On Panorama

Currently reading PANORAMA OF THE AMERICAN FILM NOIR.

Not ready to report back, but one thing that strikes me is the difference between those who would define noir in an exclusionary matter - I've even heard arguments that THE MALTESE FALCON isn't "really noir" - and those who look for even the tiniest trace of noir in film and novel.

The references in the early chapters to NIGHT MUST FALL as being noir prompted this.

The Quest Begins

Am going to begin at the beginning. I pulled my copy of Paul Hammond's translation of Borde and Chaumeton's A Panorama of American Film Noir from the shelf and am diving in. I see from the price sticker that I bought this at the late, lamented Wordsworth in early 2003.

The spine is uncracked. I haven't decided if I will read the whole thing and then write about it, or write as I go.

The five films which introduced the French to the new "unusual and cruel atmosphere" in American cinema were The Maltese Falcon, Laura, Murder, My Sweet, Double Indemnity, and The Woman in The Window. They played between mid-July and the end of August in 1946. I have all but the last on my DVD shelf, and I can get that one on Amazon.

Next stop, Paris, 1946.

Welcome

For all the time I have been watching noir, obsessed with noir, I have realized that I have never bothered to define it for myself. This blog is intended to follow my journey to rectify the situation.