Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Penzler Pick, August 2001: Two years ago, I wrote a book titled 101 Greatest Films of Mystery and Suspense. In addition to watching every one of those movies again (not exactly a horrendous ordeal), I did tons of research, flipping through or reading more than a hundred books about film. The best book--the one with the most offbeat stories and anecdotes, the most accurate information, and the most entertainingly written--was Dark City by Eddie Muller. It was a fascinating study of the great films noir, and a page didn't go by without my learning something.
Now Muller is back with Dark City Dames. It's a very different kind of book, not offering the big-picture overview that Dark City did, but it's nearly as fascinating. It's a portrait of six of the greatest femme fatales of the wonderful black-and-white crime movies that filled the screens in the 1940s and '50s: Jane Greer (the star, with Robert Mitchum, of Out of the Past and The Big Steal), Marie Windsor (The Killing, The Narrow Margin), Ann Savage (Detour), Evelyn Keyes (The Prowler, Johnny O'Clock), Audrey Totter (The Lady in the Lake, The Unsuspected), and Coleen Gray (The Sleeping City, Kiss of Death, Nightmare Alley).
But these aren't rehashes of plots and quotes from the rave reviews of these stars. Muller personally interviewed each of them, and the second half of the book is a kind of "Where are they now?" Perhaps oddly--perhaps not--these wicked, lying, cheating, double-crossing, money-hungry temptresses of the screen turn out to be rather nice ladies, as normal as one could expect of beautiful movie stars, and Muller brings them fully to life.
There are regrets here, both on the part of the reader and of Muller, that space couldn't be devoted to many of the biggest female stars of film noir. There's no Barbara Stanwyck, or Gloria Grahame, or Veronica Lake, or Lisabeth Scott, or Claire Trevor, or Ida Lupino. Scott became a silent recluse, and the others had died. But that is only in real life. On the screen they will live forever, just as they do in Muller's marvelous love letter to them all. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
Film noir was the dark side of the movies' happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new icon: the tough, independent, take-no-guff dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble -- or deal out some of her own.
If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait till you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller profiles six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain -- from veteran "bad girls" Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book surveys the lives of these formidable women during the height of their careers circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories -- teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, L.B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston -- offer an illuminating counterpoint to their movies, such as Out of the Past, Detour, The Lady in the Lake, and The Killing. Then Dark City Dames revisits each one of these women today, fifty years on, to witness their hard-won -- and triumphant -- survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script.
Dark City Dames re-creates the excitement and glamour of a group of gifted performers who lived out their youthful fantasies -- and, along the way, remade the image of the American woman.
Customer Reviews:
Then-and-Now Biographies of 6 Actresses of Classic Film Noir.......2004-12-30
Author Eddie Muller proved himself adept at engaging readers with a lively tour of classic film noir in his popular book "Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir". In "Dark City Dames", Muller presents then-and-now biographies of 6 actresses whose portrayals of femmes fatales will forever fix their images on the consciousness of film noir audiences. The first half of the book, entitled "Hollywood Midcentury", introduces us to these women, who came to Hollywood from a variety of backgrounds and locales, but all aspired to be movie actresses and were under contract to one studio or another in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Jane Greer was brought to Hollywood from Washington, D.C. as a teenager under contract to RKO. She made "Out of the Past" and "The Big Steal", among others, before Howard Hughes vowed to end her career. Audrey Totter was straight-laced, professional, and ambitious. She acted in 6 film noirs, among them "The Lady in the Lake", "The Unsuspected", "Alias Nick Beal", and "The Set-Up" before remarkable coincidence began her married life and ended her film career, just as coincidence had launched it. Marie Windsor was the pride of Marysvale, Utah, who had dreamed of being an actress since childhood. Pragmatic and persistent, her dark hair made her the villain in "The Narrow Margin", "Force of Evil", and "The Killing". Evelyn Keyes was backwards and unworldly when Cecile B. DeMille signed her. But her persistent curiosity and independent nature inspired her to many Hollywood adventures. Her films included "Johnny O'Clock" and "The Prowler" , before she walked away from Hollywood after 13 years in the business. Coleen Gray was an insecure midwestern farmer's daughter, but you wouldn't know it from "The Sleeping City", "Nightmare Alley", or "Kiss of Death". Anne Savage was headstrong and vivacious, as her stage name implies. She will be best remembered for "Detour", which might have ended her decade-long acting career.
