Encyclopedia of Film Noir

Subjects:

• Popular Culture » Film Studies
• Popular Culture » Popular Culture (General)

Reviews:

• Film authorities Mayer and McDonnell deliver a well-researched, comprehensive guide to film noir history. The first part of the encyclopedia provides five excellent essays on the genre, complete with references, and the second part has entries on films, actors, and directors. Covering both the classical film noir cycle (1939-59) and the modern neo-noir period (1959-present), this work assesses many old standards (High Sierra, Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and modern films (Body Heat, Chinatown). In addition, it covers low-budget films, black films, and representative British films. Big name actors and directors (Bogart, Stanwyck, Hitchcock) are profiled, as are some unlikely minor ones like Hugh Beaumont. Most entries vary in length from one to three pages, but the genre essays are much longer.... this one is hard to beat because of its broad focus, scholarly but readable style, and good organization. The essays on the film noir genre will appeal to academic libraries with film studies programs and public libraries with film aficionados. Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.
  —Choice February 2008
• This work is highly recommended for academic and public libraries supporting film studies collections.
  —American Reference Books Annual 2008
• New Zealand-based film studies scholars Mayer and McDonnell list and describe approximately 130 films, actors, and directors of the film noir genre in alphabetically arranged entries. Along with classics such as Hitchcock's works, Chinatown, and Sunset Boulevard, this highly cross- referential text discusses newer noir such as Shallow Grave and Memento. Five essays open the book and expound on themes including noir's reflection on the McCarthy era and the influence of hard boiled detective fiction on the films of Bogart and his ilk.
  —Reference & Research Book News November 2007

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• :The Myths and Parameters of Film Noir
• The Hard-Boiled Influence
• Film Noir and the City
• Film Noir Style
• Films, Actors and Directors
• Act of Violence
• Aldrich, Robert
• Among the Living
• Andrews, Dana
• Angel Face
• Apology for Murder
• Asphalt Jungle, The
• Beaumont, Hugh
• Bennett, Joan
• Big Clock, The
• Big Combo, The
• Big Heat, The
• Big Sleep, The
• Black Angel
• Blonde Ice
• Blood Simple
• Body Heat
• Bogart, Humphrey
• Born to Kill
• Breaking Point, The
• Brighton Rock
• Brodie, Steve
• Brothers, The
• Brothers Rico, The
• Burr, Raymond
• Carnival
• Cash on Demand
• Chase, The
• Chinatown
• Collateral
• Conte, Richard
• Cook, Jr., Elisha
• Corridors of Mirrors
• Cosh Boy
• Crack-Up
• Criminal, The
• Criss Cross
• Crooked Way, The
• Crossfire
• Croupier
• Cry of the City
• Dance With a Stranger
• Dark City
• Dark Corner, The
• Dark Passage
• Daughter of Darkness
• Dead Reckoning
• Dear Murderer
• Decoy
• Desperate
• Detour
• Devil in a Blue Dress
• Dmytryk, Edward
• D.O.A.
• Double Indemnity
• Duryea, Dan
• Fallen Angel
• Fallen Sparrow, The
• Farrow, John
• Fear in the Night
• File on Thelma Jordan, The
• Force of Evil
• Ford, Glenn
• Framed
• Fuller, Sam
• Garfield, John
• Get Carter
• Gilda
• Good Die Young, The
• Goring, Marius
• Grahame, Gloria
• Great Day
• Great Flamarion, The
• Greer, Jane
• Gun Crazy
• Gynt, Greta
• Hatters Castle
• Hayden, Sterling
• Heflin, Van
• Hell Drivers
• High Sierra
• History of Violence, A
• Hitchcock, Alfred
• Hollow Triumph
• House Across the Lake, The
• Huston, John
• I Wake Up Screaming
• I Wouldnt Be In Your Shoes
• Impulse
• In a Lonely Place
• Interrupted Journey
• It Always Rains on Sunday
• Johnny OClock
• Kansas City Confidential
• Karlson, Phil
• Killers, The
• Killing, The
• Kiss Me Deadly
• Kiss of Death
• Kiss the Blood Off My Hands
• Klute
• L.A. Confidential
• Ladd, Alan
• Lake, Veronica
• Lancaster, Burt
• Lang, Fritz
• Late Edwina Black, The
• Laura
• Leave Her to Heaven
• Lewis, Joseph H.
• Long Memory, The
• Lupino, Ida
• MacMurray, Fred
• Macomber Affair, The
• Macready, George
• Madeleine
• Man From Colorado, The
• Mann, Anthony
• Mark of Cain, The
• Mason, James
• Memento
• Mildred Pierce
• Mine Own Executioner
• Mitchum, Robert
• Money Trap, The
• Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill
• Murder, My Sweet
• My Brothers Keeper
• My Name is Julia Ross
• Naked City
• Neal, Tom
• Night and the City
• Night Has Eyes, The
• Night Moves
• Nightmare Alley
• 99 River Street
• No Orchids For Miss Blandish
• OBrien, Edmond
• Obsession
• October Man, The
• Odds Against Tomorrow
• On Dangerous Ground
• Out of the Past
• Paris By Night
• Payne, John
• Phantom Lady
• Pickup on South Street
• Pink String and Sealing Wax
• Pitfall
• Point Blank
• Portman, Eric
• Possessed
• Postman Always Rings Twice, The
• Powell, Dick
• Preminger, Otto
• Prowler, The
• Pushover
• Raw Deal
• Ray, Nicholas
• Reckless Moment, The
• Ride the Pink Horse
• Roadblock
• Robinson, Edward G..
• Rocking Horse Winner, The
• Ryan, Robert
• Savage, Ann
• Scandal Sheet
• Scarlet Street.
• Scott, Lizabeth
• Set-Up, The
• Se7en
• 711 Ocean Drive
• Seventh Veil, The
• Seventh Victim, The
• Shallow Grave
• Sin City
• Siodmak, Robert
• Slightly Scarlet
• So Dark the Night
• So Evil My Love
• Somewhere in the Night
• Sorry, Wrong Number
• Spider and the Fly, The
• Stanwyck, Barbara
• Stranger on the Third Floor
• Street of Chance
• Sunset Boulevard
• Take My Life
• Taxi Driver
• They Made Me a Fugitive
• They Wont Believe Me
• Third Man, The
• This Gun For Hire
• Tierney, Gene
• Tightrope
• T-Men
• Todd, Ann
• Totter, Audrey
• Touch of Evil
• Tourneur, Jacques
• Trevor, Claire
• True Confessions
• Ulmer, Edgar
• Under the Gun
• Undercover Man, The
• Victim
• Where Danger Lives
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Widmark, Richard
• Wilde, Cornel
• Wilder, Billy
• Windsor, Marie
• Wings of the Dove, The
• Winstone, Ray
• Woman in the Window, The
• Selected Bibliography
• Appendix
• Index

PDF Catalogs:
Greenwood Spring Reference 2008.pdf	Pop Culture Spring 2008.pdf