tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25508756329668024342024-03-12T21:30:19.538-07:00Sheri Chinen BiesenDr. Sheri Chinen Biesen is cinema professor, film historian and author of books, Through a Noir Lens: Adapting Film Noir Visual Style, Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir, Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films, and Film Censorship: Regulating America’s ScreenSheri Chinen Biesenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698509480398869685noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2550875632966802434.post-39717857305168835922023-12-23T09:41:00.000-08:002024-01-05T14:09:49.995-08:00New Film Noir Book: Through a Noir Lens | Adapting Film Noir Visual Style<div class="tab-panel" data-panel="main" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); color: #231f20; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="sp__the-description" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-originalfontsize="16px" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px rgb(35, 31, 32); clear: left; float: left; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><h1 style="font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894 " style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="993" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6px2XelM-TGTfcUMLJgBMjyzGQNpiFGOB9vjqcdFFImsSgIFdG-YtfTtDOg7ozVf5VQxGwB8TwPeeoKWzou_mj4SxjAFizQJJDuodpQlaNxFwOCsOLf-VlVUhIg6yZYS3nImfwmWvYuT6tr2Au7o-QCdAMB1pOFGBv_RMZzbuFQwWcKOWb3vt7jMiVxOV/w223-h336/scbiesen-through%20a%20noir%20lens%20cover.jpeg" width="223" /></a></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;"><i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894">Through a Noir Lens</a> </b></i></h1><h2 style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;">Adapting Film Noir Visual Style</a><br /></h2><div class="sp__the-description" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: #eeeeee; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 15.84px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h4 style="margin: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> <br /></h4></div><div class="sp__the-description" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: #eeeeee; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 15.84px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h4 style="margin: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894" style="color: #dd7700; text-decoration: none;"><br />Columbia University Press</a></h4><div class="sp__the-description" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894" style="color: #dd7700; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; text-decoration: none;">https://cup.columbia.edu/book/through-a-noir-lens/9780231560894</a></div><div class="sp__the-description" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: #eeeeee; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 15.84px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div><h2 style="font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Through-Noir-Lens-Adapting-Visual/dp/0231215649/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1704214318&refinements=p_27%3ASheri+Chinen+Biesen&s=books&sr=1-1" style="caret-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); color: #dd7700; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.84px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Order on Amazon</a><b style="font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><i> </i></b></h2><h2 style="font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;">Shadows. Smoke. Dark alleys. Rain-slicked city streets. These are iconic elements of film noir visual style. Long after its 1940s heyday, noir hallmarks continue to appear in a variety of new media forms and styles. What has made the noir aesthetic at once enduring and adaptable? In</span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl%3Den%23&source=gmail&ust=1704325357167000&usg=AOvVaw1jIedkZ-rM_Kv9komjIqQQ" href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl=en#" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(66, 133, 244); color: #4285f4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;" target="_blank"><i data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" style="border-color: rgb(66, 133, 244); font-size: 1rem;">Through a Noir Lens: Adapting Film Noir Visual Style</i></a><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;">,</span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> </span><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl%3Den%23&source=gmail&ust=1704325357167000&usg=AOvVaw1jIedkZ-rM_Kv9komjIqQQ" href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl=en#" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(66, 133, 244); color: #4285f4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;" target="_blank">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> </span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;">explores how the dark cinematic noir style has evolved across eras, from classic Hollywood to present-day streaming services. Examining both aesthetics and material production conditions, she demonstrates how technological and industrial changes have influenced the imagery of film noir. When it emerged in the early 1940s, the visual style’s distinctive shadowy look was in part a product of wartime cinema conditions and technologies, such as blackouts and nitrate film stock. Since the 1950s, technical developments from acetate film stock and new cameras and lenses to lighting, color, and digitization have shaped the changing nature of noir style. </span><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl%3Den%23&source=gmail&ust=1704325357167000&usg=AOvVaw1jIedkZ-rM_Kv9komjIqQQ" href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl=en#" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(66, 133, 244); color: #4285f4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;" target="_blank">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> considers the persistence of the noir legacy, discussing how neo-noirs reimagine iconic imagery and why noir style has become a touchstone in the streaming era. Drawing on a wealth of archival research, she provides insightful analyses of a wide range of works, from masterpieces directed by Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock to New Hollywood neo-noirs, the Coen brothers’ revisionist films, and recent HBO and Netflix series. A groundbreaking technological and industrial history of an essential yet slippery visual style, </span><i style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"><a data-originalcomputedfontsize="16" data-removefontsize="true" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl%3Den%23&source=gmail&ust=1704325357167000&usg=AOvVaw1jIedkZ-rM_Kv9komjIqQQ" href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2550875632966802434/3971785730516883592?hl=en#" style="border-color: rgb(66, 133, 244); color: #4285f4; font-size: 1rem;" target="_blank">Through a Noir Lens</a></i><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.25); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-caps: inherit;"> shines a light into the shadows of film noir.</span></h2></div></div>Sheri Chinen Biesenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698509480398869685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2550875632966802434.post-84862440726423005152018-08-22T19:53:00.000-07:002018-08-26T21:50:31.133-07:00New Film Censorship Book<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7BjfAlVIrUhRlbsDRxlM6OkfD8r6-YxOQIomN4mjC8A70xmlRTPPIVasZv-YbDPIPD-Ibq5yJ9DIdZ_RMR0VTuKTqsQALvwxqOJ_B3IK0hwCt5TYk1Yd2EbP-AtdN_Q148IZdj2_vh_O/s1600/Biesen-Film+Censorship-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7BjfAlVIrUhRlbsDRxlM6OkfD8r6-YxOQIomN4mjC8A70xmlRTPPIVasZv-YbDPIPD-Ibq5yJ9DIdZ_RMR0VTuKTqsQALvwxqOJ_B3IK0hwCt5TYk1Yd2EbP-AtdN_Q148IZdj2_vh_O/s400/Biesen-Film+Censorship-cover.jpg" width="300" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span 12.0pt="" font-size:=""><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Film-Censorship-Regulating-Americas-Screen/dp/0231183135/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534986945&sr=1-1"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Film Censorship</span>: Regulating America’s Screen</a> </span></span></b></div>