In the second part of "Dark City Dames", "Hollywood Fin de Siècle", we meet the 6 actresses today. Now in their 70s and 80s, the ladies of film noir tell us what happened as their film careers dwindled and what they've done since. It's interesting that the revived interest in classic film noir has brought these actresses a lot of unexpected attention and praise that was lacking when it would have helped their careers. Several of them lament the demise of the studio system that protected actors even as it limited them -and studio politics ended many careers prematurely. All of the actresses profiled cooperated with the author, so their stories are personal and very much their point of view. "Dark City Dames" doesn't actually say much about the films or the characters these actresses embodied. It's about the experiences of its 6 heroines, who, as young starlets in post-war Hollywood, probably aspired to be A-list stars, but became indelible vixens of film noir instead.
This guy knows what he's talking about!.......2004-02-25
I met Eddie at a lecture in San Francisco during the Noir Festival at the Castro Theater, and this guy really knows his stuff. He is the quintissential renaissance man; a writer, a thinker, and (more than likely) an artist. His books do nothing less than to amaze the reader how a man so young coud have gained so much knowledge about a genre that happened before his birth.
Those Dangerous and Intriguing Women.......2003-10-28
One of the most challenging roles for an actress is that of a femme fatale. She must exhibit far more than mere treachery. The femme fatale must convince audiences that what the poor male succumbing to her charms is experiencing is plausibly merited. She must exhibit the kind of overpowering appeal combined with a Svengali manner to sell audiences that the poor man's captivated fascination is plausibly worth it. Otherwise the whole story falls flat.
Eddie Muller writes about women who accepted that challenge and surmounted it convincingly. Jane Greer is a classic example. While only 22 when she appeared opposite Robert Mitchum in the classical noir work, "Out of the Past," she revealed a native intelligence and air of sophistication of a woman who had been around forever. Mitchum, while fully aware of her treachery, found himself incapable of turning away until it was too late and he was ultimately doomed.
Ann Savage was a former model who found her niche as a femme fatale in one of the most remarkable low budget triumphs in Hollywood annals, "Detour," directed by independent film genius Edgar Ulmer, who took a no frills, low budget project and carved out a classic by using limited space to commanding advantage. Tom Neil could not get away from Savage, who exuded a suffocating presence on the hapless musician, who was trying to reunite with his singer girlfriend in Los Angeles. Savage clearly had other ideas.
Marie Windsor was a willowy former beauty contest winner who traveled from her small Utah hometown to Hollywood in search of fame. Her height was a turnoff initially in her career and she was compelled to work in a lot of low budget westerns before getting her opportunity to shine, which she did in Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing." Her scenes as the faithless wife in love with gigolo Vince Edwards and her shamefully sadistic usery of husband Elisha Cook Jr. serve as a dramatic highlight of a superb, hard-hitting movie about an ex-con played by Sterling Hyden, who seeks to engineer a holdup of a racetrack on the biggest pay day of the season. The more Cook begs and implores, the more savagely biting the wisecracks which emanate from Windsor, but in the final analysis the henpecked husband hits back in a way neither she nor Edwards are able to anticipate.
Coleen Gray and Audrey Totter are also included in Muller's work. His penetrating interviews enable the reader to get familiar with the personalities and their lives away from the cameras. Gray played the girlfriends of Sterling Hayden and Tyrone Power in two noir gems, "The Killing" nnd "Nightmare Alley," while Totter was the love interest of detective Philip Marlowe, played by Robert Montgomery, who also directed, in Raymond Chandler's "The Lady in the Lake."
Superb biography of the queens of film noir.......2002-04-28
Some 50 years ago, the women of this book worked in relative obsurity amidst the shadows of large studios during film noir's heyday. Now with the resurgent popularity of the film noir genre, these actresses are finally being recognized for the keen talent they possess and the effect they had on a generation of movies.
None of these women are household names because none of these women were given the star publicity treatment that Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford and others were givne during the same time period. But their stories are every bit as interesting and author Eddie Muller tells them wonderfully.
