The Dark Side Of The Screen: Film Noir (A Da Capo Paperback) [Paperback]

Foster Hirsch (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Da Capo Paperback | Publication Date: August 21, 1983

Foster Hirsch’s Dark Side of the Screen is by far the most thorough and entertaining study of the themes, visual motifs, character types, actors, directors, and films in this genre ever published. From Billy Wilder, Douglas Sirk, Robert Aldrich, and Howard Hawkes to Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, and Paul Schrader, the noir themes of dread, paranoia, steamy sex, double-crossing women, and menacing cityscapes have held a fascination. The features that make Burt Lancaster, Joan Crawford, Robert Mitchum, and Humphrey Bogart into noir heroes and heroines are carefully detailed here, as well as those camera angles, lighting effects, and story lines that characterize Fritz Lang, Samuel Fuller, and Orson Welles as noir directors.For the current rediscovery of film noir, this comprehensive history with its list of credits to 112 outstanding films and its many illustrations will be a valuable reference and a source of inspiration for further research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Martin Jackson, Cineaste
“Wonderfully readable: Hirsch is clear, knowledgeable, and concise….[The Dark Side of the Screen] is a visual as well as literary pleasure.”

Philip French, The Observer (London)
“There has been no extended work as good as Foster Hirsch’s The Dark Side of the Screen, a well-written, imaginatively illustrated book that sees the brief, true heyday as between Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944) and his Sunset Boulevard (1950), but looks at the prelude and the aftermath, and sets the genre in its larger social and cultural context.”

Skyscraper, Spring 2009
“An important examination of what film noir is…The 264-page treatise is not a review source; rather, Hirsch’s academic work delves deeply with a scholarly but not dry approach.”

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Foster Hirsch, a professor of Film at Brooklyn College, is the author of sixteen books on film and theater, including Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir; Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: The Films of Woody Allen; and Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. He lives in New York.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (August 21, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306802031
• ISBN-13: 978-0306802034
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,415,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Side of the Screen is shining light!, November 5, 2001

By 

Jeff Markham (Walton-on-Thames, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir (Paperback)

Hirsch's brilliant analysis of the antecedents, key period and legacy of noir remains perhaps the finest single work on the subject. Not as funny or entertaining as Eddie Muller's 'Dark City', but a major work that pre-dates many inferior later studies. Especially notable is Hirsch's use of stills, his choice of key scenes (e.g. Panic in the Streets, the Phenix City Story, Scarlet Street) skilfully differentiates between studio shot film noirs and pseudo-documentary/location filmed noirs.

Highly recommended for serious lovers of the genre (not room enough here to debate whether film noir is a genre or not!) and ranks, for me, alongside Paul Schrader's legendary 'Notes on Film Noir' essay (1972) as the single most important piece of work on the subject.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Introduction to Film Noir, June 7, 2000

By 

Dennis Hayes "Angry Buddha" (Kenmore, Wa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Side Of The Screen: Film Noir (A Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)

This book is the best of several I have read recently on film noir. It strikes the right balance between being thorough and accessible; not nearly as dry and academic as some others. One of the main elements of noir is its distinctive visual style, and this book has dozens of excellent photographic stills, which enable the reader to understand the style in a way that text descriptions could never duplicate. The author does an excellent job of placing noir in its historical context, without assuming the reader has prior knowledge of German Expressionism, hard-boiled fiction or any other influence. The book ends with a list of 120 or so classic noirs; this alone is worth the price of the book. I have seen approximately one-half of the movies on his list and every single one has been excellent. For anyone interested in gazing into "The Crazy Mirror," this is the place to start.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book contains an excellent account of noir stylistics, November 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Side Of The Screen: Film Noir (A Da Capo Paperback) (Paperback)

I found this book to be a concise and relevant exploration of the history, style and themes of film noir. It was immensely helpful as a research source for an essay I did on noir styles and themes. With clear explanations and pictorial examples it bestowed upon me a clear and precise understanding of the genre.