Publisher's Synopsis
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, such as "The Maltese Falcon", "Murder, My Sweet", "This Gun for Hire" and "The Big Sleep", 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 film noirs from the classic period of film noir (1940-1959) are presented in this reference book - such films as "The Accursed", "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 Widow". For each film the following information is provided: the title of the film, release date, the main performers, the screenwriter(s), the director(s), the type of noir, the film's thematic content and a rating based on the five-star system.
