My thanks to NetGalley and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers for an advance copy of this history that looks at the genre of American cinema known as Film Noir, a books that takes us down a lonely streets, where guys, gals, gangsters and molls search for their slice of the apple, but mostly end up with the worm of defeat.

To quote a song, "I am only happy when it rains". Probably why I enjoy so film noir movies as many of these films take place in the rain, at night with a lot of trench coats, and great lighting. Or lightning. I'm not sure when I started watching movies like this. I know I had been a fan of the books many of these were based on so I am sure that chicken came before the egg. Maybe The Maltese Falcon, the gateway drug of many to film noir, with its complicated tale of love, murder and obsession. I don't remember. Maybe it was a newer film, caught on my parents illegal cable box, before the days of American Movie Classics, and Turner Classic Movies. Not sure, and like many a sap in these movies I will never know the full story. All I know is I enjoy watching these movies, but I love reading about them also. And this book has all the stuff these movie dreams are made of. American Noir Film: From The Maltese Falcon to Gone Girl by educator, and writer M. Keith Booker is a look at these film from its earliest days and influences, up until the present day.

The book begins with an overview of the influences of film noir, starting from the early silent days of film. Much of this came from German creators who worked in expressionist films of the early 20's. Many of these creators and actors had to leave Germany with the rise of Hitler and came to America bringing a bit of their cynicism, distrust of the system, and of course the distrust in humans. This darkness ran into the Production codes that Hollywood had to abide by. Codes about sex, bad guys had to be punished, cops and government were good, and other balderdash. Instead of hindering film noir used the code to subvert the code. Creating stories with doomed characters, but with emotions and feelings, that other movies would be hard to show. This carried on until the late 50's following World War II, the rise of anticommunism, and found by new creators, who didn't have to worry about codes, but wrote movies about morally ambiguous characters, or just plain evil. The book goes into detail on many of these, looking at the writing, the production and behind the scenes information, and covers classics and recent neo-noir movies.

I really enjoyed this book. This is a very good mix of guide, film information, and cine studies. Booker is a very good writer who knows his stuff, and can write with skill, and yet lecture, a difficult balance in these kinds of books. Every page is a full of facts, and little things that I either did know or had not appreciated. One would think that many of these movies would have been written about too much, Booker makes them fresh and interesting, and worth watching or rewatching. Booker's look at Neo-noir is something that is fairly ignored in most books, and I was surprised to learn that maybe Inherent Vice might be a better move than I thought when I first watched it. I love being wrong so, can't wait to find out. Booker offers a new way of looking at these movies, breaking them into categorys like detectives, which seems self-explanatory, women of noir ditto, and lost men, which are people who find themselves in situations that can not end well. Usually in the rain, with an empty pistol, sirens closing, and no hope left.

A book for fans of the genre, and for people who enjoy reading deeper into the meaning of film. I really enjoyed this. For new watchers of noir, this is a great place to start, and a great list to start watching.

Thanks to M. Keith Booker, Rowman & Littlefield, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great book. Well written and addresses the topic well.

I am a fan of movies in general and noir in particular and this book covers noir well and deeply. I appreciate that the author categorized Noir into three segments: Detective films, Lost Man Films, and Women in Noir, in each section he discusses in depth classical noir examples, neo noir examples, and revisionary noir examples to provide a full perspective on the topic.

My only problem – my list of movies to see just grew significantly! Recommended.

American Noir Film is structured into thematic parts and each part is divided into chapters that deal with a film noir example each.
I have no feedback for improvement for this book.
This is a great, detailed, informative, well-discussed resource on film noir.
I am very familiar with M. Keith Booker’s work, having employed his theories in my own research and lectures, and when I saw his name as the author and as a fan of film noir, I had to read this book. I am not disappointed.
Excellent resource for academics and noir fans alike.

Great guide to film noir. Highlights many different films of the “noir” genre both old and new. Readers will enjoy learning more in-depth commentary about some of their favorite films.