Muller is obviously a fan of folm noir, but does not let this color these biographies. Rather, Muller deftly allows the six actresses featured here to tell their own stories. The result is an honest, touching and insightful view into the Hollywood moviemaking era of the late 30s to early 50s.
Each actress' life is chronicled from the time she was born until the present. The personalities shine through as Muller shows the different ways in which each woman found a love for acting and was later "discovered" by Hollywood. The result is poignant. From the exhileration of the "big" movie to the sorrow at the death of a spouse, each life is fascinating. A great book!
DAMES ? This one you can live with!.......2002-02-22
Dark City's leading citizen has done it again with Dames. In this beautiful book, 'hiz honor' introduces us to the lives and work of Jane Greer, Ann Savage, Audrey Totter, Coleen Gray, Evelyn Keyes and Marie Windsor. Do you dare argue?, the quintessential Noir Babes?
It is fair to say that the author's work here is nothing less then visionary. These actresses have never received the credit that they deserved and now in the their golden years someone has come forward to celebrate the contributions that they made to the American Cinema. The word on the street in Dark City is, that no one could have done it better than the Mayor, Eddie Muller.
Among his works, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir and a recently released novel 'The Distance'. He is the co-director of the American Cinematheque's Annual Festival Of Film Noir at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood during March and April.
Book Description
Women in Film Noir is one of the classic course texts of film studies, a groundbreaking attempt to chart the ways in which meanings and fantasies are produced in film noir through representations of the femme fatal and other female roles. First published in 1978, Women in Film Noir assembled a group of scholars and critics committed to understanding the cinema in terms of gender, sexuality, politics, psychoanalysis, and semiotics. This work remains fresh and insightful and is reprinted here.
For this new expanded edition, the editor has brought together further essays that reflect renewed interest in film noir. Exploring "neo-noir," postmodernism, and other contemporary trends, new essays offer readings of, among others, Bound and Basic Instinct, broadening the scope of the book to include questions of race and homosexuality.
Book Description
With its focus on dangerous, determined femmes fatales, hardboiled detectives, and crimes that almost-but-never-quite succeed, film noir has long been popular with moviegoers and film critics alike. Film noir was a staple of classical Hollywood filmmaking during the years 1941-1958 and has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity since the 1990s.
Dames in the Driver's Seat offers new views of both classical-era and contemporary noirs through the lenses of gender, class, and race. Jans Wager analyzes how changes in film noir's representation of women's and men's roles, class status, and racial identities mirror changes in a culture that is now often referred to as postmodern and postfeminist.
Following introductory chapters that establish the theoretical basis of her arguments, Wager engages in close readings of the classic noirs
The Killers, Out of the Past, and
Kiss Me Deadly and the contemporary noirs
L. A. Confidential, Mulholland Falls, Fight Club, Twilight, Fargo, and
Jackie Brown. Wager divides recent films into retro-noirs (made in the present, but set in the 1940s and 1950s) and neo-noirs (made and set in the present but referring to classic noir narratively or stylistically). Going beyond previous studies of noir, her perceptive readings of these films reveal that retro-noirs fulfill a reactionary social function, looking back nostalgically to outdated gender roles and racial relations, while neo-noirs often offer more revisionary representations of women, though not necessarily of people of color.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting but academic read.......2007-05-18
While Jans Wager's book reads a bit like it was written for a college course on Feminism and Film, it has some interesting points to make, especially about film noir criticism itself.
Her first valuable point is that the femme fatale in traditional film noir is not only fatal to the male protagaonist in the film, but she is invariably fatal to herself. This point, and its implications, is virtually always overlooked in film noir criticism. The "fatal fate" of the femme fatale is one of the major differences between film noir and neo noir. Wager goes on to explore this point through various movies, both of the film noir and neo noir style.
Wager explores how African Americans are either totally absent from film noir (even though virtually all film noir is based in American cities) or they are used, tangentially, to provide "hipness" to the male protagonist in the movie. For the most part, this observation is still holds true today with neo noir.
