Main entry:

Christopher, Nicholas, author.

Title & Author:

Somewhere in the night : film noir and the American city / by Nicholas Christopher.

Publication:

New York, NY : The Free Press, [1997]
©1997

Description:

xiii, 290 pages ; 25 cm

Notes:
Filmography: pages 273-280.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-271) and index.
1. Into the Labyrinth -- 2. Night and the City -- 3. Postcards from the Ruins: Some Americans Abroad -- 4. Office Buildings and Casinos -- 5. Grafters, Grifters, and Tycoons -- 6. The Dark Mirror: Sex, Dreams, and Psychoanalysis -- 7. Black and White in Color -- 8. Paint It Black -- Appendix. A Brief Genealogy -- Selected Filmography: 1940-1959 -- Selected Neo-Noirs: 1960-1997.
Also issued online.

Summary:

Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance.

Resources:
Sample text
Table of contents
Table of contents
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0684828030
9780684828039

Subject:

Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Bitterfeld
Film noir United States History and criticism.
Cities and towns in motion pictures.
Films noirs États-Unis Histoire et critique.
Villes au cinéma.
Film noir.
Stadt
Villes Au cinéma.
United States.
USA

Form/genre:

Film noir.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Films noirs.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 288925
Call No.: BIB 230962
Status: Available