Alain Silver ist ein anerkannter Filmhistoriker und Kritiker, dessen Werk tief in zentrale Filmgenres und -stile eintaucht. Seine Analysen zeichnen sich durch ein scharfes Auge für die visuelle Ästhetik und die erzählerischen Techniken aus, die ikonische Filmformen definieren. Silver untersucht die Einflüsse, die diese Genres geprägt haben, und bietet den Lesern tiefgreifende Einblicke in ihre kulturelle und künstlerische Bedeutung. Seine umfangreichen Publikationen und Artikel etablieren ihn als maßgebliche Stimme in der Filmwissenschaft.
Exploring the femme fatale archetype, this book delves into the visual and narrative significance of women in classic film noir. With 400 illustrations, it highlights the diverse portrayals of these characters, from vulnerable torch singers to dangerous gun molls. Each representation reveals the complex dynamics of empowerment and victimization, showcasing how these women drive the doomed narratives central to the genre. The work serves as both an artistic celebration and critical analysis of the Fatal Woman's role in film noir.
Exploring the dark and complex world of film noir, this compendium brings together pivotal essays and analyses from the acclaimed Film Noir Reader series. It delves into the genre's defining characteristics, themes of moral ambiguity, and iconic characters. The collection features contributions from notable film scholars, offering insights into classic films and their cultural impact. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of film noir's evolution and its lasting influence on cinema and storytelling.
(Applause Books). After scores of books and commentaries on film noir and its classic period, experts Alain Silver and James Ursini turn their full attention to neo-noir, the self-conscious, mannered, sometimes ersatz, and often surprising genre that sprang from the original movement. This volume surveys the full breath of American neo-noir, its style and substance, its evolution over succeeding generations of filmmakers, from activist through postmodern to millennial and on, with extensive illustrations in black-and-white and full-color that capture the genre's dramatic and visual essence.
Noted film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini, acting as editors, concentrate in this work on the thirty key directors of the classic noir period. These include well-known luminaries, such as Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Nicholas Ray, and Joseph Losey as well as lesser-known lights of noir, such as Gerd Oswald, Felix E. Feist, Ida Lupino, and John Brahm. Each article will include a short biography of the director, a list of their major noir films, as well as a deep analysis of the films themselves. The book boasts over two dozen collaborators from the world of film history and criticism. Lavishly illustrated with high-resolution photos illustrating the points made by the authors, this book is a must for any aficionado of the American style of film noir.
Warum ist der einzige Nichtamerikaner auf der prestigeträchtigen Liste des American Film Institute ausgerechnet ein Schotte? Vielleicht deshalb, weil Sean Connerys Karriere - mag sie noch so weltumspannend gewesen sein und mag seine Anziehungskraft noch so global wirken - letztendlich einen „echten Filmstar“ aus ihm machte, ohne kleinliches Gezänk, ohne Allüren und ohne Anpassung an flüchtige Modetrends. Connerys Verkörperung des Geheimagenten James Bond machte ihn schlagartig zum Star und legte den Grundstein für die erfolgreichste Reihe der Filmgeschichte. Gemeinsam wuchsen Bond und Connery über das Leben hinaus - doch es war Connery, nicht Bond, dessen mächtige Präsenz Dutzende anderer Rollen prägte. Connery kann so cool und charismatisch sein wie Steve McQueen, so elegant wie Katharine Hepburn oder so großzügig wie Frank Sinatra. Audrey Hepburn sagte einst über ihn: „In meiner Erinnerung gibt es nur zwei große Stars, die von gewaltigem Erfolg nicht verändert wurden: Sean Connery und Lassie.“ Und beide sind Schotten.
In the 1930s the gangster film in the United States coincided with a very real and very sensational gangsterism at large in American society. Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932) borrowed liberally from the newspapers and books of the era. With the release of just these three motion pictures in barely more than a year's time, Hollywood quintessentially defined the genre. The characters, the situations, and the icons – from fast cars and tommy-guns to fancy fedoras and fancier molls – established the audience expectations associated with the gangster film that remain in force to this day. As with their Film Noir Reader series, using both reprints of seminal articles and new pieces, editors Silver and Ursini have assembled a group of essays that presents an exhaustive overview of this still vital genre. Reprints of work by such well-known film historians as Robin Wood, Andrew Sarris, Carlos Clarens, Paul Schrader, and Stuart Kaminsky explore the evolution of the gangster film through the 1970s and The Godfather . Parts 2 and 3 comprise two dozen newer articles, most of them written expressly for this volume by Ursini and Silver. These case studies and thematic analyses, from White Heat to the remake of Scarface to “The Sopranos ” complete the anthology.