And finally Wager makes the point that recent movies, that are routinely labeled as neo noir, should rightfully be broken down into two categories, retro noir and neo noir--the difference being primarily how women are portrayed in the movies--both the femme fatales and the femme atrappes (trapped women, the good girls of film noir). If the women are portrayed as agents of their own destiny, (for good or bad consequence) and not simply as appendages of the male characters in the movie, then the style should rightfully be called neo noir.
If you find film noir interesting to watch and to read about, this book has some thoughtful points to make. But Wager's style of writing can be a little off-putting, both in its academic nature and its anti-capitalist, feminist slant.
Book Description
Black & White & Noir explores America's pulp modernism through penetrating readings of the noir sensibility lurking in an eclectic array of media: Office of War Information photography, women's experimental films, and African-American novels, among others. It traces the dark edges of cultural detritus blowing across the postwar landscape, finding in pulp a political theory that helps explain America's fascination with lurid spectacles of crime.
We are accustomed to thinking of noir as a film form popularized in movies like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, and, more recently, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. But it is also, Paula Rabinowitz argues, an avenue of social and political expression. This book offers an unparalleled historical and theoretical overview of the noir shadows cast when the media's glare is focused on the unseen and the unseemly in our culture. Through far-ranging discussions of the Starr Report, movies such as Double Indemnity and The Big Heat, and figures as various as Barbara Stanwyck, Kenneth Fearing, and Richard Wright, Rabinowitz finds in film noir the representation of modern America's attempt to submerge and mask its violent history of racial and class anatagonisms. Black & White & Noir also explores the theory and practice of stilettos, the ways in which girls in the 1950s viewed film noir as a secret language about their mothers' pasts, the extraordinary tone-setting photographs of Esther Bubley, and the smutty aspect of social workers' case studies, among other unexpected twists and provocative turns.
Average customer rating:
- Loved the total essence.
- Wager brings the femme fatale to an intimate level.
|
Dangerous Dames: Women & Representation In Weimar Street Film &
Jans B. Wager
Manufacturer: Ohio University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Printmaking
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Genre Films
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Women Writers & Feminist Theory
| Books & Reading
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Feminist Theory
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Dames in the Driver's Seat: Rereading Film Noir
-
Shades of Noir: A Reader (Haymarket)
-
Film Noir Reader
ASIN: 0821412701 |
Customer Reviews:
Loved the total essence........1999-06-15
WOW.....Jans Wager has managed to do it all. An insightful interpretation about women in film by an outstanding educator who happens to also be female. This book is a must for every film noir buff. Applause..applause.
Wager brings the femme fatale to an intimate level........1999-04-12
Many feminist critics see the Film Noir and Weimar Street films styles as subliminally promoting the repression of women. The filmmakers do it by introducing the seducive and dangerous femme fatale who lures the man into threatening situations. The woman is finally subdued at the end of the filme either by a bullet or marriage (and which is worse?). Wager takes another view. She believes that the majority of women are not influenced by the misogynistic directions of film noir and Weimar street films, rather, they are enraptured by the femme fatale and her freedom. For a female to watch one of these movies is to become free for two hours, though they always know they must pay for their freedom at the end of the movie. Your vocabulary will be increased by one when you read this book. Wager made up the term femme etrappee, who is the antithesis of the femme fatale. She is the woman who has about 2 minutes of screen time, if she is lucky, and is most often seen serving drinks or taking care of children. She doesn't die at the end because she is fulfilling society's demand. However, if she travels outside her stewardship - POW! I have Jans Wager for a class at Utah Valley State College. She is a nut for film, psychoanalysis, and those dangerous dames. If you want a wild experience, watch the movies she critiques while you read the book, you will rise to new levels of awareness, not quite nirvana, but close. I was surprised to see that so many movies from the Film Noir and Weimar Street were more than just entertainment. There are some really weird things going on beneath the surface of these films. Probably the the most amazing thing about this book is that it started out as a doctoral dissertation, and it is actually interesting. Very few dissertations ever get beyond the blue bound books that collect dust on university shelves. Imagine actually making money from your education.
