'The Rough Guide To Film Noir' By Alexander Ballinger and Danny
Graydon
London: Penguin Books, 2007. ISBN 978 1 84353 474 7 302pp. (softback)
£9.99
Rain-soaked pavements. Flashbacks. The femme fatale.
Hard-boiled dialogue. The doomed male protagonist. Shadows. Paranoia.
The elements that define the style of Film Noir are so well-known to
have been adapted, reworked and even parodied, the style itself being
flexible enough to even survive the frenetic action-dominated new
millennium with films such as Sin City and The Black Dahlia
re-inventing the key aspects of its style for a new generation of
filmgoers.
In The Rough Guide To Film Noir, Alexander Ballinger and Danny
Graydon present a highly accessible, informative and compact
distillation of the whole milieu. After a section dealing with
the origins of the Noir stylistic (which posits usual historical
influences such as German Expressionism alongside the less often cited-
but nonetheless essential- impact of other areas of cinematic heritage
such as the Universal horror films of the early 1930s), the authors
turn their attention to discussing the Noir films of the 1940s. In
doing so, a fascinating momentary case is made for a film like Stranger
On The Third Floor(1940) being the first true Noir film, although
attention soon turns to that usually given an honorary place at the
beginnings of the movement- The Maltese Falcon (1941). This
section of the book presents a concise overview of the history of Noir
from this moment through to 2006 using key examples alongside shaded
text box overviews of sub-divisions to the whole term and the influence
of historical developments on Film Noir itself.
This overview gives way to the main part of the book- a detailed
discussion of what are referred to as ‘The Canon: 50 Essential Film
Noirs’- which involves the authors taking an alphabetical look at what
they feel are the primary examples of the genre. Although the word
genre is evoked occasionally throughout the book, it seems that the
authors share my concerns with attempting to ‘pigeonhole’ Film Noir as
a mere genre, for it does, as the authors note, straddle several
distinct genres. Instead, it may be more helpful to refer to a visual
style- this is, after all, the leading way in which we think of a Film
Noir; the very look of the film making it different. Thus,
whether old or new, monochrome or colour, the resultant list of 50 Noir
films has this visual aspect very firmly in place. The only other point
of debate here is whether a chronological ordering would have served
the purpose better and highlighted the development of the stylistic.
However, given the previous overview of Noir’s history (admittedly far
shorter), some idea of the context has already been provided.
It could be imagined that the use of such a comprehensive list as its
backbone may cause the book to run out of steam thereafter. Not so. The
following chapter alphabetically identifies key figures (‘the icons’)
of Film Noir, whether they be directors, stars or even technicians.
Only when the films they were involved in are placed beside their names
can some credit be given- and this rightly seems to underpin this whole
chapter: there are those who do not only guest at the Film Noir motel
but have residency there, such is the overwhelming influence they have.
After this acknowledgment of people, the book moves on to acknowledge
place- and offers a useful compendium of cities linked to some Noir
movies that were filmed there, usefully cross-referenced to the main
entries earlier.
As if proof that Film Noir can not be considered merely a genre per
se, the next chapter in Ballinger and Graydon’s book discusses its
impact on other genres. Insightfully observing Noir elements in a
disparate variety of genres (from animation to comedy, science fiction
to the western) the authors prove their initial contention that ‘the
noir label has been applied to other genres…apart from crime dramas’
(p.4). This whole chapter does more than this however, for it
highlights the sheer influence of Film Noir and (ironically)
reflects in doing so on the lower artistic status initially given to
the style by critics and industry alike. In essence, this chapter calls
for a re-assessment of the stylistic elements of Film Noir- we should
not think of these as inhabiting purely a world of crime and deception
but of having strands that permeate other genres and styles of
filmmaking too. This convincing implicit argument is extended in the
following chapter which takes a look at ‘International Noir’ and shines
the spotlight not only on those familiar countries to adopt elements of
Noir (like Great Britain and Italy) but includes Latin America and even
Russia in its sweep across the globe, showing that the visual stylistic
of Film Noir was not strictly limited to a specific time period nor
even a specific country, but was imbued into many films worldwide. Time
constraints do not permit a more detailed examination of key
international films in the Noir style which is a pity- Visconti’s
sizzling adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel The Postman Always
Rings Twice deserves more space than it can be allocated, the same
going for Melville’s stylish French films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
The final chapter of The Rough Guide To Film Noir is devoted to
the spread of the term across other forms of media- television,
magazines, books, websites, festivals and retailers of merchandise.
This provides a succinct conclusion and draws together differing
strands of Film Noir from across several inter-linked areas.
Attempting to précis such a monumental film style as Film Noir
into approximately 300 pages is no mean task, but Alexander Ballinger
and Danny Graydon manage to do it. The major successes of The Rough
Guide To Film Noir are threefold- it presents a lively yet
informative text; covers a vast area yet always tightly manages its
content; and suffuses itself with as much appreciation and respect for
the films and their creators as the films themselves are suffused with
paranoia and mistrust. Overall, the book achieves a difficult balance
of the academic and the accessible- and, unlike in a Film Noir, this
male reader emerged at the end in a far better state than in which he
started.
'The Rough Guide To Film Noir' is published in the 'Rough Guides'
series.
Rough Guides website
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