Night and the City

by Pulver, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9781844572809
• ISBN10: 1844572803
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-23
• Publisher: British Film Institute

Summary

Andrew Pulver's study ofNight and the Cityargues that it is one of the most important noir films ever made. Drawing from biographies, journals and interviews, Pulver traces the film's development and production history and its reception by British and American critics, considering the film both as an example of British film noirwhich was heavily influenced by the constricting social mores of the interwar years and the shattering effects of WWIIand also as a hybrid of contrasting American and European noir traditions. Finally, Pulver explores the film's representations of the dark underworld of London's Soho, at once the city's entertainment area, but also containing a subterranean life of criminality, prostitution and menace, and reflects upon its contribution to a long history of mythologising of this ever-shifting urban landscape.

Author Biography

Andrew Pulver is a film editor of the Guardian newspaper.  He is a contributor to Time Out, The New Statesman, The Times Literary Supplement, Sight and Sound, The List and Projections, among other publications.  He is the author of Brat Pack Confidential and wrote the introduction to the screenplay of Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe. Pulver’s short film, A Fever in the Blood, adapted from a story by Ethan Coen, won the 2002 Kodak-Bafta Award. He lives in London.