequences\u201d; its importance as a \u201cdark vision of post-atom bomb America\u201d is emphasized, as is its \u201cexistential outlook\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Murder, My Sweet<\/em>\u00a0is related to Chandler\u2019s original novel, and there is analysis of its chiarascuro and expressionistic style, of the disorienting angles and high-contrast lighting of the opening scene, its use of flashback narration, its atmosphere of paranoia and its vision of corruption and decay.\u00a0\u00a0In the section on\u00a0Night and the City<\/em>, there is close discussion of the opening scenes, the urban setting, the ways in which characters (particularly Harry Fabian) are shot, and the position of director Jules Dassin, \u201cenmeshed\u2026in the congressional investigations into Communists in Hollywood.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The accumulation of detailed analyses of such a large number of films offers readers an extraordinarily rich and nuanced resource, consistently illuminating a huge range of films that, as Silver argues, come from diverse hands but achieve a cohesion that \u201cis clearly not coincidental\u201d.<\/p>\n

As more and more examples of film noir have become available on DVD, theEncyclopedia\u00a0<\/em>has grown to be an even more useful guide.\u00a0\u00a0Alain Silver and James Ursini have themselves contributed numerous DVD commentaries to accompany some of the key films of the classic period.\u00a0\u00a0So, for example, there\u2019s a splendid reissue of\u00a0Nightmare Alley,<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in the Masters of Cinema series<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0It offers<\/em>a newly restored high definition transfer, with Woody Haut introducing the film and a full-length audio commentary by Silver and Ursini, plus the original theatrical trailer, a 157-page continuity and dialogue script, a new essay on the film and rare production stills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Others reissues to which Silver and Ursini have contributed include\u00a0Boomerang<\/em>,\u00a0Crossfire<\/em>,\u00a0Kiss of Death<\/em>,\u00a0Out of the Past<\/em>\u00a0andThe Dark Corner<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0All highly recommended.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Lee Horsley<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, Robert Porfirio (eds),\u00a0Film Noir: The Encyclopedia\u00a0(The Overlook Press, 2010) Lee Horsley, Lancaster University I<\/p>\n

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