Limelight
10 total works
In this essential study of film noir editors Alain Silver and James Ursini select the most significant and influential articles on the movement from their highly respected Film Noir Reader series and assemble them into a single convenient heavily illustrated volume. Still included of course are many rare early articles and such seminal essays as Borde and Chaumeton's Towards a Definition of Film Noir from ÊPanorama du Film Noir AmericainÊ Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir and Paint It Black: the Family Tree of the Film Noir by Raymond Durgnat. With newer studies such as Lounge Time by Vivian Sobchack Manufacturing Heroines in Classic Noir Films by Sheri Chinen Biesen and Voices from the Deep: Film Noir as Psychodrama J. P. Telotte this collection of over 30 articles probes this most influential American film movement from varying angles: formalist feminist structuralist sociological and stylistic; narrative-thematic historical and even from the point of view of a pure aficionado. There is something in this volume for every student or devotee of film noir. Plus like the readers that have proven an invaluable tool for academics planning a syllabus it can serve as the most complete core text for any of the myriad of film noir courses taught throughout the world.
Despite a glut of black and white filters the digital revolution in videography has all but abandoned the art science beauty and power of cinematic lighting that literally illuminated the Golden Age of motion pictures. ÊFilm Noir Light and ShadowÊ explores an era before CGI ä a time when every photon mattered and the lighting of a set served a grander purpose than simply rendering its subjects visible. Edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini the duo behind numerous critically acclaimed studies of other aspects of noir this anthology presents a series of essays that examine the visual style of the filmmakers of cinema's classic period. Some focus on individual pictures or directors; others discuss elements of style or sub-groups of movies within the movement. All are sharply focused on what makes the noir phenomenon unique in American ä and global ä cinematic history. Aside from highlighting the innovative work of its editors and their late colleague Robert Porfirio ÊFilm Noir Light and ShadowÊ also shares its light with a bevy of contributors who have written and edited their own books on the subject ä a list of luminaries that includes Sheri Chinen Biesen Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards Julie Grossman Delphine Letort Robert Miklitsch R. Barton Palmer Homer Pettey Marlisa Santos Imogen Sara Smith and Tony Williams. As befits the topic this volume is lavishly illustrated with 500 images that capture the richness and breadth of the classic period's imagery making it an ideal companion for students of the genre film historians sprocket fiends and the retrospectively inclined.
The earlier ÊFilm Noir ReadersÊ which now boast a combined sale of well over 30 000 copies have all quite deliberately conveyed a sweeping overview of the classic period demonstrating how broad and inclusive noir movies are. ÊFilm Noir Reader 4Ê moves in a different direction. Its purpose is to identify the key films and motifs of noir and to analyze in depth the prototypical pictures that while vivid examples of certain cinematic themes bend and break their molds to find new ways to enthrall and frighten us. Like its predecessors ÊFilm Noir Reader 4Ê is generously illustrated and features essays by such respected film critics and scholars as Robin Wood J.P. Telotte R. Barton Palmer and Robert Porfirio. All have as their purpose to explain why and how these classic films work; the way screenplay direction acting cinematography editing and all the other filmmaking crafts blended together to produce work that exemplifies both a particular movement in film history and the innovations that keep the noir style fresh and compelling.
This newest edition will track the form's evolution from such 1970s reinventions as ÊCount Yorga VampireÊ and ÊBlaculaÊ ÊThe HungerÊ and ÊVampire's KissÊ in the Eighties ÊInterview with the VampireÊ ÊBram Stoker's DraculaÊ and the ÊBladeÊ series in the Nineties through Ê30 Days of NightÊ ÊI Am LegendÊ and the ÊUnderworldÊ series in the first decade of the 21st century. All these films plus celebrated international examples such as ÊThirstÊ and ÊLet the Right One InÊ and the hit television series ÊBuffy the Vampire SlayerÊ ÊNew AmsterdamÊ ÊAngelÊ ÊThe Vampire DiariesÊ and ÊTrue BloodÊ are covered in this long-awaited completely revised expanded and redesigned fourth edition that follows the vampire figures both male and female through the millennium and beyond.
