Customer Reviews

Noir, Now and Then: Film Noir Originals and Remakes (1944-1999)

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I paid a c-note for Brion's "Le Film Noir" back when a dollar was worth more than a Euro, but for this book? I saw the scintillating reviews (one posted in duplicate) and read it at the AMPAS library, which are the only shelves on which I would ever expect to find a publication from Greenwood (or McFarland or Scarecrow). This "tome" (who wrote that review?) is a lot less pretentious than Jon Tuska's "Dark Cinema," Greenwood's foundation noir text; but really, after Foster Hirsch and Silver & Ursini have both weighed in at length on neo-noir, was this book necessary? It is not exceptional if marginally enlightening, so for hard core noir readers only. If you really have a $100 to spare and want to fill out your a noir library, buy Detours & Lost Highways, The Noir Style, a couple of Noir Readers or some other essential book you may be missing and still have enough left over for the Warner Bros Noir Collection.

This book is an excellent introduction to the differences between classic film noir (1940-1960) and neo noir (post 1960). Schwartz does this by comparing classic film noirs which were later remade as neo-noirs. If you enjoy this film genre, you will find this tome a real treat. Recommended by all means.

"Noir, Now and Then" compares 35 classic noir films with their remakes. The earliest film Ronald Schwartz discusses is 1944's "Double Indemnity", and he includes anything made before 1960 in the classic period. Some of these films have been remade more than once, and Schwartz includes films made for television in his comparisons. Most are American with only a few exceptions. As is common to academic works about "film noir", Schwartz is using a very broad definition of the style -effectively no definition. He seems to be talking about any crime film with dark themes. An odd inclusion is "Psycho" (1960), which many people would consider to be the film that put the nail in the "noir" coffin, ushering in a whole new style of crime film. Schwartz bafflingly considers the film to signify the emergence of neo-noir.

The purpose here is to compare the films of the classic noir era to their remakes, up until 1999. Schwartz does a good job of that film-by-film but doesn't do much analysis of overarching differences between the classic noir universe and that after 1980 (the 1970s being an era unto itself in film noir, with unique characteristics). For example, classic noir films depicted a universe that is chaotic and indifferent, where neo-noir tends to depict a universe that is simply unjust. Neo-noir doesn't mock its protagonists and villains alike the way that films of the classic era did. The nature of the male noir protagonist was very different in the classic era, the 1970s, and post-1980. We don't get that sort of discussion in "Noir, Now and Then", which limits itself to more superficial comparisons.

The concept of remake is employed loosely. For example, I don't think that "The Crooked Way" (1949) is a remake of "Somewhere in the Night' (1946) just because they both feature amnesiac veterans. Nor do I think "While You Were Sleeping", a 1995 romantic comedy, is a remake of "No Man of Her Own" (1950) because the protagonist is mistaken for the fiancée/wife of a dead man. But it's interesting that these disparate films utilize the same plot device. The remakes cited in "Noir, Now and Then" don't all offer equal opportunity to analyze different eras of filmmaking, but some serve that purpose well. If you're interested in classic noir versus neo-noir, this is not a bad place to start. Foster Hirsch's Detours and Lost Highways may also be helpful. Remakes of proto-noir and neo-noir films are included in the appendices.

NOIR: NOW AND THEN is an exceptional book of film ommentary. Even if you are only mildly interested in fil noir, you will find it fascinating, enlightenig and entertaining, as the author brilliantly compares the differences between original film noir and its modern counterpart. Schwartz not only knows the dark heart of noir but also its calculating brain as well as its occasional funny bone. NOIR: NOW AND THEN would be a most valuable addition to any collection of film studies.

Since publication of this wonderful book in 2001 just before the 9/11 events which took place in Manhattan (it cost $75 then) and despite the scarcity of stills, RS finished a worthy paperback for Scarecrow Press entitled "Neo-Noir" viz. amazon.com for some controversial reviews. Also, after several years, the author completed "The Great Spanish Films from 1950," a magnum opus of 417 pages for Scarecrow which received a dazzling review from the American Reference Books Annual 2009, Vol. 40, item #1071 in which Prof. John Gillespie says the "author shown good judgment in choosing the films and in the text, has supplied a wealth of fascinating, readable material on the subject...recommended for large academic institutions and other libraries" and for anyone who wants to get an excellent grasp on Spanish Cinema from the fifties through the new millenium. It contains over 100 stills and is updated through 2008 as well as containing indices for Spain's Cinema Circle Awards and Goya Awards through 2008 (the equivalent of Spain's Oscar.) Schwartz is also working on a book tentatively titled "Film Noir Style."
12 May 2009