Out of the Shadows Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir

by Phillips, Gene D.

• ISBN13: 9780810881891
• ISBN10: 0810881896
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-11-03
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Summary

Film noir was a cycle in American cinema which first came into prominence during World War II, peaked in the 1950s, and began to taper off as a definable trend by 1960. Over the years, a group of films from the period emerged as noir standards, beginning with Stranger on the Third Floor in 1940. However, since film noir is too wide-ranging, it cannot be kept within the narrow limits of the official canon that has been established by film historians. Consequently, several neglected movies made during the classic noir period need to be re-evaluated as noir films. In Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir, Gene Phillips provides an in-depth examination of several key noir films, including acknowledged masterpieces like Laura, The Maltese Falcon, Sunset Boulevard, and Touch of Evil, as well as films not often associated with film noir like Spellbound, A Double Life, and Anatomy of a Murder. Phillips also examines overlooked or underappreciated films such as Song of the Thin Man, The Glass Key, Ministry of Fear, and Act of Violence. Also considered in this reevaluation are significant neo-noir films, among them Chinatown, Hammett, L.A. Confidential, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. In his analyses, Phillips draws upon a number of sources, including personal interviews with directors and others connected with their productions, screenplays, and evaluations of other commentators. Out of the Shadows explores not only the most celebrated noir films but offers new insight into underrated films that deserve reconsideration. Of interest to film historians and scholars, this volume will also appeal to anyone who wants a better understanding of the works that represent this unique cycle in American filmmaking.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Prologue: Overlooked Noir	p. ix
City of Night: The Advent of Film Noir
Black Mask Brigade: Dashiell Hammett, Hard-Boiled Fiction, and Film Noir	p. 3
Exploring Film Noir: Stranger on the Third Floor and Other Films	p. 13
Nightmare Town: Dashiell Hammett's Fiction as Film Noir
John Huston: The Maltese Falcon	p. 29
Stuart Heisler: The Glass Key Edward Buzzell: Song of the Thin Man	p. 45
Darkness at Noon: Representative Noir Films
Fritz Lang: Ministry of Fear and Scarlet Street	p. 69
Alfred Hitchcock: Spellbound and Strangers on a Train	p. 87
George Cukor: A Double Life Billy Wilder: Sunset Boulevard	p. 111
Robert Siodmak: The Killers (1946) Don Siegel: The Killers (1964)	p. 131
Otto Preminger: Laura and Anatomy of a Murder	p. 151
Fred Zinnemann: Act of Violence Stanley Kubrick: The Killing	p. 177
Orson Welles: The Stranger and Touch of Evil	p. 197
The Lower Depths: The Rise of Neo-Noir
Dashiell Hammett and Neo-Noir: The Dain Curse and Hammett	p. 225
Anthony Minghella: The Talented Mr. Ripley Liliana Cavani: Ripley's Game	p. 247
Afterword	p. 265
Filmography	p. 275
Selected Bibliography	p. 287
Index	p. 295
About the Author	p. 307
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