Items related to Noir Style
Synopsis
In The Noir Style, experts Alain Silver and James Ursini analyze the look of noir--its elements and their impact on the most American of film movements--revisiting the territory they made their own in their classic Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Silver and Ursini trace the development of noir to its origins and documents its borrowings from other visual arts, with chapters covering each of the recurring motifs that define the genre. Stills and background are provided for classics like A Touch of Evil, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and In a Lonely Place. Both an indispensable reference guide and an irresistible treat for film buffs, The Noir Style is an engaging and informative addition to the literature of film. A new afterword examines how the tropes of noir continue to be relevant for contemporary filmmakers.
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Review
Standard histories of film noir commence the coining of the term (which means "black film") by French writers in the years after the war when they saw a new mingling of grit, wit, and swooning Thanatos in movies like The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. Alain Silver's and James Ursini's nearly libidinous collection of "duo-tone" (i.e., black and white) movie stills reaches far afield, finding noir's style radiating from the Brucke painters in the 1920s, Edward Hopper's wee-small-hours townscapes of the 1940s, and Weegee's bloody, beautiful photos. In page after oversized page, the authors park perceptive readings beside images of classic rainy streets (Underworld, USA, The Money Trap), doomy women in lipstick (Laura, Gilda), disturbed interiors (Sunset Boulevard), and wrenching ironies (DOA). The commentary reveals how light, frame, composition, body language, and a few other irreducibles charge individual scenes and contribute to the look of noir as a whole, beginning with gangster and horror films in the 1930s and closing with Silence of the Lambs in 1992. The texts lapse occasionally into heavy breathing about Meaning, but the authors invite us to get what we want from this most stylish of American movie genres by just flipping the pages. With hardly a cliché image in the bunch, we can eagerly fall afresh into Jane Russell's outstretched arms (in Macao), zoom down the black sidewalk stretching behind a dying John Garfield (in He Ran All the Way), and contemplate once more the tissue of lies between Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon. --Lyall Bush
About the Author
Alain Silver and James Ursini are the authors of Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Alain Silver is also the author of The Samurai Film, and co-author of Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles (all available from Overlook).
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- PublisherAbrams Press
- Publication date2013
- ISBN 10 1468307347
- ISBN 13 9781468307344
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages248
- Rating
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Noir Style
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Condition: Good. Book is in Used-Good condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain limited notes and highlighting. 3.1. Seller Inventory # 1468307347-2-4
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The Noir Style
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The Noir Style
Published by
Overlook Duckworth, New York City, 2013
ISBN 10: 1468307347
ISBN 13: 9781468307344
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Oversize Paper
Seller: Ira Joel Haber - Cinemage Books, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Oversize Paper. First Printing. The authors known for their book on film noir offer up another quirky interesting tome on the genre. This large format paper is a bit clumsy but offers up thought provoking text filled with ideas and insights along with 172 great large stills from the movies discussed . Chapters include night and the city, the dark mirror, the reckless moment and out of the past that cover many films including the ones highlighted in the chapters. Also a chapter on neo-noir which causes more arguments and discussions among lovers of the genre. There is a tiny corner bump to the top corner of the front cover which is lightly mirrored to some pages, otherwise vg+. Book. Seller Inventory # 011665
Quantity: 1 available