This is a very interesting portrait of a much abused genre. The essays a quite wonderful, with the essay on Polanski's Repulsion worth the price of the book alone.

I discovered many movies from reading this book, and I am still on the hunt for some of them. But the hunt is a pleasure.

HORROR FILM READER is an extensive collection of articles and essays combined to further our understanding of horror film's allure and impact upon the viewer. Divided into two sections, the first contains early works dating from 1952 up through 1975 while the second half delves into the more current arguments to date.

Part One: Seminal Essays contains:

"Ghoulies and Ghosties" by Curtis Harrington (1952)

"Horror Films" by William K. Everson (1954)

"The Subconscious: From Pleasure Castle to Libido Hotel" by Raymond Durgnat (1958)

"The Face of Horror" by Derek Hill (1958)

"A Bloody New Wave in the United States" by Jean-Claude Romer (1964)

"Horror Is My Business" by Terence Fisher (1964)

"The Horror Film: Polanski and REPULSION" by Ivan Butler (1967)

"From Voyeurism to Infinity" by Raymond Lefevre (1968)

"Mario Bava: the Illusion of Reality" by Alain Silver and James Ursini (1975)

Part Two: New Perspectives contains:

"Neglected Nightmares" by Robin Wood (1980)

"Is the Devil American? William Dieterle's THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER" by Tony Williams (1999)

"Violence, Women, and Disability in Tod Brownings's FREAKS and THE DEVIL DOLL" by Martin F. Norden and Madeleine Cahill (1998)

"Monsters as (Uncanny) Metaphors: Freud, Lakoff, and the Representation of Monstrosity in Cinematic Horror" by Steven Schneider (1997)

"The Anxiety of Influence: George Franju and the Medical Horror Shows of Jess Franco" by Joan Hawkins (1999)

"Seducing the Subject: Freddy Krueger" by Ian Conrich (1997)

"What Rough Beast? Insect Politics and THE FLY" by Linda Brookover and Alain Silver (1999)

"Demon Daddies: Gender, Ecstasy and Terror in the Possession Film" by Tanya Krzywinska (1999)

"Women on the Verge of a Gothic Breakdown: Sex, Drugs and Corpses in THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK" by Glenn Erickson (1997)

"CANDYMAN: Urban Space, Fear, and Entitlement" by Aviva Briefel and Sianne Ngai (1996)

"THE HAUNTING and the Power of Suggestion: Why Robert Wise's Film Continues to "Deliver the Goods" to Modern Audiences" by Pam Keesey (1999)

There is too much between the covers of this Silver-Ursini collection to pass up. Not every article takes a fresh stance, but there are a number of moments when you may just say, "Gee, I hadn't thought of that." Also, on a comparative level, this collection's variety of perspectives lends a chance to juggle different views without the clutter of film books, journals, and magazines that would otherwise be needed.

This one is worth the buy.

"The Vampire Film" is an astounding reference book for those interested in vampire films. The descriptions of the films are great, including an excellent section on the vampires of Hammer films. The filmography at the book's end is great!

Perhaps I expected something more. The essays in this book are often repetitive and non-progressional in subject matter. The softcover version of the book has stills that are more brown and white than black and white... For my money, I am a bigger fan of Hirsch's "The dark side of the screen". It is a well thought, well researched look at noir with a cohesive structure. This all is not to say that a majority of the essays in the Reader are not helpful. Of course it is great to read Schrader's piece and some others which deal with nice specifics (how economics affected growth of B genre, lighting, etc.) but at the end of the day I feel too many of the essays are only about defining the genre (or not genre) rather than delving into other things. Also, I probably will buy more books by these authors simply because their care for noir is so true and strong...

Film Noir Reader 2 is as interesting as its forerunner. Not every article is great, but there is a lot of interest here.

The book opens with film writings from the Forties that show that while Americans did not coin the term film noir, some writers did notice a trend developing.

There are interesting articles on Cornell Woolrich, Sam Fuller and noir and painting. The article on British Film Noir is quite fascinating.

At the end of the book is a piece by a professor who discusses how he teaches a course on film noir. So this book traces film noir from a barely discerned trend to an academic course of study. Neat.