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<span 12.0pt="" font-size:="" style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a></span></b> </span></div>
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<span 12.0pt="" font-size:="" style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/film-censorship/9780231183130">Wallflower/Columbia University Press</a>,
2018 - order at </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Film-Censorship-Regulating-Americas-Screen/dp/0231183135/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534986945&sr=1-1">Amazon</a></span></span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Film-Censorship-Regulating-Americas-Screen/dp/0231183135/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534986945&sr=1-1"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/film-censorship-sheri-chinen-biesen/1128615797?ean=9780231183130">BN</a></span></span> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/film-censorship/9780231183130">CUP</a></span><span 12.0pt="" font-size:="" style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="http://film-censorship.blogspot.com/"><span 12.0pt="" font-size:=""><span style="font-size: small;">film-censorship.blogspot.com</span></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Film-Censorship-Regulating-Americas-Screen/dp/0231183135/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1534986945&sr=1-1"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Film Censorship: Regulating America’s Screen</i></a> is a concise overview of <a href="https://film-censorship.blogspot.com/">Hollywood censorship</a> and efforts to
regulate American films. It provides a lean introductory survey of U.S. cinema
censorship from the ‘pre-Code’ years and classic studio system ‘Golden Age’—in
which film censorship thrived—to contemporary Hollywood. From the earliest days
of cinema, movies faced controversy over screen images and threats of
censorship. This essential volume draws extensively on primary research from
motion picture archives to unveil the fascinating behind-the-scenes history of
cinema censorship and explore how Hollywood responded to censorial constraints
on screen content in a changing American cultural and industrial landscape. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Read more at <a href="https://film-censorship.blogspot.com/">Film Censorship blog</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-UWm-017wD-aj4KUbaUzoHcjzIYi0Ha3gLspmRCLLYMzOMrhJTrZUusSiNzqouL5BaWhMe-FS3PUqry4DTvpxBq_5OBILDBat4Ofq_sBboB4pv5dbi3qVYQInOC_E58JwhikJ2gKFR-U/s1600/The+Outlaw+publicity.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-UWm-017wD-aj4KUbaUzoHcjzIYi0Ha3gLspmRCLLYMzOMrhJTrZUusSiNzqouL5BaWhMe-FS3PUqry4DTvpxBq_5OBILDBat4Ofq_sBboB4pv5dbi3qVYQInOC_E58JwhikJ2gKFR-U/s320/The+Outlaw+publicity.jpg" width="320" /></a>This basic primer on American film
censorship considers the historical evolution of motion picture censorship in
the United States spanning the Mutual vs. Ohio case, Jazz Age Prohibition era,
controversial or banned productions, Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
of America, lobbying by religious groups against Hollywood, ‘Hays Office’
Production Code Administration industry self-censorship, Office of War
Information Bureau of Motion Pictures federal propaganda efforts, challenges to
Production Code censorship, the Miracle decision, easing of regulation in the
1950s-1960s, MPAA ratings system, and the legacy of censorship in later years
vis-à-vis efforts to control film content after the Code’s demise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ez6XDrbdzrIZMrX_9O-1MBL0VbkdRpuv_SoaYpdEJUhe8vHpkITV_OrTJosaQWUptP3bkxiayr1P2p_sbju-W5-X8hEfrk9WUAFZdeRWSWSLA9BSukZlLkTyfiVBN5_BA2Z8hV03cY5S/s1600/Public+Enemy+Grapefruit+James+Cagney+Mae+Clark+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ez6XDrbdzrIZMrX_9O-1MBL0VbkdRpuv_SoaYpdEJUhe8vHpkITV_OrTJosaQWUptP3bkxiayr1P2p_sbju-W5-X8hEfrk9WUAFZdeRWSWSLA9BSukZlLkTyfiVBN5_BA2Z8hV03cY5S/s320/Public+Enemy+Grapefruit+James+Cagney+Mae+Clark+small.jpg" width="320" /></a>Films include <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Outlaw, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Scarface, Double Indemnity,
The Miracle, Scarlet Street, Crossfire, Forever Amber, Act of Violence, Psycho,
The Cheat, Public Enemy, Rebecca, The Roaring Twenties, The Bicycle Thief,
Angels with Dirty Faces, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, The Big Combo, North by
Northwest, Kiss Me Deadly, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, The
Exorcist, The Interview,</i> and Alfred Hitchcock’s banned Titanic movie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkKBEeIsGgAd-Ql3tJsaRy6BAEHLHVmDk8qSwNR6-80db-mycQptI-3VxkOIZlwgsMIqlGGWIaBZ4ib6onlP52CRxZSUx73FT0So-LhcXkc3dvaUuShH5JpSLjuALpLWK2h9ALf5pQvg_/s1600/Blonde_Venus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkKBEeIsGgAd-Ql3tJsaRy6BAEHLHVmDk8qSwNR6-80db-mycQptI-3VxkOIZlwgsMIqlGGWIaBZ4ib6onlP52CRxZSUx73FT0So-LhcXkc3dvaUuShH5JpSLjuALpLWK2h9ALf5pQvg_/s320/Blonde_Venus.jpg" width="253" /></a><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Through original
and rich case studies, this volume explores the authorship, power and
organization of censorship in compelling ways. Enormously valuable.</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">”</span><span style="color: windowtext;"> </span>- <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Ellen Scott, University of California,
Los Angeles</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkoJrTLUQYYf0dh5-bH0hXfRFfueNgsEvaq4hSaIPPdVfbDBKlMa7KU53RQYc23O_PTcfiQPM2z-BOOUhCtuO_1HI9op9o2caVlTNVKnfkxNtmKpmGGGoNhgzgdj99KqBwhgM3Yl3XGMM/s1600/From+Here+to+Eternity.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkoJrTLUQYYf0dh5-bH0hXfRFfueNgsEvaq4hSaIPPdVfbDBKlMa7KU53RQYc23O_PTcfiQPM2z-BOOUhCtuO_1HI9op9o2caVlTNVKnfkxNtmKpmGGGoNhgzgdj99KqBwhgM3Yl3XGMM/s320/From+Here+to+Eternity.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">“</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">This series is tailor-made for a modular approach to film studies...an
