Andrew Spicer is reader in Cultural History at the University of the West of England. He has published widely on British Cinema and on Film Noir.
This dictionary by Spicer (Univ. of the West of England) is the
latest entry in a series that has featured, in the last few years,
volumes on German, Italian, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Spanish
cinema, among others....In all, Spicer offers more than 400
concise, cross-referenced entries covering noir from the 1940s to
the present, including entries for actors (e.g., John Garfield,
Veronica Lake), directors (e.g., the Coen Brothers, Otto
Preminger), movies (e.g., The Last Seduction, Scarlet Street), and
writers (e.g., Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson), along with those
for subgenres (e.g., country noir), foreign films (e.g., French
film noir), and noir in other media (e.g., comics/graphic novels).
Also included are a chronology, a brief introduction, an extensive,
up-to-date bibliography, and a filmography. This work will be of
value to those new to the study of film noir. Recommended.
*CHOICE*
In the raft of available film noir literature, both popular and
scholarly, this represents the first subject lexicon. Each of
Spicer's (European Film Noir) 400 alphabetized entries succinctly
defines noir's landmark movies, key terms, and broader concepts.
Running between a paragraph to two pages in length, the entries
occasionally serve as subgenre field guides, describing the
characteristics of country noir and neonoir. Others explain the
complicated influence of ideas or movements, like the impact of
European émigrés on American production sets. Still, the bulk of
the volume is devoted to professional biographies of the writers,
producers, directors, composers, and actors who have shaped and
continue to affect the genre significantly. While intended
primarily as a lexicon, this work's absorbing introduction to film
noir's origins offers a rationale for long-standing classification
debates. A chronology locates the genetic material for noir in the
1794 gothic romance The Mysteries of Udolpho and traces this
lineage through the 1920s into classic noir, neonoir, and
contemporary Hollywood productions. Highly practical for
researchers is the last quarter of the volume, which is devoted to
a 64-page, thematically organized bibliography and a 70-page
filmography, organized by nation. BOTTOM LINE A fitting counterpart
to Alain Silver's The Film Noir Encyclopedia. Recommended for
collections focusing on cultural and film studies.
*Library Journal*
Film noir, which occurred mainly in the 1940s and ’50s, and its
current manifestation, neo-noir, continue to attract many filmgoers
and aficionados. Cinema expert Spicer has written widely about this
genre and gathers information into a volume in the publisher’s
Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts series. The core
of the content consists of American film noir during and after WWII
and includes separate entries for seminal examples, such as The Big
Sleep, Body Heat, and Double Indemnity. Other parts of the world
are covered in entries such as German film noir, Japanese film
noir, and Norwegian film noir. Subgenres (African American film
noir, Gangster noir) and styles and themes (Visual style, Men) are
also discussed. Representative directors and actors have entries.
Spicer also discusses noir in other media, such as Comics/graphic
novels, Posters, and Radio. Furthermore, he identifies precursors
and other cultural phenomena that have influenced film noir, such
as Existentialism, Hard-boiled fiction, and specific authors and
painters. The A–Z entries vary in length from a half page to four
pages (e.g., French noir) and are heavily crossreferenced. The
beginning of the volume contains a chronology of film noir
benchmarks and influences, from 1794 (publication of Ann
Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho) to 2009’s Duplicity (Stieg
Larsson just missed the cut.) Eight pages of black-and-white photos
of representative films and a poster are included in the middle.
After the entries are a 60-page bibliography, divided by major
topics, and a country-by-country filmography. Containing a wealth
of detail about an intriguing film genre, this book belongs in most
film collections.
*Booklist*
"Film noir" conjures a certain image-set in the popular
imagination. Typically, the term is associated with certain
black-and-white medium or low-budget films produced by the
Hollywood studios in the 1940s and 1950s. A crime, often gangland,
theme is usual, as is the presence of leading, usually male,
players with a penchant for conveying toughness and world-weary
cynicism, like Humphrey Bogart or, especially, Robert Mitchum. More
illustrations would have been a bonus: there are eight pages of
black and white photographs and the absence of pictures to
accompany the entry on movie posters is particularly noticeable.
This would, though, have inevitably escalated the price. As it is,
The Historical Dictionary of Film Noir will be an essential
purchase for any researcher in this subject, and for all academic
libraries serving the needs of students in film studies.
*s*
Overall, this is an extremely useful and well-researched reference
work. Spicer's knowledge of the complexities o the subject is
evident throughout the work.
*American Reference Books Annual*
This complete reference covers everything film noir and is very
desirable to anyone interested in cinema.
*Book News, Inc.*
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