Customer Reviews

L.A. Noir: The City as Character

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The book doesn't quite live up to its subtitle: "The City as Character," though the authors do a whole lot of talking about L.A. You have to admire the effort that went into tracking down all these film locations, though many of them ("Present-day tunnel through Bunker Hill where Steve Thomson is dropped of in Criss Cross") are of the "so what" variety. Lots of film stills, but on the whole the book didn't seem worth the price. If you absolutely must have every book connected with noir films, then you might feel differently.

In "L.A. Noir: The City as Character", film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini take a different approach to the films that they have written so much about in other books. This book looks at film noir, both classic and neo-noir, for which "Los Angeles and its environs serve as essential elements in the invocation of the noir mood." Silver and Ursini discuss over 40 films, noting their themes and characters, with an emphasis on the role location plays in the movies. The book is organized into four chapters: "Hollywood", "The West Side and the Coast", "Downtown Los Angeles", and "The 'Burbs". A brief history of the area introduces each chapter, and some films are included in more than one section.

Locations don't mean much if we can't see them, so "L.A. Noir" is packed with pictures. There are about 150 black-and-white photos, including production stills, behind-the-scenes photos, and 64 location photos. The location photos are also indexed in the back of the book with thumbnails and precise locations, so you could find the places yourself. Reproduction quality is good. To accommodate the photos, the book is much wider than it is tall. That would be fine in a hardback, but it's a minor annoyance in softcover, as the book flops awkwardly when open. I can't say that "L.A. Noir" is essential for film noir enthusiasts, but it goes over old territory with a different emphasis. Film noir aficionados living in the Los Angeles area may find it particularly interesting.