Customer Reviews

Film Noir

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A fascinating anthology by the Wards, not only for film buffs and noir enthusiasts but flm historians as well. The book includes films not just from the 40's and 50's but from other decades as well. I am not going to go into the theorizing about whether film noir should pertain only to postwar 40's and 50's-I'm just glad the book as been able to include such a comprehensive and admirable list. The intro is also informative as well. Included here are cult classics like DETOUR as well as 70's landmarks like TAXI DRIVER. Among the better reviews here are the review for DETOUR and for FRENCH CONNECTION II. This book is also the ONLY book I have come across that includes the rarely seen THE TATTOOED STRANGER, which was distributed by RKO in 1950. Where they saw this I have no idea but it must've been at some retrospective. THE TATTOOED STRANGER is now available on DVD.

(This review is based on the 1988 edition.)

'FILM NOIR' is that rarity, a movie reference book that is both sensible and readable. It is also very enlightening , for by compiling this exhaustive, well annotated encyclopedia, listing hundreds of pictures comprising the noir tradition, the authors make us see that it was more significant in shaping a characteristically American way of making films - and of observing the world - than we probably realized before. It's what you always want in a film reference book, but rarely find: comprehensive, intelligently organized, voluminously illustrated, and possessed of it's own distinctive voice.