FILM NOIR COMPENDIUM: Key Selections from the Film Noir Reader Series, essays about great art

FILM NOIR COMPENDIUM: Key Selections from the Film Noir Reader Series
ALAIN SILVER & JAMES URSINI, editors
Applause Theatre & Cinema Books/Limelight (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$29.99 paperback, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: 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 Panorama du Film Noir Americain

Paul Schrader's "Notes on Film Noir"

"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

"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.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Let me show you a few pictures from the book:

...among many others pepper the text, bringing the much-needed visual element to these learnèd essays about visual storytelling. This is a book of educated devotees delving deep into their passion, not a coffee-table book.

But it's Turkey Day. No better time to be reminded that crime is always, in the end, punished...put the carving knife down, Mom; empty the poisoned wine now, Dad; beating your older sibling to death with the candlestick is best left to the Clue board, kids. (Of all ages.) Togetherness is, I know, overrated, so get those urges met by reading about them. Family togetherness...work parties...club meetings can all get a little too too much when packed into a short span. Blow off some emotional steam in the pursuit of understanding why killing does not solve the problem just creates more.

Oh, and SOMEone out there has/is a film buff, a noirista, a lover of moodily lit, elegantly appointed period pieces like these, on their gifting list.