Film noir remains one of the most enduring legacies of 1940s and 50s Hollywood. Populated by double-crossing, unsavory characters, it explored a shadowy side of American life during a period of tremendous prosperity and optimism. Edward Dimendberg compellingly demonstrates how film noir is preoccupied with modernity –particularly the urban landscape. Exploring classic examples of film noir such as The Asphalt Junagle, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Naked City alongside many lesser-known films, he masterfully interweaves film history with urban history while perceptively analyzing works by Raymond Chandler, Edward Hopper, Siegfried Kracauer, and Henri Lefevre. A bold intervention in cultural studies and a major contribution to film history, Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity will provoke debate by cinema scholars, urban historians, and students of modern culture –and will captivate admirers of a vital period in American cinema.
Edward Dimendberg, Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity, Harvard University Press, 2004, ISBN: 9780674013469.
