Film noir: From Berlin to Sin City

Bould, Mark

Authors

Mark Bould Mark.Bould@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Film and Literature

Citation

Bould, M. (2005). Film noir: From Berlin to Sin City. Wallflower Press

Book Type	Authored Book
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2005
Peer Reviewed	Not Peer Reviewed
ISBN	9781904764502
Keywords	film noir, Berlin, Sin City
Publisher URL	http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-1-904764-50-2/film-noir
Additional Information	Additional Information : Although the series in which this book appears is intended to be introductory, the book also addresses questions of theory, specifically relating to textuality and intertextuality, and linguistics and subjectivity. The book has been widely reviewed. Carl Freedman commented in Film International 20 (2006) ?It is a considerable tribute to Mark Bould to say that the most important failing of his brief overview of film noir is simply that, with only 115 pages of actual text, it is too brief. Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City makes clear that its author possesses first-rate credentials for writing about the subject: a practically encyclopaedic knowledge of both the primary material and the scholarship about it; a smart and well-trained sensitivity to the structures and nuances of particular films; and the intellectual ability to work with assurance within a rigorous (largely Marxist) conceptual framework. The one thing Bould lacks ? is ample space....It is doubtful that anyone else could do a better job ? especially when it comes to coordinating filmic texts with the larger socio-economic context' (p.81-83). In a review in Film Quarterly 60.2 (2006/7), Deborah Allison commented: ?the book certainly demonstrates that, despite the mass of previous literature on film noir, there is still plenty of scope for an incisive author to enrich our appreciation of this fascinating filmmaking trend' (p.81).