The Noir Style

Any list of films noir will include some of the greatest classics of the cinema - The Maltese Falcon, Touch of Evil, This Gun for Hire, The Big Sleep - featuring some of Hollywood's most enduring stars - Bogart, Bacall, Cagney, Mitchum - in their defining roles. But the genre also includes a whole host of less celebrated works which, nevertheless, share the same themes and style - films such as Criss Cross and Pickup on South Street. This book is both a celebration of noir and a detailed examination of the 'look' which does so much to define it.

The wonderfully evocative pictures in this book include production stills from such noir gems as Out of the Past and The Killers which illustrate the style and capture the impact of this most atmospheric of cinematic genres. The accompanying text explores the origins of noir, including its debt to German expressionism and its borrowings from contemporary painters and photographers, as well as tracing its history from the early 1940s up to the present day. Classic noir motifs, such as Night and the City, The Deadly Female and They Drive by Night, are discussed in detail with the help of numerous stills, all superbly reproduced in duotone.

This is a book that will be treasured by all who love and admire the films, which, more than any others, formed our image of the America of mean streets, self-sufficient men and predatory women.