Alain Silver – författare

The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity-its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history-is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary.From real crime to serial to novel to movie, the history of Double Indemnity is as complex and exciting as the plot of any to hit the screen during film noir's classic period. Born of a true crime that inspired reporter and would-be crime writer James M. Cain's novella, Hollywood quickly bid on the rights but throughout the 1930s a strict code of censorship made certain that no studio could green-light a murder melodrama based on real events. Then World War II loosened some strictures, and director-writer Billy Wilder-before his prime as director of sparkling comedies-could hire hardboiled novelist Raymond Chandler and revamp the story enough to pass the censors.Overcoming strong resistance, Wilder then lined up a star cast led by the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck in her unforgettable turn as the ultimate femme fetale, alongside Fred MacMurray, cast against type as her partner in crime, and Edward G. Robinson as a bloodhound claims adjuster. With these skilled actors set against a low-key look, Wilder's final film became one of the earliest studio noirs to gain critical and commercial success (nominated for 7 Oscars!), to influence the entire noir movement, and to impact filmmakers and audiences to this day.Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete history of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.

“There was something about Robert Aldrich's artistic temperament that enabled him to transcend the apparent vulgarity of so many of his motion picutres. Besides the great films, such as Kiss Me Deadly which is certainly one of the finest examples of film noir, are several little-seen or underrated later works such as the revisionist Western, Ulzana's Raid, the gangster love story, The Grissom Gang, or the grim cop picture, Hustle. Aldrich's career has long deserved the detailed evaluation which this book provides.” – Andrew Sarris

This bountiful anthology combines all the key early writings on film noir with many newer essays, including some published here for the first time. The collection is assembled by the editors of the Third Edition of Film Noir: An Enclyclopedic Reference to the American Style, now regarded as the standard work on the subject.

Generously includes film stills and essays on crime films, The Postman Always Rings Twice, “Hitchcock's Noir Landscape ” “Samuel Fuller's Tabloid Cinema ” “Son of Noir ” “Noir Science ” “Girl Power: Female Centered Neo-Noir ” and “Abstract Expressionism and Film Noir.”

These essays offer a broad overview of the horror film genre, from the silent screen to Scream 3, demonstrating how it remains defiantly, frighteningly alive.

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.

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.

Despite a glut of black and white filters, the digital revolution in videography has all but abandoned the art, science, beauty, and power of cinematic lighting that literally illuminated the Golden Age of motion pictures. Film Noir Light and Shadow explores an era before CGI – a time when every photon mattered and the lighting of a set served a grander purpose than simply rendering its subjects visible. Edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, the duo behind numerous critically acclaimed studies of other aspects of noir, this anthology presents a series of essays that examine the visual style of the filmmakers of cinema's classic period. Some focus on individual pictures or directors; others discuss elements of style or sub-groups of movies within the movement. All are sharply focused on what makes the noir phenomenon unique in American – and global – cinematic history. Aside from highlighting the innovative work of its editors and their late colleague Robert Porfirio, Film Noir Light and Shadow also shares its light with a bevy of contributors who have written and edited their own books on the subject – a list of luminaries that includes Sheri Chinen Biesen, Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards, Julie Grossman, Delphine Letort, Robert Miklitsch, R. Barton Palmer, Homer Pettey, Marlisa Santos, Imogen Sara Smith, and Tony Williams. As befits the topic, this volume is lavishly illustrated with 500 images that capture the richness and breadth of the classic period's imagery, making it an ideal companion for students of the genre, film historians, sprocket fiends, and the retrospectively inclined.

In this essential study of film noir, editors Alain Silver and James Ursini select the most significant and influential articles on the movement from their highly respected Film Noir Reader series and assemble them into a single, convenient, heavily illustrated volume. Still included, of course, are many rare early articles and such seminal essays as Borde and Chaumeton's “Towards a Definition of Film Noir” from Panorama du Film Noir Americain, Paul Schrader's “Notes on Film Noir ” and “Paint It Black: the Family Tree of the Film Noir” by Raymond Durgnat. With newer studies such as “Lounge Time” by Vivian Sobchack, “Manufacturing Heroines in Classic Noir Films” by Sheri Chinen Biesen, and “Voices from the Deep: Film Noir as Psychodrama” J. P. Telotte, this collection of over 30 articles probes this most influential American film movement from varying angles: formalist, feminist, structuralist, sociological, and stylistic; narrative-thematic historical, and even from the point of view of a pure aficionado. There is something in this volume for every student or devotee of film noir. Plus like the readers that have proven an invaluable tool for academics planning a syllabus, it can serve as the most complete core text for any of the myriad of film noir courses taught throughout the world.

With todays proliferation of nine-figure film budgets, filmmaking may seem more out of reach than ever for the average person. In fact, producing a feature-length movie for next to nothing has never been easier. In MOVIES WITHOUT BAGGAGE, long-time filmmakers Alain Silver, Obren Bokich, and sundry others recount their experiences in the micro-budget arena and detail how 21st-century technology makes it possible to create high-quality, full-length features for less than $30,000 or $15,000 or even $7,500. Through in-the-trenches tales detailing the making of a dozen micro-budget features, this book covers all aspects of making movies without baggage: finding/creating the right script, budgeting, casting, dealmaking with actors and crew, scheduling, shooting, post-production, and finally marketing and securing distribution. This entertainingly illustrated volume also includes samples of the paperwork from five of the ultra-low-budget films it profiles. This is the ultimate guide for the aspiring guerrilla filmmaker. Never before has a book like this come from filmmakers with such varied experience and with credits that include features ranging in budget from over $10 million to under $5,000.