This is a very good anthology of noir criticism. It contains three of the first assessments of noir in English, by Higham, Durgnat and Schrader right next to each other - boom, boom, boom - so one can see the criticism of noir developing before one's eyes.

The rest of the essays/arcticles are mostly very interesting. There is one on John Farrow, who is usually overlooked, so it is good to see his films grouped together and examined. The essay on Anthony Mann's noirs is quite strong, and Ursini's article on noir TV, shows such as "Peter Gunn" and "The Fugitive" is very interesting and makes one wish that there were more written on this part of TV history.

I think this would be an essential part of any noir fan's library.

While the idea of having two of the most knowledgeable scholars of the noir film host a coffee-table art book on the topic sounds promising, the resulting product is heinously flawed. Despite the brevity of the text, a blocky font makes it difficult to read. The 'duotone' reproduction is achieved by imposing blue plate on the black plate--making vintage photographs resemble a poorly adjusted television screen. Further, the large reproductions merely expose the grain, scratches, and dust spots that any skilled retoucher could have removed. Pick up Mark Viera's SIN IN SOFT FOCUS: PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD and see how this book should have looked.

A large, handsome book, suitably published in black and white. If you are a fan of the Noir genre, this belongs on your coffee table. The pictures, from the collections of the authors, are evocative of their milieu, illustrating the classic noir films of the 40's and 50's. There isn't quite as much information about each picture as I would like, and for a couple, such as the cover and frontspiece, no information at all. This book is a supplement to the Noir Readers of the authors, and as such, serves it's purpose well. Do not buy this as a text, but for illustrative purposes. Enjoy looking at the chilling dark dangerous ladies, the crooked cops, the doomed characters. Great pictures.

Alain Silver has already written the definitive book on the subject with his (and Elizabeth Ward) 'Film Noir: An encyclopaedic reference to the American style' and now with 'The Noir Style' he has written the definitive book about the look of these movies.

Most critics agree that style was one of the main elements of this genre and Paul Schrader went further to suggest that noir style was working out the conflict visually. Where would this kind of movie be without its deep shadows and expressive lighting? With over two hundred production stills the authors explore the various characteristics and meanings of this essentially American art form. What makes the book so wonderful for me, apart from the excellent design by Bernard Schleifer, are the stills, mostly large one to a page and beautifully printed as 175 screen duotones, they leap off the page. Each photo has a very comprehensive caption.

As well as the seven chapters there are several spreads called 'Motif' where certain visual treatments are examined in more detail, prison bars, dream and flashback, face and gesture, sexual debasement, night and the wheel and one I thought particularly interesting about photographer Weegee (his real name was Arthur Fellig and he got his obscure nickname from his job, in the twenties, at The New York Times, where he worked in the photo darkrooms removing excess water from prints before they were dried, he did this with a squeegee) he covered New York city for various tabloid papers and his style was a photographic version of the noir movies. Page forty-seven shows one of his photos of a dead man on a city pavement, wearing a blood soaked shirt, over the page is a still of Kirk Douglas playing dead from the movie 'Out of the Past', they actually have very little in common, one is sanitised reel life the other is real life.

'The Noir Style' could not be any better and with Silver's 'Film Noir' encyclopaedia you will have a very full account of this fascinating movie genre. One other noir film book I have enjoyed is 'Dark City' by Eddie Muller, a detailed text and picture study. A neat touch is that Muller's written the book in the language style of the hardboiled private eye books of the forties...all three books hit the bull's eye!

Just a couple of points to add to Dr. Schwartz's fine review of all three Film Noir entries. The price of this reader is...hefty .... Considering what you get in return, only confirmed enthusiasts should pony up that amount. A big point in the book's favor: an interview with screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring, aka Geoffrey Homes, (Out of the Past, Invasion of Body Snatchers,et.al.), a major influence on the genre, and the only interview with this neglected figure that I know of. Lastly, it's remarkable how many of these artists were unaware of contributing to a distinct body of work we now call film noir. Perhaps the zeitgeist of the time wore a trenchcoat; certainly something generic was afoot.