indispensable tool for both lecturers and students.</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">” </span>- <span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto;">Professor Paul Willemen, University of
Ulster</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBcspohg9KF7W1zM6yRc3TBXPAp116Y_T1N4jY0_qFOHwgAEK-Cau1cqypG-IL5sTqoaxrt7S9BdMd5d6JrMuLDI26XQgVkJnf2dAvU_9HRed0Ppy5DzQEDz6WGwIafI21RpOB1W3SE9i/s1600/Roberto+Rossellini+Amore+Miracle+publicity.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBcspohg9KF7W1zM6yRc3TBXPAp116Y_T1N4jY0_qFOHwgAEK-Cau1cqypG-IL5sTqoaxrt7S9BdMd5d6JrMuLDI26XQgVkJnf2dAvU_9HRed0Ppy5DzQEDz6WGwIafI21RpOB1W3SE9i/s320/Roberto+Rossellini+Amore+Miracle+publicity.jpg" width="227" /></a><span 12.0pt="">Dr. </span><span 12.0pt=""><a href="https://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a></span> is Professor of Film History at Rowan
University. She is author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blackout:
World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i> (Johns Hopkins University Press,
2005), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical
Films</i> (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Film Censorship: Regulating America’s Screen</i> (Wallflower/ Columbia
University Press, 2018)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> She received a BA and MA at University of Southern
California School of Cinema-Television, PhD at University of Texas at Austin,
taught at USC, University of California, University of Texas, and in England,
and contributed to the
BBC documentary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rules of Film Noir</i>
and Turner Classic Movies’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Public Enemies</i>
Warner Bros. Gangster Collection.</span>
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Sheri Chinen Biesenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698509480398869685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2550875632966802434.post-64704684517634571712014-03-27T09:02:00.002-07:002017-06-16T10:24:26.288-07:00New Noir Musical Film Book<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><!-- <span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;"> --> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/product-description/1421408384/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3dgEJabRgdmTH2RVJxylIj7-yczdChyeMg-n5cIWavsWO9eMrEOC4LgztXecQqB7owtD9AzAI7xSTTC97djxMIrLAiM3CipBk06KLbo8CRTsG5fVhPX9beOyN9OkK-0rUZz0pnizOwFw/s320/Music+in+the+Shadows+Noir+Musical+Films+org.jpg" width="214" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #dd8e31;">Music in the Shadows</span></span></a></b></span></span><!-- bl #96bee7 b5cee7 bdcfe1 or dd8e31 ltogr d4ba9b -->
<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: #e69138;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Sheri+Chinen+Biesen&search-alias=books&text=Sheri+Chinen+Biesen&sort=relevancerank"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #f2db85;">Noir Musical Films</span></span></a></span></h2>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Sheri+Chinen+Biesen&search-alias=books&text=Sheri+Chinen+Biesen&sort=relevancerank"><span style="color: #bdcfe1;">Sheri Chinen Biesen</span></a> - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Sheri-Chinen-Biesen-ebook/dp/B00GTSPDV8/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1">buy</a> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/music-in-the-shadows-sheri-chinen-biesen/1117476137?ean=9781421408378">BN</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=pd_sim_b_1/186-7643857-8696150?ie=UTF8&refRID=1G993PK4HRFKX7T71J6F"> Amazon</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/product-description/1421408384/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books"><span style="color: #dd8217;">Johns Hopkins University Press</span></a> - <span style="color: #dd8217;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Sheri-Chinen-Biesen-ebook/dp/B00GTSPDV8/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1">Kindle</a></span><br />
<br />
Smoke. Shadows. Moody strains of jazz. Welcome to the world of “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=pd_sim_b_1/186-7643857-8696150?ie=UTF8&refRID=1G993PK4HRFKX7T71J6F">noir musical</a>” films... Where <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">Film Noir</a> and <a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/">Musical</a> Come Together. <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">Film noir</a> expert <a href="http://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> explores how <a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/">noir musical</a> films use <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a> style and bluesy strains of jazz to reveal the dark side of fame and the American Dream. <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">See <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=pd_sim_b_1/186-7643857-8696150?ie=UTF8&refRID=1G993PK4HRFKX7T71J6F">Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films</a></i> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span>and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackout-World-Origins-Film-Noir/dp/0801882184/190-7716909-3105361?ie=UTF8&n=283155&redirect=true&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&showDetailProductDesc=1"><i>Blackout:</i></a> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blackout-sheri-chinen-biesen/1101796360?ean=9780801882180&itm=1&usri=9780801882180"><i>World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i></a></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Read more at:</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/">Music in the Shadows blog</a></span><br />
<a name='more'></a>In “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=pd_sim_b_1/186-7643857-8696150?ie=UTF8&refRID=1G993PK4HRFKX7T71J6F">noir musical</a>”
films, tormented antiheroes and hard-boiled musicians battle
obsession, struggle with their music and ill-fated love triangles.
Sultry divas dance and sing the blues in shrouded nightclubs. Romantic
intrigue clashes with backstage careers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/product-description/1421408384/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/product-description/1421408384/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books" border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrYSn5AzPHDicHHhl1KaKW-DWtHa8d17bkwi3W_BfPtqOYy7O1HB3fsc0_fE0f-VbrLFP-qm-PNuTmN4UKLBB6SpB0v58lgRXCgOM5-RCoYVGyXUejIbuWVotbz9SlcsmkskYBAplZzJY/s1600/A+Star+is+Born,+Times+Square,+New+York+City,+1954+-+Frank+Oscar+Larson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
“With <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><i>Music in the Shadows</i></a>, Biesen continues her trailblazing scholarship in <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a>. Having delineated <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">noir</a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s World War II origins in <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/"><i>Blackout</i></a>,
Biesen focuses on <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">noir</a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s impact on a specific genre, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1">noir musical</a>.
