Part thinking-man's fan crush, part crazily inspired remix of the most beloved of film genres, this book will force scholars and film lovers alike to view film noir afresh

Part thinking-man's fan crush, part crazily inspired remix of the most beloved of film genres, this book will force scholars and film lovers alike to view film noir afresh

Orson Welles' classic 1958 noir movie Touch of Evil, the story of a corrupt police chief in a small town on the Mexican-American border, starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietrich, is widely recognised as one of the greatest noir films of Classical Hollywood cinema. Richard Deming's study of the film considers it as an outstanding example of the noir genre and explores its complex relationship to its source novel, Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. He traces the film's production history, and provides an insightful close analysis of its key scenes, including its famous opening sequence, a single take in which the camera follows a booby-trapped car on its journey through city streets and across the border.

Consider the usual view of film noir: endless rainy nights populated by down-at-the-heel boxers, writers, and private eyes stumbling toward inescapable doom while stalked by crooked cops and cheating wives in a neon-lit urban jungle. But a new generation of writers is pushing aside the fog of cigarette smoke surrounding classic noir scholarship. In Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: On Classic Film Noir, Robert Miklitsch curates a bold collection of essays that reassesses the genre's iconic style, history, and themes. Contributors analyze the oft-overlooked female detective and little-examined aspects of filmmaking like love songs and radio aesthetics, discuss the significance of the producer and women's pulp fiction, and investigate topics as disparate as Disney noir and the Fifties heist film, B-movie back projection and blacklisted British directors. At the same time the writers' collective reconsideration shows the impact of race and gender, history and sexuality, technology and transnationality on the genre. As bracing as a stiff drink, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands writes the future of noir scholarship in lipstick and chalk lines for film fans and scholars alike. Contributors: Krin Gabbard, Philippa Gates, Julie Grossman, Robert Miklitsch, Robert Murphy, Mark Osteen, Vivian Sobchack, Andrew Spicer, J. P. Telotte, and Neil Verma.

This collection embraces a range of lively and informed discussions of important themes in contemporary psychoanalytic discourse. The chapters grow out of presentations at “Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society,” a conference organised by the Centre for Psychoanalysis, Middlesex University, for post-graduate students and research fellows. The essays demonstrate that the future of psychoanalytic studies is full of promise.

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.

The Film Handbook examines the current state of filmmaking and how film language, technique and aesthetics are being utilised for today’s ‘digital film’ productions. It reflects on how critical analysis’ of film underpins practice and story, and how developing an autonomous ‘vision’ will best aid student creativity. The Film Handbook offers practical guidance on a range of traditional and independent ‘guerrilla’ film production methods, from developing script ideas and the logistics of planning the shoot to cinematography, sound and directing practices. Film professionals share advice of their creative and practical experiences shooting both on digital and film forms. The Film Handbook relates theory to the filmmaking process and includes: • documentary, narrative and experimental forms, including deliberations on ‘reading the screen’, genre, mise-en-scène, montage, and sound design • new technologies of film production and independent distribution, digital and multi-film formats utilised for indie filmmakers and professional dramas, sound design and music • the short film form, theories of transgressive and independent ‘guerrilla’ filmmaking, the avant-garde and experimental as a means of creative expression • preparing to work in the film industry, development of specialisms as director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and the presentation of creative work.