If you are a "noir addict," as I am, you are indeed fortunate to have read the original FILM NOIR READER, its sequel, FILM NOIR READER 2 and the last one in the series...FILM NOIR READER 3.
The first one was the most interesting of the group, containing the most seminal essays on the noir style by Durgnat, Higham, Porfirio and Schrader and even a translation from Borde & Chaumenton's French framing of the "noir mystique." Also, several noir films were considered in a "case study" section, among them KISS ME DEADLY, NIGHT & THE CITY, ANGEL FACE and the post-noir LONG GOODBYE. The last section of Volume One dealt with "Noir, Then and Now" with several interesting articles on noir's legacy and the new noir. It was a sensational critical work after Silver & Ward's trend-setting volume FILM NOIR, now in its third edition from Overlook Press.
FILM NOIR 2, in the Limelight series carries on the tradition of including seminal essays on noir by Nino Frank, the film critic who actually named the style, Jean-Pierre Chartier and Claude Chabrol, among other worthy and perceptive American
critics such as Tom Flinn and Stephen Farber. Reverting to the case history approach, Robert Porfirio, Robin Wood, Silver and Ward, among others scrutinize critically the films of Hitchcock,
the femme fatales of PUSHOVER (Kim Novak) & THELMA JORDON (Barbara Stanwyck)among other themes as "jazz & noir," "tabloid cinema" and "neo-noir fugitives," all wonderful essays written with style and critical acumen. Part 3 of this volume seems to suggest this would be the last in the series, discussing the "evolution" of noir, especially essays on the "new noir," and especially Kent Minturn's excellent article on "abstract expressionism and film noir, demonstrating the effects of Jackson Pollack's paintings on the noir style.
FILM NOIR READER 3 must be the absolute last in the series because it focus is on mainly interviews with filmmakers of the classic noir period. Divided into 3 sections, it deals with 8 directors such as Andre de Toth, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Robert Wise among others, filmmakers such as photographers James Wong Howe and John F. Seitz, actors such as Claire Trevor and Lizabeth Scott, composers such as Miklos Rozsa and finally a series of commentaries about noir by Curtis Bernhardt, Budd Boetticher and Daniel Fuchs.
Of the director section, all were fairly interesting interviews by Alain Silver or Robert Porfirio with the exception of Otto Preminger who seemed to defy the questions put to him and did not care to be labelled a "noir" director. Of the actors, I enjoyed Claire Trevor's appraisal of her roles and Lizabeth Scott's method of transforming herself psychologically into a "femme fatale." But the commentaries section of this interview book really runs out of steam with Daniel Fuchs' perception of Jews, Gentiles and Communists in Hollywood as well as the take of his own words on THE GANGSTER with Barry Sullivan.
He even complains as he writes answers to Porfirio's questions, while admiring the critic, he feels "it pains him his own prose is so lousy."
While this third volume is chock full of wonderful stills
from classic films of the period, sometimes the stills have absolutely nothing to do with the text...worse, there are serious flaws in editing that mar the book...on p. 60 Anne Bancroft is referred to in THE BLUE GARDENIA while on the next page it is Anne BAXTER, the real star of the film is seen in a still with Ann Sothern; the still facing p. 135 identifies Ray Teal as the actor in the foreground with Orson Welles on the stairs in CITIZEN KANE while it is actually RUSSELL COLLINS and more blatantly, in the still on p.141 from BODY AND SOUL, how can any one mistake B-actress HAZEL BROOKS seen here with John Garfield for the beautiful and classy Lili Palmer identified in the caption.
Finally, I believe FILM NOIR READER 3 is a worthy entry in the series for its preservation of information and stills about noir although the interviewers seemed to have scraped rock bottom to put this volume together. Perhaps they should turn their attentions to the new noir. However, I must commend the publisher, Limelight, for continuing the series and bringing about an affordable paperback with such gorgeous stills that are alone worth the ... price. And some of the interviews are really excellent--the ones with Billy Wilder, Miklos Rozsa and James Wong Howe among others. But it is difficult to take such diverse views on noir and give them a unique, systematic frame of reference because of the very complexity in the material and the divergent views among the authors. I simply cannot imagine how far down "the noir trail" we can go without stumbling in the future. Volumes 1 and 2 are certainly superior to this last one, but Vol. 3 gives me a sense of closure regarding the material, but not the "noir style." For as long as there are men deceived by women for cash or sex, noir will go on forever.