Biesen offers an arresting and innovative exploration of studio
documents, publicity, and the films themselves, spanning wartime through
the 1950s, demonstrating the cycle<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s continuing resonances. A book for
every noir and musical enthusiast who wants to expand their
understanding of these forms—and for all who want to know more of the
American musical tradition and its cultural evolution.” <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">–</span></span> Brian Taves, Library of Congress Motion Picture Archivist, author of <i>Thomas Ince</i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgFawG71xsXXBq_TXnfujra76A7wqHvCb-KGIbwSPCAAROLxwOawIBxW-TACafU6GsXfPBvjL1P6ZamcvHXFJV0hlGScfS35woaG4NSw-pyTM9bi1Ips2cufIfWPcjPHHe33DnpkNoLY/s1600/Miles+Davis+at+Birdland,+1958.+By+Dennis+Stock.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgFawG71xsXXBq_TXnfujra76A7wqHvCb-KGIbwSPCAAROLxwOawIBxW-TACafU6GsXfPBvjL1P6ZamcvHXFJV0hlGScfS35woaG4NSw-pyTM9bi1Ips2cufIfWPcjPHHe33DnpkNoLY/s1600/Miles+Davis+at+Birdland,+1958.+By+Dennis+Stock.jpg" width="290" /></a>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Continuing the groundbreaking work on </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a> in
her first book, </span><a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/"><i>Blackout</i></a><span style="font-size: small;">, which uncovered the origins of </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">noir</a> in World
War II, Sheri Chinen Biesen’s </span><a href="http://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/ecom/MasterServlet/GetItemDetailsHandler?iN=9781421408378&qty=1&source=2&viewMode=3&loggedIN=false"><i>Music in the Shadows</i></a><span style="font-size: small;"> traces another
unlikely, understudied connection – between </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a> and the Hollywood </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/music-in-the-shadows-sheri-chinen-biesen/1117476137?ean=9781421408378">musical</a>. Blending archival research, textual analysis, industrial and cultural
history, Biesen builds a fascinating and quite convincing case for a genre
hybrid, the </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">noir musical</a>, that took root in the 1940s but has continued to
evolve ever since – from post-classical masterworks like <i>The Red Shoes</i>
and <i>West Side Story</i> to New Hollywood gems like <i>All That Jazz</i> and <i>Moulin
Rouge</i>. In the process, she challenges and fundamentally changes our
understanding of both </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a> and the film </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/music-in-the-shadows-sheri-chinen-biesen/1117476137?ean=9781421408378">musical</a>.</span>”<span style="font-size: small;"> – Thomas Schatz, The University of Texas at Austin</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></span></span>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgae8ix0d6kgtgO8-kX6LpKEhIGfbXMWAUsbjT_PsY7JftMXR4HR7FGZUjljMyZpteDz5ee2cM1sPtG5UU9aEm-BBmd9wVpCg3yGKaWBg8USicOylB4D_cuIv7u9mjTpAM_RWOamqy4AqF/s1600/Gilda.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgae8ix0d6kgtgO8-kX6LpKEhIGfbXMWAUsbjT_PsY7JftMXR4HR7FGZUjljMyZpteDz5ee2cM1sPtG5UU9aEm-BBmd9wVpCg3yGKaWBg8USicOylB4D_cuIv7u9mjTpAM_RWOamqy4AqF/s320/Gilda.jpg" width="310" /></a></b></h2>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“</span></span>The phrase ‘<a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-film-noir-book.html"><i>film noir</i></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span> evokes specific images: moody cinematography, smoky tendrils, femmes fatales, cynical men. Yet there<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s another element that is vital to this genre <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">– </span></span>the music. Whether it<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s
the blues or jazz, crooners or torch singers, the music of these films
reminds the viewer of a time and place that is rarely visited today.<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">” </span>In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><i>Music in the Shadows</i></a>, <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“</span></span>Biesen (<a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-film-noir-book.html"><i>Blackout</i></a>) studies film noir<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span>s dark sister, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/product-description/1421408384/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books">musical noir</a>.
At a time when many studios were releasing generic escapist fare,
studios including Warner Bros. and Columbia released films such as <i>Gilda</i> and <i>To Have and Have Not</i>, which paved the way for Judy Garland in <i>A Star Is Born</i>, the ‘dark alternative to the idealized world of upbeat musicals.<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">’</span></span> VERDICT: In exploring musical noir, the author moves from its beginnings in the 1930s to such modern examples as <i>Moulin Rouge!</i> and <i>Chicago</i>
from the early 2000s. Her writing is silky and engaging and will
