Customer Reviews

Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City

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"Somewhere in the Night" is a treatise on film noir focusing on the characteristics of the post-WWII urban environment which spawned and defined the style. Novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher draws on a wider variety of sources to explain film noir than most film theorists do, including social pundits, historians, artists, and film critics. The discussion of film noir's influences goes so far beyond the traditional expressionism and post-War conditions that the connection is sometimes dubious, but always interesting. "Somewhere in the Night" almost overlooks the first 5 or so years of film noir, picking it up as the style peaks, in the mid-1940s. Each of the book's 8 chapters discusses a characteristic of the Noir City, and most include in-depth analysis of a few films that exemplify that quality. Most discussion is of classic film noir until the last chapter, which is dedicated to neo-noir. Readers will benefit from having some knowledge of film noir theory and history before embarking on this book, since the author presents an elaborate and personal picture of the social circumstances into which film noir emerged but doesn't cover the basics. "Somewhere in the Night" is a thoughtful dissertation for film noir buffs, by a film noir buff. The films mentioned below are not by any means the only films discussed, but the ones which receive exhaustive treatment.

Chapter 1, "Into the Labyrinth", introduces the reader to the literal and figurative urban labyrinth, a man-made web of treachery, which the heroes of film noir are compelled to navigate. "Out of the Past" (1947) and "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955) get in-depth analysis. Chapter 2, "Night and the City", discusses how the aftermath of WWII -the fears of the nuclear age, the paranoia of the Cold War, and the disillusionment of veterans- influenced film. Chapter 3, "Postcards from the Ruins", analyses 3 films that feature Americans in devastated European cities: "Berlin Express" (1948), "The Third Man" (1949), and "Night and the City" (1950). Chapter 4, "Office Buildings and Casinos", explores the increased sense of isolation produced by technologies and the corporate "rat race", reflected in characters' gravitation to omnipresent office buildings or casinos. 3 office work films are analyzed: "Forces of Evil" (1948), "The Big Clock" (1948), and "The Blue Gardenia" (1953), as well as 4 casino films: "Dead Reckoning" (1947), "Criss Cross" (1949), and "The Shanghai Gesture" (1941), and "Gilda" (1946). Chapter 5, "Grafters, Grifters, and Tycoons", discusses money as the foundation of the noir city, manifested as artwork, gangsters, or political corruption. Films analyzed are "The Street with No Name" (1948), "T-Men" (1947), "The Set-Up" (1949), and "Caught" (1949). Chapter 6, "The Dark Mirror: Sex, Dreams, and Psychoanalysis", talks about noir's sexual obsessions, previously not depicted in film, the femme fatale, and Freudian psychoanalysis in cinema. "Gun Crazy" (1950), "Nightmare Alley" (1947), "The Accused" (1949), and "Cat People" (1942) are analyzed. Chapter 7, "Black and White in Color", talks about the symbolic use of color in color film noir, going back to 1945's "Leave Her to Heaven". Chapter 8, "Paint It Black", is about neo-noir. The failure of re-made classic noirs and the success of original material and never-before-adapted pulp novels are discussed, with analysis of "The Usual Suspects" (1995). There are 2 Selected Filmographies in the back of the book, 1940-1959 and 1960-1997, both in alphabetical, not chronological, order.

This isn't the perfect book on film noir, but it is very interesting because Christopher touches on films that don't get discussed in a lot of books on film noir.

Chief among these are two Val Lewton horror films, Cat People and The Seventh Victim. It is nice to see someone discussing Lewton from a film noir perspective. Also, Christopher left me burning to see Breakdown, a 1965 film dealing with a scientist's mental crisis that he makes sound fascinating.

He also does a good job talking about more famous noirs, particularly Criss Cross, which he examines from the Dan Dureyea character's perspective. That brings a fresh approach to his discussion of this classic film noir.

This should not be anyone's first book on film noir, but it takes interesting positions and makes the reader look at things differently. Recommended for the person deeply into noir.

Mixed feelings on this one. Some of the in-depth analysis of particular films is good -- "Dead Reckoning" stands out -- but this comes off much more as personal essay than a really valuable analysis for a wide audience. Perhaps that's what Mr Christopher was intending -- or perhaps he let his novelistic/poetic tendencies (most of his published work is in those media) get in the way of a thoroughgoing analysis of the subject. He's sloppy in his research at times -- Frank Capra was NOT native-born; Fritz Lang didn't direct "Beware My Lovely" -- and he seems at times to come to the genre with preconceived notions that get in the way of a more measured and nuanced approach, e.g. claiming that "Rififi" is not noir (because it's French, though its director is American) in one sentence and being similarly dismissive of all other non-American attempts, but going on at very great length about "The Usual Suspects", surely not as self-evidently noir as the author supposes. He overuses the 'labyrinth' motif and makes some fairly ridiculous claims -- Shakespeare, the proto-noir writer? -- and his slighting of the creative elements besides the directors and cinematographers sometimes detracts from his otherwise solid descriptions of the action. No mention of such luminaries as Ida Lupino or Dan Duryea?

That said, the novelistic approach does keep things interesting (this book actually makes me quite curious to read some of the writer's fiction), and he does spend a fair amount of time on some of the lesser-known examples in the style. So overall, worth a read, but certainly not the first book you should look for if you're interested in noir.

This is a straight forward and simple review. I feel it would be redundant going into the detail that the other reviews (who explained the book perfectly) already did. This book changed my life. I read it as a senior in high school in a film noir class. It opened my mind up to enjoying film beyond the crappy new-age Hollywood hit list.

If you enjoy a more realistic movie: a grittier, hard-edged, unapologetic look at urban drama, then I think this book will open your eyes. It changed the way I looked at film (for the better) and I think it will for anyone else who reads it.

Especially in the early going, the book suffers from cloyingly pretentious prose and laborious plot summary, but eventually Christopher gets around to saying some interesting things about the genre. The book is a perfectly imperfect illustration of the difficulty in finding a middle ground between academic and popular writing. Still, worth having if only for the extensive filmography.