Film Noir Guide

The term "film noir" was first applied by French critics to a number of American films that made their way to France over a period of six weeks at the end of World War II. These films-which included such soon-to-be classics as The Maltese Falcon; Murder, My Sweet; This Gun for Hire, and The Big Sleep-and the noirs that followed fascinated French moviegoers with their new breed of criminals: love-starved husbands and wives, local business owners, writers, gamblers, small-time hoods, private eyes, mental patients, war veterans, rebellious teenagers, and corrupt lawyers, politicians, judges and cops. Over 700 films from the classic period of film noir (1940 to 1959) are presented in this exhaustive reference book-such films as The Accused, Among the Living, The Asphalt Jungle, Baby Face Nelson, Bait, The Beat Generation, Crossfire, Dark Passage, I Walk Alone, The Las Vegas Story, The Naked City, Strangers on a Train, White Heat, and The Window. For each film, the following information is provided: the title, release date, main performers, screenwriter(s), director(s), type of noir, thematic content, a rating based on the five-star system, and a plot synopsis that does not reveal the ending.