FILM NOIR

Enter a world populated by private eyes, gangsters, psychopaths and femmes fatales, where deception, lust, and betrayal run rampant. The first film-by-film photography book on film noir and neo-noir, this essential collection begins with the early genre influencers of German and French silent film, journeys. Double Indemnity for many is the quintessential film noir. Protagonist Walter Ness says 'Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money and for a woman.' Cinematographer John F. Seitz also shot Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and other film noirs. His is the first striking mono image leading the chapter entitled 'The Perfect Crime'. The author James M. Cain said, 'I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try to write as the character would write...from the fields, the streets, the bars, the offices and even the gutters of his country.' Under the same chapter is a superbly detailed analysis of Human Desire, The Lady From Shanghai and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Other chapter headings include The Fatalistic Nightmare, The Caper Film, Docu-Noir, Love on the Run, Male Violence including the films A Double Life, Murder by Contract and The Blue Dahlia, Women in Film Noir, The Private Eye including The Maltese Falcon and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and finally, The Darkness and Corruption including The Big Heat, The Prowler, The Third Man and Touch of Evil. Beautifully produced by Taschen on quality paper there are not only noir film stills throughout but also technicolor advertising film posters with big stars names like Joan Crawford and Vincent Price. Includes Taschen's top 50 pick of noir classics 1940-1960. 648pp, hundreds of images. 14 x 19.5cm, bookmarker.
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