enthrall fans of musicals and film noir and those interested in the
cultural significance of the genre and its far-reaching impact on modern
cinema.<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">”<span style="font-size: small;"> – </span></span><i>Library Journal </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOe6aUrJ63XZHwWIycYAmbydsI97xuKtUcHtM-ULoDZJS2Oc4_IDMj36FagzEh7BsBmbHSE3gGbmbrOrTaQUAI9G2g-FT-oT0tIGsOok4X0_TSaBlBlpfL9OG5CuZIEZKl9Un1N2kKPeA/s1600/Duke+Ellington+Olumpia+Paris+1958+Herman+Leonard.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOe6aUrJ63XZHwWIycYAmbydsI97xuKtUcHtM-ULoDZJS2Oc4_IDMj36FagzEh7BsBmbHSE3gGbmbrOrTaQUAI9G2g-FT-oT0tIGsOok4X0_TSaBlBlpfL9OG5CuZIEZKl9Un1N2kKPeA/s1600/Duke+Ellington+Olumpia+Paris+1958+Herman+Leonard.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
<i>“</i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><i>Music in the Shadows</i></a>
ultimately succeeds on two levels, both in providing an entertaining
and enlightening read, as well as an impetus to watch previously unseen
films and re-watch familiar classics with a new perspective... The book
nicely balances in-depth historical research and previous film
noir scholarship with fresh ideas and a writing style that is both
evocative and concise. The author doesn’t force the films into the model
of her theory; instead the films guide the theory, a quality often
lacking in film writing.” —<i> Noir City</i><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“</span></span><a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/"><b>Highly recommended</b></a>.
Breaking new ground in film noir studies, Biesen explores the symbiotic
relationship between film noir, jazz, and the blues and offers
extensive, well-documented research to prove the musical roots of film
noir. Through myriad examples, she illustrates the overarching
importance of jazz and the blues, revealing that <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCPU5hFkFSnftwT1wisTtvDRW0b2AblCI8_Y7DGfWUcypRkQCQZ0oILM7Mk2yU7VcJjn62OK5tt_01KIbe7iFZrExnj1Cc6kJCSthoXUDq_ypwTfm8fhpGUsajogAvPiFL6AlEloP8N0/s1600/Ella+Fitzgerald+with+Duke+Ellington,+Benny+Goodman+and+Richard+Rogers,+Downbeat,+New+York,+1949+By+Herman+Leonard.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLCPU5hFkFSnftwT1wisTtvDRW0b2AblCI8_Y7DGfWUcypRkQCQZ0oILM7Mk2yU7VcJjn62OK5tt_01KIbe7iFZrExnj1Cc6kJCSthoXUDq_ypwTfm8fhpGUsajogAvPiFL6AlEloP8N0/s1600/Ella+Fitzgerald+with+Duke+Ellington,+Benny+Goodman+and+Richard+Rogers,+Downbeat,+New+York,+1949+By+Herman+Leonard.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span>music
as a stylistic element is as necessary to film noir as low-key
lighting, femmes fatales, and darkened city streets. She convincingly
links film noir to musicals—albeit dark, relentless, decidedly hopeless
musicals—that reflect the reality of the times: the Depression, WW II,
and, later, the Vietnam War. Drawing attention to the use of jazz and
blues music as a representation of the seedier side of life, Biesen
pulls examples from classical and contemporary films noir—ranging from <i>A Star Is Born</i> and <i>Casablanca</i> to <i>All that Jazz</i> and <i>Bird</i>—demonstrating the importance of music to the genre and music's continued impact on neo-noir films such as <i>Chicago</i> and <i>Black Swan</i>. Biesen’s relevant study provides new insight and proves a welcome addition to film noir studies.” —<i> Choice</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxppPYKRrUyRL3r5gGl0EL8SnDikfH6bgmCVPalCQdyjXfWUgerJiETlGNOkq62xaVahueIUcH6xudnjaBQGdYFq2zEvRb7flOppdQho6l31gEzh24LsUw6ohyPuVdjmx5zQCfsZlZgfI/s1600/red+shoes+mirror.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxppPYKRrUyRL3r5gGl0EL8SnDikfH6bgmCVPalCQdyjXfWUgerJiETlGNOkq62xaVahueIUcH6xudnjaBQGdYFq2zEvRb7flOppdQho6l31gEzh24LsUw6ohyPuVdjmx5zQCfsZlZgfI/s1600/red+shoes+mirror.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In her pioneering study <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><i>Music in the Shadows</i></a>, film noir expert Sheri Chinen Biesen explores <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1">noir musical films</a>
that use film noir style and bluesy strains of jazz to inhabit a
disturbing underworld and reveal the dark side of fame and the American
Dream. While noir musical films like <i>A Star is Born</i> include musical performances, their bleak tone and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdu0VE26nmaqMwtJe0A3MwpQyDwYTGBQh8Qh1C50Nl2vS58S7X0NB1fBXk456yac28-7ry7YMyJcEncrmlMeS0h7Kvhk3ZhYDVnKzlk6KqhNXyYGzGwDBE-sxL5RkyFxPG6ZpN9Z6RKE/s1600/star-judy1+.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdu0VE26nmaqMwtJe0A3MwpQyDwYTGBQh8Qh1C50Nl2vS58S7X0NB1fBXk456yac28-7ry7YMyJcEncrmlMeS0h7Kvhk3ZhYDVnKzlk6KqhNXyYGzGwDBE-sxL5RkyFxPG6ZpN9Z6RKE/s1600/star-judy1+.jpg" width="276" /></a>expressionistic aesthetic more closely resemble the visual style of <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a>. Their
narratives unfold behind a stark noir lens: distorted, erratic angles
and imbalanced hand-held shots allow the audience to experience a
tortured disillusioned perspective. Crisscrossing beams of light
splinter a black Los Angeles sky as a self-destructive screen idol
wreaks havoc backstage, shattering glass and assaulting performers.