Average customer rating:
- Colorful and entertaining
- Valued, insightful, highly recommended for film buffs.
|
Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews With 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s
Paul Parla , and
Charles P. Mitchell
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Actors & Actresses
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0786407018 |
Book Description
These twenty heroines portrayed imperiled women in science fiction, horror, film noir and mystery movies from the 1930s to the 1960s. Some-like Sandy Descher, who confronted the giant ants of Them!-were only girls when they faced their screen perils. Others-such as Mary Murphy, who played opposite Marlon Brando in The Wild One-were leading ladies in other film genres. Yet others-such as June Wilkinson, considered by many as Playboy's greatest model-came from outside the acting world. Each interview is preceded by an introduction. Besides the three above, the interviewees are Ramsay Ames, Claudia Barrett, Jean Byron, Linda Christian, Faith Domergue, Amanda Duff, Evangelina Elizondo, Margaret Field, Mimi Gibson, Marilyn Harris, Kitty de Hoyos, Donna Martel, Joyce Meadows, Noreen Nash, Cynthia Patrick, Paula Raymond and Joan Taylor. Among the films they starred in are The Mummy's Ghost, Robot Monster, Tarzan and the Mermaids, This Island Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Where Danger Lives, The Man from Planet X, The Monster That Challenged the World, Frankenstein, The Brain from Planet Arous, Phantom from Space, The Mole People, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers. Some interviews were previously published in a different form in fan magazines.
Customer Reviews:
Colorful and entertaining.......2002-03-20
This is a colorful and entertaining collection of interview articles with a varied group of interesting female performers, including Faith Domergue, Linda Christian (Tyrone Power's wife), Joan Taylor and Mary Harris, the little girl who appeared in the original FRANKENSTEIN. A REFRESHING AND DELIGHTFUL TREAUSRY THAT YOU WILl READ AND REREAD OFTEN.
Valued, insightful, highly recommended for film buffs........2000-04-06
Screen Sirens Scream! showcases fascinating interviews with twenty actresses from science fiction, horror, film noir, and mystery films of the 1930s through the 1960s. Each interview is preceded by an informative introduction. The actresses range from Sandy Descher and Mary Murphy to Paula Raymond and Joan Taylor. The films span the cinematic spectrum from The Mummy's ghost, Tarzan and the Mermaids, and This Island Earth, to Frankenstein, Phantom from Space, and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Some of these interviews were gleaned from fan magazines, others are original with this volume. Screen Sirens Scream! is a valued, insightful, highly recommended addition to film buff and cinema student move reference book collections.
Average customer rating:
- Terrific film book
- Great on the trees, less satisfying on the forest
- A deserved recognition of forgotten actresses
- Great reference book -- and entertaining, too!
|
Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film
Karen Burroughs Hannsberry
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
| Actors & Actresses
| Artists, Architects & Photographers
| Authors
| Composers & Musicians
| Dancers
| Entertainers
| Movie Directors
| New Age
| Television Performers
| Theatre
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Biographies
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
| Actors & Actresses
| Directors
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir
ASIN: 0786404299 |
Book Description
Often thought of as primarily male vehicles, films noirs offered some of the most complex female roles of any movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Stars such as Stanwyck, Tierney and Crawford produced some of their finest performances in noir, while such lesser known actresses as Peggie Castle, Hope Emerson and Helen Walker made a lasting impression on moviegoers with their roles in the genre. These six women and 43 others most frequently featured in films noirs receive biographies that focus primarily on their work in the genre and its impact on their careers, with a filmography of noir appearances.
Customer Reviews:
Terrific film book.......2007-09-11
This book is a terrific, must-have for any film noir aficionado. Ms. Burroghs has a first class style of writing, and the uniformity of the biographies is pleasing. This is one to buy.
Great on the trees, less satisfying on the forest.......2000-08-08
Almost all of the big (and not-so-big) "dames" who populated that extraordinary decade when film noir flourished make up this reference-volume of thumbnail sketches. The profiles tend to be rather assembly-line, though; after a colorful introductory paragraph, the first sentence of the next invariably reads, "Born February 7, 1919 in Goldfield, Nevada..." or some such. And whole careers are sketched, though emphasis is given to noir roles, including plot summaries and a selection of reviews; not to be morbid, but the details of their deaths -- too many of them painful and premature -- are welcome, reminding us that these vital woman, often underrated and badly used, continued to live after their careers had flickered out. Still, this big, thick, academic-looking book is welcome in immortalizing in print such black sapphires as Claire Trevor, Hope Emerson and (my favorite) Marie Windsor. (Others such as Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford are more satisfyingly covered in books of their own.) One could quibble with the inclusion of some actresses or, more seriously, the exclusion of others (where is the Mary Astor of The Maltese Falcon and, especially, Act of Violence?). The book's major disappointment, however, is the lack of a unifying theme, of a meditation on how these actresses came to portray the indelible femmes fatales, or even good gals, in film noir, and on what film noir tells us about the yin and yang of the sexes in postwar America. A solid (if pricey) reference work, it's just a little stolid.
