[B&C] Borde, Raymond, and Etienne Chaumeton. A Panorama of American Film Noir, 1941-1953. Translated by Paul Hammond. City Lights Books, 2002. ISBN: 9780872864122. (Original French version published in 1955.) [Preview with Google Books]
[Brook] Brook, Vincent. Driven to Darkness: Jewish Émigré Directors and the Rise of Film Noir. Rutgers University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780813546308. [Preview with Google Books]
[S&W] Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth Ward, eds. Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. 3rd ed. Overlook Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780879514792. (Note: This edition has been superseded by a new version published in 2010: Silver, Alian, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, et al. The Film Noir Encyclopedia. Overlook Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781590201442. Either version is fine.
[S&U] Silver, Alain, and James Ursini, eds. Film Noir Reader. Limelight Editions, 2004. ISBN: 9780879101978.
[Reader] ———. Film Noir Reader 4: The Crucial Films and Themes. Limelight Editions, 2004. ISBN: 9780879103057.
[Hirsch] Hirsch, Foster. The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir. New ed. Da Capo Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780306810398.
[Robson] Robson, Eddie. Film Noir (Virgin Film). Virgin Books, 2010. ISBN: 9780753510865.
Readings
Sessions marked with L are course lectures; those marked with S are film screenings.
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - S | Double Indemnity | (PDF) |
| 1 - L | What is Film Noir? / Our Five Directors / Analyzing Double Indemnity |
[S&W] "Double Indemnity" [S&U] Schrader, Paul. "Notes on Film Noir (1972)." |
| 2 - L | Narrative and Visual Complexities in Early Noir / Comparing Our First Two Films |
[Hirsch] Chapter 1, "The City at Night," and Chapter 3, "The Cinematic Background: From Expressionism to Neo-Realism." [Brook] Chapter 4, "The Father of Film Noir: Fritz Lang," and Chapter 5, "Lang in Hollywood." |
| 2 - S | The Woman in the Window | (PDF) |
| 3 - L | Émigré Artists and Expressionist Visual Styles |
[S&U] Place, Janey, and Lowell Peterson. "Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir (1974)." [Hirsch] Chapter 4, "The Crazy Mirror: Noir Stylistics." |
| 3 - S | Detour | |
| 4 - L | "B" Movies as Noir's Lifeblood; Artists in Exile; Noir Existentialism |
[S&U] Porfirio, Robert. "No Way Out: Existential Motifs in the Film Noir (1976)." [S&U] Erickson, Glenn. "Fate Seeks the Loser: Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour (1945)." [Brook] Chapter 1 "Introduction," and Chapter 3 "Jews and Expressionism: Performing High and Low." |
| 4 - S | The Spiral Staircase | |
| 5 - S |
The Killers Watch: The Set-Up or The Asphalt Jungle on your own | |
| 6 - S | Where the Sidewalk Ends | (PDF) |
Assigned Noir Films
Classic Noir Films
- The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston, 1950 (112 minutes.)
- Detour. Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945 (67 minutes.)
- Double Indemnity. Billy Wilder, 1944 (107 minutes.)
- The Killers. Robert Siodmak, 1964 (103 minutes.)
- The Lady from Shanghai. Welles, 1947 (87 minutes.)
- Scarlet Street. Fritz Lang, 1945 (103 minutes.)
- The Set-up. Robert Wise, 1949 (73 minutes.)
- The Spiral Staircase. Robert Siodmak, 1945 (83 minutes.)
- Where the Sidewalk Ends. Otto Preminger, 1950 (95 minutes.)
- The Woman in the Window. Fritz Lang, 1944 (107 minutes.)
Neo-Noir Films (Choices for Oral Presentations)
- Body Heat. Lawrence Kasdan, 1981 (113 minutes.)
- Blood Simple. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 1984 (99 minutes.)
- Chinatown. Roman Polanski, 1974 (130 minutes.)
- Collateral. Michael Mann, 2004 (120 minutes.)
- A History of Violence. David Cronenberg, 2005 (96 minutes.)
- Minority Report. Steven Spielberg, 2002 (145 minutes.)
- Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino, 1992 (99 minutes.)
- Zodiac. David Fincher, 2007 (157 minutes.)