Terrified dancers scream in the wings. Chaos ensues. Although this
episode might suggest film noir, it is a scene from the 1954 noir
musical film <i>A Star is Born</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMzAWZ0xR0AHff4FPQIcrQPHGkuy-9NNBW_rKfRPgSrtpSYTtoe0dV9pYElwRktQVvy3VR4-touEiaR85BLY7hyaegJlM6QvwwbMxz-hiDrcMqSjlzROzZbdrdJnrvKjfxro2y6yU3GA/s1600/red+shoes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMzAWZ0xR0AHff4FPQIcrQPHGkuy-9NNBW_rKfRPgSrtpSYTtoe0dV9pYElwRktQVvy3VR4-touEiaR85BLY7hyaegJlM6QvwwbMxz-hiDrcMqSjlzROzZbdrdJnrvKjfxro2y6yU3GA/s1600/red+shoes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
While many musicals glamorize the quest for the spotlight in Hollywood's star factory, brooding noir musical films such as <i>Blues in the Night, Gilda, The Red Shoes, A Star is Born, West Side Story, New York, New York, </i>and<i> Round Midnight</i>
stretch the boundaries of film noir and the musical as film genres
collide. Deep shadows, dim lighting and visual composition evoke
moodiness, cynicism, pessimism, and subjective psychological points of
view.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-HO5XmsUKCSxKmHdaKmkPcr0Q4mLds8VmugLDM-X0eOpiUofbiNP_M0Ksb_QF27Q2xf0PI3djoLgB_kHagUiXyxnoOOlPHrz-Ou_AxR-nUTnNiCK4LtP_yIiR346AbjdMDZ6RPIfPkY/s1600/Elevator+to+the+Gallows+Jeanne+Moreau.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-HO5XmsUKCSxKmHdaKmkPcr0Q4mLds8VmugLDM-X0eOpiUofbiNP_M0Ksb_QF27Q2xf0PI3djoLgB_kHagUiXyxnoOOlPHrz-Ou_AxR-nUTnNiCK4LtP_yIiR346AbjdMDZ6RPIfPkY/s320/Elevator+to+the+Gallows+Jeanne+Moreau.jpg" /></a></div>
As in her earlier study of <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a>, <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/"><i>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i></a>,
Biesen draws on extensive primary research in studio archives to
situate her examination within a historical, industrial, and cultural
context.<br />
<br />
Sheri Chinen Biesen is an associate professor of radio, television, and film studies at Rowan University and author of <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/"><i>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i></a>, also published by <a href="http://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/ecom/MasterServlet/GetItemDetailsHandler?iN=9781421408378&qty=1&source=2&viewMode=3&loggedIN=false">Johns Hopkins</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHnz6B_jHt1XjiMV8tCigUE8Khq_O3o8gRA6NTE32Iay5pad_w2-YyjSVWalCUXvYebnYVV62VL44GRmLYI0hadaOXnvLqaZRpCLEfwRBKzygr1vWO6Zknpp_9mlI35JQebh3HUQZixk/s1600/Eddie+Heywood's+hands,+1943.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHnz6B_jHt1XjiMV8tCigUE8Khq_O3o8gRA6NTE32Iay5pad_w2-YyjSVWalCUXvYebnYVV62VL44GRmLYI0hadaOXnvLqaZRpCLEfwRBKzygr1vWO6Zknpp_9mlI35JQebh3HUQZixk/s320/Eddie+Heywood's%2Bhands%2C%2B1943.jpg" /></a></div>
Praise for Biesen’s <i><a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</a> </i><br />
“The author is to be congratulated on producing an exemplary study in empirical film history.” <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">–</span></span> <i>Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television</i>, reviewing a previous edition or volume<br />
<br />
“A
film noir aficionado, Biesen provides the most detailed and thoroughly
researched interpretation of this era’s American film noir.” <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">–</span></span> <i>American Historical Review</i>, reviewing a previous edition or volume<br />
<br />
Praise for Biesen’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Music-Shadows-Noir-Musical-Films/dp/1421408384/ref=sr_1_1/177-5606189-0875165?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396171003&sr=1-1"><i>Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films</i></a><i><br /></i>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn05Lvm21i2tp7ypMynHYJyKXpmMXwPrOsgRuwvmm6iDJq9rBu9rTIp6QXtFil2nhEyeeJlaUNmfhKH6EIcdqGRA-Lbwwl6e6GKLPvPBDOB4o_ywalmmQyifX5KA_1cFJMflUhF1uQqmw/s1600/Music+in+the+Shadows+review+-+NOIR+CITY+E-Mag+-+Fall+2014+-+p92.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn05Lvm21i2tp7ypMynHYJyKXpmMXwPrOsgRuwvmm6iDJq9rBu9rTIp6QXtFil2nhEyeeJlaUNmfhKH6EIcdqGRA-Lbwwl6e6GKLPvPBDOB4o_ywalmmQyifX5KA_1cFJMflUhF1uQqmw/s1600/Music+in+the+Shadows+review+-+NOIR+CITY+E-Mag+-+Fall+2014+-+p92.jpg" width="400" /></a>“The book’s examination of 1941’s <i>Blues in the Night</i>
illuminates how the then-nascent noir genre and established backstage
musical genre came together to form the noir musical, which subsequently
influenced film noir, ‘A’ musicals and musical dramas in the following
decades as outlined in later chapters. Biesen’s examinations of <i>A Star is Born, The Red Shoes, New York, New York</i> and <i>‘Round Midnight</i>
are particularly potent, successfully presenting these familiar films
in a new light and placing them on a continuum previously unexplored.” —
Anne M. Hockens <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aF0iNcMvzme8PjGBisc98ixL8Ftg2TTs8ihteL1GRi1Yw-AcMG72VE4aPsU4GTto1nremCplaH-RmUDeA7z8WOkTx5YfDF-oCeeBD7eHBOJsaR_NgFWkQJ16KIDWwU0U87FUDbb79I3K/s1600/blues.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aF0iNcMvzme8PjGBisc98ixL8Ftg2TTs8ihteL1GRi1Yw-AcMG72VE4aPsU4GTto1nremCplaH-RmUDeA7z8WOkTx5YfDF-oCeeBD7eHBOJsaR_NgFWkQJ16KIDWwU0U87FUDbb79I3K/s320/blues.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HdaKB_Xb-VWHm4q3nPD6p_iy4g5FXtIdF-2qypCIS8M7d8E5mZlfyIzTInADw6nFpWrxOQNVGF7AplNu5PkREBoISO5Ws6-bVB8qUJxNt533SuIfp2ZwUEHFsgci5EWsY4P0YpO9N9rv/s1600/bscap0323-custom2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HdaKB_Xb-VWHm4q3nPD6p_iy4g5FXtIdF-2qypCIS8M7d8E5mZlfyIzTInADw6nFpWrxOQNVGF7AplNu5PkREBoISO5Ws6-bVB8qUJxNt533SuIfp2ZwUEHFsgci5EWsY4P0YpO9N9rv/s1600/bscap0323-custom2.jpg" /></a>“<a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">Film noir</a> has been an important part of American film history. But there is a part of noir that has been overlooked: the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-music-the-shadows-noir-musical-films#print">noir musical</a>. Author <a href="http://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> examines this little known area of film in <i><a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films</a></i>, published by <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/music-shadows" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University Press</a>. Biesen takes a look at several <a class="inline_link" href="http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-music-the-shadows-noir-musical-films#print">musicals</a> that have a noir style and influence, starting with <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033409/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" rel="nofollow">Blues in the Night</a></i>
from 1941. Released prior to the U.S. entering World War II, the film
contains great jazz and blues numbers mixed with a dark plot that
strayed from the cheerful escapist musicals audiences were used to
seeing. She then moves on to <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/?ref_=nv_sr_1" rel="nofollow">The Red Shoes</a></i>,
a British film from 1948, known for its 17 minute ballet within a film.
The Technicolor film about a ballerina torn between her lover and her
career includes moody silhouettes and showcases post-war realism
reflecting women’s roles in society. Then she looks at what she considers a “musicalized film noir,” <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047522/?ref_=nv_sr_3" rel="nofollow">A Star is Born</a></i>
from 1954. Considered Judy Garland’s comeback role, it has a noir style
in the relationship between the rising star and the washed up has-been.
Biesen talks about the best known number “The Man That Got Away” by
beautifully describing the scene’s color scheme. <br />
<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4XyrpPkfGEYqnH_WDEC-wq9jGNmpb72kuiOo3fsgyMV8d7uiW5CMgQQUwEpYPoBZ6UXbqq3RqU16fAN4xKCwwGGaj0X0X6-QJBIsEVBfPZQKBoXEH1bU4lU8nP21I7DtpqYA5ZWXHFgm/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4XyrpPkfGEYqnH_WDEC-wq9jGNmpb72kuiOo3fsgyMV8d7uiW5CMgQQUwEpYPoBZ6UXbqq3RqU16fAN4xKCwwGGaj0X0X6-QJBIsEVBfPZQKBoXEH1bU4lU8nP21I7DtpqYA5ZWXHFgm/s320/hqdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/?ref_=nv_sr_1" rel="nofollow">West Side Story</a></i>
from 1961...was a product of its time, according to Biesen, as it
came out around the time of the civil rights movement, and after the Red
Scare when many in Hollywood were blacklisted for supporting Communism.
