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Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition | 
 enlarge | Creators: Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward
Publisher: Overlook TP
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $18.55
You Save: $16.45 (47%)
New (21) Used (16) from $11.01
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 86404
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3 Rev Exp
Pages: 479
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 8.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 0879514795
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43655
EAN: 9780879514792
ASIN: 0879514795
Publication Date: March 1, 1993
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Condition: Paperback. Brand new
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Indispensable May 4, 2008
C. Blaisdell (Florida)
This is where to go for anyone seeking an in-depth appreciation of film noir. There are lots of good books on the subject, but start here, if for no other reason than the exhaustive list of films from the classic cycle. br / br /And to the guy below who gave this book a one star rating, Sweet Smell of Success IS included in the alphabetical list of films. The Third Man is not, for one simple reason: it's a British-produced film. A strong argument could also be made for the inclusion of French films like Rififi and Diabolique, but the authors clearly made a conscious choice to only include films produced by American studios.
 Telephone Directory Sized Book of Noir April 19, 2008
Borowy26 (Chicago)
I have been exchanging noir themed dvds with a Canadian friend for the past two and a half years or so. Unfortunately, none of the production details for the intriguing films that I received recently are provided in this book. br / br /That underscores the difficulty with books of this type. Completists are going to be displeased to find their latest discoveries and long time favorites are omitted. The approach to the material by the contributors and editors is pedantic to the point of being boring. Many of the summaries contain mistakes and occasional plot spoilers. As a reference resource, the book is somewhat worthwhile, but do not fool yourself into thinking that you are going to read it from cover to cover or that it is going to be a page turner. It is more of a thick catalogue or a ponderous textbook. I would not recommend this book as a gift to a casual film noir enthusiast. br / br /The book has been revised and updated, but the newest entries do not always contain full descriptions. Some of the films are simply listed with cast and crew credits. One would have wished that the revision process would have included editorial corrections of prior mistakes, but the changes seem to consist wholly of new appendices of film titles that were omitted in earlier editions of the book. The latest version also contains listings of neo-noir films to. My personal preferences run to obscure titles and "B" films, so the book is something of a disappointment as Silver and Ward seem to have a bias in favor of big budget productions. Very few of my favorites from Poverty Row made the grade by being included here. br / br /On the positive side, the essentials are included in the book and it contains sufficient information to direct you to other more specific resources or to find films that are new to you. One such book is "The Noir Style" by the same author (with James Ursini). I found that collection of photo essays to be far more entertaining.
FILM NOIR ENCYCLOPEDIA November 10, 2006
John Hedgecock (North Little Rock, AR USA)
This book is a reference book and not the type of book you just sit down br /and read for fun. It is a very comprehensive work on the film noir culture. Just about any information that you will want to know about the film noir classics will be found in this work. Fun to flip through and make a mental note of the format and where to look for your future inquiries.
 Takes the definition of Film Noir way too far June 12, 2006
T. Day (New York, NY)
12 out of 30 found this review helpful
If I could give this book ZERO stars, I would. I ordered this book, looked inside for about 2 minutes and promptly returned it. It excluded my 2 favorite film noir movies, The Sweet Smell of Success and ...what I deem, next to the Maltese Falcon and Sunset Blvd., as the absolute epitome of film noir....The Third Man. Not even a mention, even though it is #2 on the all time favorite film noir movie list at the IMDB website. br / br / I thumbed through the book for a sec or two and noticed MANY full technicolor movies, some of which, because of the content of the movie, I thought had absolutely no place in a film noir book, technicolor or not. The genre is not as wide open as this author believes it is. C'mon....Dirty Harry? Sorry, but that is NOT a film noir. I did not read the book, but whatever definition of film noir he is using, it CERTAINLY comes nowhere near MY definition of film noir. And according to Wikepedia.org, my definition is correct...color films have no place whatsoever according to the "purist" view. But I'm openminded, you know, it can be in color and it can be made after 1970....I don't have a huge list of criteria. I only asked that it include a few of my favorites, but when it didn't even meet my needs with the very first glance at the index, I pretty much discounted it as hogwash. Yeah, it has loads of obscure gumshoe B movies and if that's what you're interested it, go for it. But if you think all film noir movies should be in black white and contain the Third Man, et al, pass it by.
the indispensable gets more indispensable September 26, 2005
Stephen Elman (Brighton, MA USA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
This book is the bible of film noir, and the 1992 revisions of the 3rd edition make it even more useful than before. Want to know who plays every bit part in one of your favorite films noirs? The info is here. Want to know when shooting started? When it was released into theaters? Ditto. Want a chronological list of the great noirs? Or more "inside" film lists, organized by directors, stars, even cinematographers? They're here. One of the old criticisms of the previous editions of the book is that its plot summaries were sometimes incorrect in the details. The authors cleaned up some of those problems in this edition, although they decided not to add or change text that would disrupt the original page layout. This means that the new language is a compromise for space, and it doesn't quite live up to the original. And some developments of the past decade, like the discovery of a print of the silent noir "The Racket," are too recent for corrections - the bible still says, "This film is lost today." This not-so-new edition includes a great essay on neo-noir and a fine list of neo-noir films (although I miss the obsessive detail of the original listings). Also, it's paperbound instead of hardbound. But it's still a superb reference work for the film noir fanatic - so treat it well until Silver and Ward get a 4th edition on the stands.
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