General Books
Street With No Name: A History of the Classic American Film Noir by Call Number: 791.43655 D561sISBN: 0813122430This book traces the film noir genre back to its roots in German Expressionist cinema and the French cinema of the interwar years. The author describes the development of the film noir in America from 1941 through the 1970s and examines how this development expresses a modern cinema.
Hollywood’s dark cinema : the American film noir by Call Number: 791.43655 P182HISBN: 0805793356This book traces the beginning of film noir in the context of industry aims, target audiences, censorship, and the role Hollywood played in American society. The author also includes a review of the genre's identifiable elements of character, plot, and setting.
Academic monographs on film noir. You can use these books as "seed documents" mining bibliographies, citations, and footnotes to get your research going in the right direction.
More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts. by Call Number: 791.43655 N167mISBN: 0520212940This work of cultural history provides production information and commentary on films from the classic film noir period up through more recent neo-noir. Author takes an interdisciplinary approach, including observations about television, literature, and fine art, in his discussion.
Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir by Call Number: 791.436 T239VISBN: 0252060563Situates the noir within its historical context, focusing on postwar disillusionment, cold war anxieties, and changing social circumstances. The author also discusses the amount of narrative experimentation in noir films.
Film Noir by Call Number: 791.43655 Sp41fISBN: 0582437121Explores cinematic and technical aspects of nior.
Jazz Noir: Listening to Music from Phantom Lady to The Last Seduction. by Call Number: 791.43657 B976jISBN: 0275973018Explores the jazz featured as music in noir.
Gender studies
Femmes Fatals and Fast Talking Dames
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Fast-talking dames by
Call Number: 791.43652042 D544fISBN: 0300088159Although not specifically about film noir, DiSattista explores new innovations in the English language in the films of the 1940-50s, particularly focusing on female characters.
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Women in film noir by
Call Number: 791.43 K142w1998ISBN: 0851706657Collection of feminist essays about film noir. -
Dark city dames : the wicked women of film noir by
Call Number: 791.43028082 M912dISBN: 0060393696This book profiles six actresses--Jane Greer, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Savage, Coleen Gray, Audrey Totter, and Marie Windsor--who starred in many of the classic film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. The author combines interviews with his subjects and an astute analysis of the social, political, and economic pressures of Hollywood and the film industry. -
Noir Anxiety by
Call Number: 791.43655 Ol45nISBN: 0816641102This academic work applies feminist and postcolonial psychoanalytic theory to traditional noir films, as well as some neo-noir films from the past three decades. The book focuses on anxiety about ambiguous sexual, racial, and national identities of the characters.
Women in film noir Gender Performance in Film Noir
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The street was mine : white masculinity in hardboiled fiction and film noir by
Call Number: 813.09 Ab28sISBN: 0312294816This book analyzes the recurrent figure of the “tough guy” in American literature and film. -
In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity by
Call Number: 791.43655 K947IISBN: 041502630XThis study argues for a reconsideration of the genre of film noir, focusing on the complex representation of masculinity in the "tough" thriller, and where and how gender interlocks with questions of genre.
Anthologies
Shades of noir : a reader by Call Number: 791.43655 SH12ISBN: 0860914607Collection of academic essays examines films from the classic film noir era, as well as more recent pictures with film noir elements.
Film noir reader by Call Number: 791.436556 F487ISBN: 0879101970The first in a series of collected essays on film noir
Collections of academic essays on film noir. Includes the Film Noir Reader series. You can use these essays as "seed documents" mining their citations and bibliographies or as an introduction to different perspectives around the subject.
Film noir reader 2 by Call Number: 791.436556 F4871999ISBN: 0879102802Second in a series of collected essays on film noir.- Film noir reader 3 : interviews with filmmakers of the classic noir period
- Perspectives on film noir byCall Number: 791.43655 P432ISBN: 0816116016Collection of critical essays on classic and neo noir films. Contains English translations of important French essays on noir.
- Noir Reader Three: Interviews with Filmmakers by Call Number: For library holdings, ask at the Reference or Circulation DesksISBN: 0879101970The third in a series. This collection contains Interviews with directions and cinematographers of classic noir films.
Film Noir Reader Four: by Call Number: 791.436556 F4872004ISBN: 0879103051Published in 2004, editors Silver and Ursini's most recent collection of academic essays on noir from around the globe.
Film theory and criticism : introductory readings by Call Number: 791.43 M39f2009ISBN: 0195365623Critical essays on theory and criticism of film. Not particularly about film noir, but a good introduction to film theory.
Subject Headings for Finding More Books
The Library of Congress Subject headings comprise a thesaurus of subjected headings maintained by the United States Library of Congress, for use in bibliographic records. They are applied to every item within a library’s collection, and facilitate a user’s access to items in the catalogue that pertain to similar subject matter. You can use them in "subject' searches.
Film Noir.
Film noir -- Catalogs.
Film noir -- United States -- History and criticism.
Film noir -- History.
Film noir -- History and criticism.
Film noir -- History and criticism.
Film noir -- Social aspects.
Film noir -- United States.
Film noir -- United States -- Encyclopedias.
Film noir -- United States -- History.
Film noir -- United States -- History and criticism.
Film noir -- United States -- Reviews.
Film noir -- United States -- Review
Jazz in motion pictures
Spy stories, American-- History and criticism.
American fiction --20th century--History and criticism.
Popular Literature--United States--History and criticism.
Literature and society--United States--History--20th century.
Detective and mystery stories, American --History and criticism.
Motion pictures--United States-- History and criticism.
Fantasy Fiction--American-History and criticism.