Biesen also analyzes other films noir that have musical pieces in
them, from the 1940’s to the present. Her love of film noir and musicals
shows, it’s well researched, and it is a delight to read from start to
finish.” — <a href="http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-music-the-shadows-noir-musical-films#print">Stacy Sobotka</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-music-the-shadows-noir-musical-films#print"><i>Detroit Film Examiner</i></a>
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“Exemplary
research,” “depth in both archival and printed sources...She’s
identified a genuinely interesting—and overlooked—subject, the ‘<a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/">film noir musical</a>’... As she observes, many would consider a <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a>
musical to be an oxymoron. But she demonstrates the validity and
vitality of such a concept. Fusing noir and the musical…she establishes a
concept that will have legs and ongoing use.” “Biesen makes a strong
case for the...importance of <i>Blues in the Night, A Star is Born</i>”
and how the “controlling gaze of television” and postwar conditions
affected noir, recognizing the emergent “color noir” aesthetic:
“Biesen’s use of red is quite intriguing.” “Her book makes a genuine
contribution to understanding noir (her passion) and the musical... She
extends the idea of noir beyond its classical boundaries and shows its
ongoing vitality.”<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="http://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a>, Ph.D. is a film historian and professor of radio, television, and film studies at Rowan University, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"> and author of <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-film-noir-book.html"><i>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i></a> and <a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/"><i>Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films</i></a> at Johns Hopkins University Press</span></span></span>. </span>Educated
at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television
(B.A. 1987, M.A. 1995) and University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. 1998),
Professor Biesen is the recipient of numerous research awards and
teaching honors and has taught cinema history at the University of Texas
at Austin, University of California, University of Southern California
School of Cinema-Television, and University of Leicester in England. She
has worked as a writer and script analyst for The American Film
Institute Alumni Writers Workshop and contributed to</span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span>the BBC documentary </span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rules of
Film Noir</i>, </span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>Film Noir: </i></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The Directors</i></span></span></span>, </i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The Historical Journal of </i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>Film, R</i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">adio</span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span> and Television, </i></span></span></span></span>
Film Noir Reader 4, Film and History, Gangster Film Reader, Film Noir: </i></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The </i></span></span></span>Encyclopedia,
Literature/Film Quarterly, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, The
Historian, Television and Television History, Popular Culture Review, </i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Turner Classic Movies<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Public Enemies</i></span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in the Warner Bros. Gangster Collection</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">,</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">and edited <i>The Velvet Light Trap</i>. <a href="http://www.physics.udel.edu/%7Egizis/blackout/Blackout_Interview.mp3">Blackout interview</a></span></span></span></span> <br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.physics.udel.edu/%7Egizis/blackout/Blackout_Interview.mp3"></a></span></span></span></span> Sheri Chinen Biesenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698509480398869685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2550875632966802434.post-73675407293680462962009-06-14T22:42:00.000-07:002017-06-16T10:25:14.044-07:00New Film Noir Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwFqu6Drg0-2AnbuFW_g0ShgbFsHf2laEzk-HzUmiWzamqhyphenhyphenOHAiEFqV0YOfZ7jFbwSSxA1ZofuirVypOb0nWvylzHQMg3Ds9P-H8Oyb6ZXAkyj49nWahri19HOkmgZOiyJzU2TRw9OgwO/s1600/Blackout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwFqu6Drg0-2AnbuFW_g0ShgbFsHf2laEzk-HzUmiWzamqhyphenhyphenOHAiEFqV0YOfZ7jFbwSSxA1ZofuirVypOb0nWvylzHQMg3Ds9P-H8Oyb6ZXAkyj49nWahri19HOkmgZOiyJzU2TRw9OgwO/s320/Blackout.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 180%;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/blackout.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a></span><a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;">BLACKOU<span id="goog_113042799"></span><span id="goog_113042800"></span>T</span><span style="color: silver; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: 130%;">World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</span></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 130%;"> </span></a><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><br /><a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf"><span style="color: #ffff99; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 100%;">Sheri Chinen Biesen</span></a><span style="color: silver; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/blackout"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 100%;">Johns Hopkins University Press</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><span class="tiny">"The camera slowly zooms in on a silhouette of a man on crutches until blackness fills the screen..." </span>—<span class="tiny"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackout-World-Origins-Film-Noir/dp/0801882184/190-7716909-3105361?ie=UTF8&n=283155&redirect=true&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&showDetailProductDesc=1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blackout</span></a></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;">"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackout-World-Origins-Film-Noir/dp/0801882184/190-7716909-3105361?ie=UTF8&n=283155&redirect=true&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&showDetailProductDesc=1">This volume stands out as one of the best and perhaps the single most essential book in English on</a> <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">film noir</a>. <a href="http://blackoutbook.blogspot.com/">Biesen</a> reveals an untold part of the movement with originality, sophistication, and vitality. </span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;">Her work will become a foundation for subsequent interpretation of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackout-World-Origins-Film-Noir/dp/0801882184/190-7716909-3105361?ie=UTF8&n=283155&redirect=true&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&showDetailProductDesc=1">film noir</a>, as well as an ideal text in film, history, and cultural studies courses."</span>—<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;">Brian Taves, film historian, film archivist, Library of Congress and author of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Romance of Adventure: The Genre of Historical Adventure Movies</span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/gilda.1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/gilda.1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a></span>"<a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_moving_image/v007/7.1polan.html">Biesen's Blackout</a> is <a href="http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i25/25a01901.htm">quite a find</a>, a <a href="http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=133295&sid=c3bac95a92940b4ae9853fcdd34775c7#133295">must-read book</a> on <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_moving_image/v007/7.1polan.html">film noir</a>."<br />
<br />
<i>“Biesen’s book is readable, informative and jargon free… Biesen uses her research into studio archives, the films’ attendant publicity and the contemporary press to bring alive the wartime period of film noir and its transformation into a post-war genre for dealing with troubled veterans returning home, the coming of the Cold War, nuclear angst and the effects of McCarthyism on Hollywood and the nation at large.”</i><a href="http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/tlssearch.do?querystring=biesen&sectionId=1809&p=tls" style="font-style: italic;">—Times Literary Supplement</a><br />
<br />
"<a href="http://astore.amazon.com/filmsnoir.net-20/detail/0801882184/102-0093065-9634523">Biesen</a> provides the most detailed and thoroughly researched interpretation of this era's American film noir." — <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Clayton Koppes, <span style="font-style: italic;">American Historical Review</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;">Challenging conventional scholarship, placing the origins of film noir in postwar Hollywood, <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> finds the genre's roots firmly planted in the </span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 100%;">political, social, and material conditions of Hollywood during the war. After Pearl Harbor, America and Hollywood experienced a sharp cultural transformation that made horror, shock, and violence not only palatable but preferable. Hard times necessitated cheaper sets, fewer lights, and fresh talent; censors as well as the movie-going public showed a new tolerance for sex and violence; and female producers experienced newfound prominence in the industry.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://astore.amazon.com/filmsnoir.net-20/detail/0801882184/102-0093065-9634523">Biesen</a> brings prodigious archival research, accessible prose, and imaginative insights to both well-known films noir of the wartime period—<i>The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep,</i> and <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/DI3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/DI3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><i>Double Indemnity</i>—and others often overlooked or underrated—<i>Ministry of Fear, Phantom Lady, Scarlet Street, Moontide, Street of Chance, Detour, Murder My Sweet, This Gun For Hire</i> and <i>Stranger on the Third Floor</i>.<br />
<br />
Historical study of the influence of World War II on film noir, censorship, propaganda and Hollywood motion picture industry grounded in behind-the-scenes studio filmmaking archival research.<br />
