L.A. Noir The City as Character

by Silver, Alain; Ursini, James; Ward, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9781595800060
• ISBN10: 1595800069
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-28
• Publisher: Santa Monica Press

Summary

Film buffs explore the world of noir cinema in a Los Angeles context with this guide to noir films and their California settings. This book illustrates how these films use L.A.'s diverse cityscape and architecture to convey a unique vision of urban corruption and existential fatalism, in both the gritty downtown area and the outlying affluent communities like Malibu and Beverly Hills. Dozens of noir and neo-noir films are featured including classics such asDouble Indemnity,Kiss Me Deadly,Sunset Boulevard, andTouch of Eviland more recent films such asMulholland DriveandPulp Fiction. More than 150 photographsmany never before publishedfurther illustrate the rich and constantly changing backdrop of these movies.

Author Biography

Alain Silver is the coeditor of Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style and the author of The Samurai Film. He has written numerous articles for the Los Angeles Times, DGA Magazine, Film Comment, and Photon. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. James Ursini has contributed to various publications including Cinema, Femme Fatales, Mediascene, and Photon. Together, they are the coauthors of 11 books, among them the Film Noir Reader series and The Noir Style. They both live in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	9	(2)
Introduction	11	(5)
Hollywood: The Dream Is Born	16	(40)
The Westside and the Coast: Where the Dream Runs Out of Steam	56	(32)
Downtown Los Angeles: The Dream vs. the Nightmare	88	(50)
The `Burbs: The Dream Re-Created?	138	(18)
Bibliography	156	(2)
Filmography	158	(14)
Photograph Notes and Locations	172