The Film Noir Encyclopedia [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Praise for Film Noir: The Encyclopedia

"It's what you always want in a film reference book, but rarely find: comprehensive, intelligently organized, voluminously illustrated, and possessed of its own distinctive voice." -- Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Big Chill

"A top-flight piece of work." -- Walter Hill, director of 48 Hours

"An extraordinarily well done book about a neglected subject ... This is likely to become the book on film noir." -- Robert Benton, writer of Bonnie and Clyde

³This is certainly an important book to have on your shelf.² -- Leonard Maltin¹s Movie Crazy Blog

³Thank heaven for the ecumenical definition of film noir used by the editors the fourth and fattest edition of The Film Noir Encyclopedia. The compendium is venerable‹30 years and counting‹but the overall acuity of the opinions expressed are still very much alive.² -- Directors Guild of America Quarterly

³For both the hard-core fan and the newly initiated, this overhauled and updated fourth edition of The Film Noir Encyclopedia is a brilliant way to explore a genre. It offers light, certainty and tells you what's good in a cinematic world of shadows, ambiguity, and moral corruption² Huffington Post

³A handsome, arm-straining book which has massive, ambitious coverage. This is an A-Z encyclopedia and is probably the most useful in terms of tracking down more obscure items. This is a book that is very up to date with lots of modern films noirs. It boasts some surprising entries and, as a shopping list to the films you might want to watch, it¹s among the best.² --FiveBooks.com

³These four [editors Silver, Ward, Porfirio, and Ursini] have cornered the market on shadows and fog. And they¹re undoubtedly the most informed film noir historians working today. Film Noir: The Encyclopedia fills you in on what came before and after, be it back in noir¹s heyday or in its more recent neo-noir incarnations. And the book does so with wily eye for detail.² -- Sun Post Weekly

³[T]he publication of an updated Film Noir: The EncyclopediaŠis a rewarding reminder of the nitty-gritty reality of that film style¹s golden day² -- The Morning News

³Film Noir: The Encyclopedia is a joy for noir enthusiasts‹a must-have for scholars, students, filmmakers, and fansŠ perfect for teaching about film noirŠ Just a note on the physical book: The book is a dark and hefty tome‹a noirish object itself. On the front of the dust jacket is an unlabeled still of a man in a suit and fedora emerging from darkness toward a mysterious light. Open the book and the paper is a rough stock. All the striking stills and posters are presented in black and white on that same rough paper‹ no glossy bookplates. Even the appearance of the book resoundingly shouts ³noir!²ŠThe Encyclopedia is an instructive, analytical, intellectual approach to film noirŠ The Encyclopedia certainly sends the reader into a labyrinth on an existential journey through dark streets and alleys, only to emerge knowing a hell of a lot more about film noir‹and possibly even about the black depths of the human soul.² -- Noir Journal

³One of the first and best books in English about film noir was 1979¹s Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style from The Overlook PressŠNow, 31 years later comes a substantially rewritten version of the bookŠBoth the individual entries and the thematic essays in the new Film Noir: The Encyclopedia are engrossing reading for those interested in the world of noir² -- Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant

³For those of you who are newly interested in film noir, Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward¹s Encyclopedia is a superb starting placeŠThe new volume is not just a cleaned-up reprinting the Encyclopedia has been overhauled and improved in almost every fashion² -- Where Danger Lives Blog

³The authors¹ opening essay lays out the history and parameters of noir in a succinct but undogmatic way, offering an intro for the new viewer as well as food for thought for the hardboiled fan--It¹s a fascinating ride, full of shadowy dames and fedora-topped detectives...This new edition of the definitive text on film noir is a perfect companion for a foray into the dreamlike world of some of the most dark and mesmerizing movies ever made² -- PopMatters.com

³The parameters of film noir, as well as our knowledge of this most sinister movie genre, are greatly expanded with the recent release of Film Noir: The Encyclopedia a revised and redesigned fourth edition of the classic pioneering text that movie lovers consider the final word on the cinematic world of fog and shadowsŠFilm Noir: The Encyclopedia is an essential reference work for students of film and for movie fans who love plying cinema¹s mean streets. It is indeed a beacon of light in an artful landscape of darkness.² -- Projections Blog

³This issue has been revised, updated and redesigned, and will provide lovers of the genre with even more ammunition in the ongoing debate over the cinematic world filled with shadowy characters and femme fatales...The book is a concise compendium of films noir, actors and directors and filmmakers who helped create this unique and beloved genre...This wonderfully exhaustive text tallying more than three hundred thousand words with hundreds of film stills and photos new to the work distills everything about the genre into one volume from movies to stars to themes and motifs, and brings us up to date with contemporary contributions to the genre. This is the final word on a dark subject.² -- Film Monthly Magazine

³The Encyclopedia makes an ideal guide through the shadowy realms of cinema¹s arguably most enduring style² -- Bright Lights Film Journal

³An extremely useful book, yet to be equalled. And I for one will undoubtedly be dipping into it time and time again.² -- Woody Haut¹s Blog

³Film Noir: The Encyclopedia is edited by world authorities on the topic and packs in a history of the uniquely American film styleŠAny definitive film collection must have this!² -- Midwest Book Review

Enter the world of film noir, a world of darkness, ambiguity, and moral corruption. Meet the cynical and obsessive heroes of film noir portrayed by actors like Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, and Bette Davis. You may encounter a gun-toting gangster, a femme fatale wrapped in fur, a detective with the brim of his hat turned down, or a desperate murderer lurking in the shadows of a doorway. It's a world we all know - the seedy underbelly of the American Dream, and every bit as much a part of our culture.

This wonderfully exhaustive text - tallying more than three hundred thousand words with hundreds of film stills and photos new to the work - distills everything about the movement into one volume from movies to stars to themes and motifs, and brings us up to date with contemporary contributions to the movement. Now completely revised, expanded, and redesigned, this classic pioneering work is the final word on a dark subject.