A deserved recognition of forgotten actresses.......1999-09-17
This reader has mixed feelings about Karen Burroughs Hansberry's "Femme Noir." On one hand, the author resurrects undeservedly forgotten actresses such as Peggy Cummins, Sally Forrest, Dolores Hart, Virginia Huston, Dorothy Patrick, and the wonderful Marie Windsor. On the other hand, one is tempted to question the inclusion in a book sub-titled "Bad Girls of Film" the likes of goody-two-shoes Jeanne Crain and even the aforementioned Dorothy Hart. In her necessary selection, Miss Hansberry included actresses who, granted, appeared in film noir but but whose roles were not noir at all. Instead of Dorothy Hart, for example, who usually played the nice wife, one might have chosen Ann Savage, the femme fatale of the quintessential B-noir, Detour. With that said, "Femme Noir" obviously belongs on the shelf of most film buffs.
Great reference book -- and entertaining, too!.......1999-06-04
I loved this book! It was great to read about some of the stars that I've loved for years, like Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, and Joan Crawford, and still learn something new about their lives. Even more interesting was reading about actresses like Coleen Gray and Helen Walker, whose faces (but not names) I knew, and Peggie Castle and Dorothy Hart, whom I'd never heard of before. Also, reading the book made me want to see these movies. The author did a great job with providing facts in an entertaining, easy-to-read, engaging style. In addition to the entertaining text, the photos in the book were beautiful. Highly recommended!!
Average customer rating:
|
Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film
Helen Hanson
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
History & Criticism
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Women's Studies
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1845115627
Release Date: 2008-01-08 |
Book Description
The endangered and dangerous female figures of Rebecca, of Jagged Edge and What Lies Beneath have a deserved and enduring fascination. Helen Hanson re-examines these gothic heroines of Hollywood and their meanings, in two of Hollywood’s key generic cycles, film noir and the female gothic film. Starting at the beginning, with the origin of these cycles and the ways in which they represented women in the American film industry and culture of the 1940s, she traces their revival in neo-noir and neo-gothic films from the 1980s to the present. She also places the female figures of the femme fatale, female investigator and gothic heroine within the shifting contexts of the film industry and debates in feminist film criticism. Hanson examines a wide range of films from both periods, including Suspicion, Gaslight and Pacific Heights, and gives particular attention to their presentation of female stories, actions and perspectives. She reveals a diversity of female figures, representations and actions in film noir and the female gothic film, and argues that these women are part of a negotiation of female identities, desires and roles across a long historical period. Hollywood Heroines offers us new ways of thinking about classic and contemporary Hollywood heroines, and about the interrelationships of gender and genre.
Average customer rating:
|
Women in film noir
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Dance
| General
| Reference
| Theater
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0851700837 |
Books:
- Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
- Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television
- Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick
- Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy (Fancy Nancy)
- Film: A Critical Introduction
- Film: A Critical Introduction
- Film: A Critical Introduction
- Film: A Critical Introduction
- Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen (Michael Wiese Productions)
- Ghosts of the Titanic
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Flying Colours
- Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, She
- The Sorrow of Belgium
- Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters
- Tolkien And Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes And Language
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
- A Flora of Southern California
- Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World
- Winning at Work: How to Succeed in Spite of Yourself
- No More Baglady Fears : A Woman's Guide to Retirement Planning
Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
The Art of Noir: THE POSTERS & GRAPHICS FROM THE CLASSICAL ERA OF FILM NOIR
The Noir Style
Fallen Angel (Fox Film Noir)
Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (Act of Violence / Mystery Street / Crime Wave / Decoy / Illegal / The Big Steal / They Live By Night / Side Street / Where Danger Lives / Tension)