Media Requests and Exam Copies Available. For more information or to receive a copy <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/blackout">https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/blackout</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/double_indemnity.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/double_indemnity.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 191px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 307px;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/DI-fb3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/DI-fb3.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 213px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 286px;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/DI6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/DI6.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>“<a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> wades into the murky, controversial world of film noir with a thoughtful monograph on the development of Hollywood's film noir in the 1940s. A film noir aficionado, Biesen provides the most detailed and thoroughly researched interpretation of this era's American film noir. The heart of her study is intensive analysis of the production histories of several key noir pictures. She highlights the pivotal role of Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder for Paramount in 1943–1944, after being held on ice for nearly a decade by censorship concerns and studio timidity. Double Indemnity nicely illustrates Biesen's thesis that World War II, rather than retarding the development of American noir, was integral to it. As she writes: "The chiaroscuro lighting and shadowy visual design that today is considered so characteristic of film noir style was in large measure a savvy aesthetic response to the [Production] Code and the war" (p. 107). Biesen emphasizes that the motion picture industry's production code, though claiming to represent timeless aesthetic and moral criteria, was enforced more liberally in the 1940s and later. She also stresses the importance of the constraints the studios faced during World War II, when blackouts, shortages of material, and limited numbers of leading men demanded innovative responses.” — <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Clayton Koppes, American Historical Review</a><br />
<br />
"Outstanding. Highly Recommended. Excellent Book. A fascinating, engaging, innovative and original work. A fine account of film noir and 1940s Hollywood filmmaking, film censorship and propaganda, and wartime conditions in America's movie capital during World War II. Ample noir stories of Los Angeles, Raymond Chandler, Humphrey Bogart, James M. Cain, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Alan Ladd, Peter Lorre, Howard Hawks with hardboiled crime, venetian blinds, swirling cigarette smoke and smoldering seductive femme fatales like black widow Barbara Stanwyck, Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth. A rich provocative study. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/doubleindemnity1944dvd.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/doubleindemnity1944dvd.png" height="300" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" width="400" /></a>Terrific and enjoyable read for film buffs, cineastes, film critics, movie fans, industry insiders, cultural historians, researchers and cinema scholars, and an insightful and compelling look at the unexplored history of film noir and wartime Hollywood in the 1940s. Biesen's Blackout is quite a find, a must-read book on film noir. Wonderful revelations and essential reading for lovers of film noir. Revisionist, provocative, a bold paradigm shift—it changes the way you think about film noir."<br />
<br />
"Biesen adds a new perspective that enhances scholarship on the subject and makes this book a must. Summing up: Essential."—<i>Choice</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/fade_t5.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/fade_t5.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/doubleIndemnity322.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/doubleIndemnity322.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/Postman640x480.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/Postman640x480.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/thisGunforHire413.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a>"Biesen uses her research into studio archives, the films’ attendant publicity and the contemporary press to bring alive the wartime period of film noir and its transformation into a post-war genre for dealing with troubled veterans returning home, the coming of the Cold War, nuclear angst and the effects of McCarthyism on Hollywood and the nation at large. She tells us of the public demand for “red meat” entertainment, and the desire of Hollywood to provide it, something amusingly expressed through <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/thisGunforHire413.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/thisGunforHire413.jpg" height="320" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" width="201" /></a>tag-lines thought up by the advertising departments—“Menace Behind Every Shadow, Suspense in Every Move” (Ministry of Fear), “The kind of Woman most men want—BUT SHOULDN’T HAVE!” (Mildred Pierce)...Biesen’s book is readable, informative and jargon free."—Philip French, <a href="http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/tlssearch.do?querystring=biesen&sectionId=1809&p=tls" style="font-style: italic;">The London Times Literary Supplement</a><br />
"French critics coined the term 'film noir' in 1946 after a series of brooding dramas from wartime Hollywood finally made their French debut. Yet, says <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a>, noir is often seen as a predominantly postwar phenomenon. She argues that many critics and film historians have ignored the genre's links to World War II. Some have even echoed the screenwriter, director, and critic Paul Schrader, who wrote that the war temporarily pre-empted a flowering noir trend. It's just the opposite, says Ms. Biesen, a film historian at Rowan University.
<br />
<a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/bigs.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>
In <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf"><b>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</b></a> (Johns Hopkins University Press), she shows how the film industry and journalists of the period were well aware of what some called a 'red meat' genre. The author links noir's violent, shadowy aesthetic to wartime constraints on Hollywood, including such practical concerns as the rationing of film stock and electricity; the desire to disguise recycled sets in <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/double_indemnity.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/double_indemnity.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>darkness, fog, rain, or smoke; the loss of thousands of personnel to military duty; and the problem of frequent blackouts and dimouts in Los Angeles. 'We lit our sets with cigarette butts,' Robert Mitchum once joked. Ms Biesen describes too how film noir drew on societal anxieties as Americans faced fear, loss and shortages during the <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/detour368.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/detour368.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>war and viewed ever-more-harrowing newsreel footage. 'As life on the homefront became increasingly hard-boiled,' she writes, 'so too did American film.'"—Nina Ayoub, <a href="http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i25/25a01901.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">Chronicle of Higher Education</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">“Tantalizing Theory<br />Yes, <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a> has detonated a landmine in the field of film noir studies with her contention that, far from being a postwar movement, noir is totally tied up with actual conditions of the war being felt and fought during Hollywood studio production; so we might come to see the heyday of film noir as not the release of OUT OF THE PAST, nor any of the location-dominated "March of Time" inspired docudramas, but much earlier on, with the filming of THIS GUN FOR HIRE with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.<br /><br />She invites us to attend to the way WWII scared the daylights out of Los Angeles and curtailed social activity through a literal blackout in which the previously iconic klieglights were darkened "for the duration," while West Coast citizens and government officials and conspiracy theorists worried about how soon the Japanese would attack southern California by bomber or submarine or from within.<br /><br />Secondarily the arrival of so many talented artists from Nazi-dominated Europe gave film a darker cast, both in front of the camera and behind. She points to STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, THE MALTESE FALCON, PHANTOM LADY, and DOUBLE INDEMNITY as beneficaries of this process. With the top male stars in uniform, like Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Robert Taylor, the studios had to improvise and invent a new <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/womanIntheWindow371.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/womanIntheWindow371.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 356px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 249px;" /></a><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">sort of cinema, one in which their female stars would henceforward be paired with freaks—old men, foreign men, little boys—the refuse of the draft. This was a time when an actor like Albert Dekker, Orson Welles, Peter Lorre, Laird Cregar, George Sanders, could dream of Hollywood stardom; when super short actors like Alan Ladd were suddenly magnified; when gay actors who'd been declared unfit for military service could become huge box office draws, their heterosexuality reinscribed by press flacks; and older men found their stardom artificially extended by a decade or more (William Powell, Ronald Colman, guys like that.) A few remaining tall, handsome, young and heterosexual men remained employable—John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, becoming stars no little thanks to the vacuum around them. And they were talented too, of course.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">And women moved behind the camera too, as editors, producers, writers: Joan Harrison, Catherine Turney, Harriet Parsons, Virginia van Upp, Leigh Brackett. As BLACKOUT progresses towards the end of the war in 1945, we relive a strange moment in history in which Hollywood once again hardened itself for the invasion—the re-entry into their midst of all the returning vets, stars, writers, directors and miscellaneous personnel—who would put these trends on fast track and bring them outdoors.” — Kevin Killian<br /><br />‘Thorough, detailed, insightful and scholarly<br />"<a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Blackout</a>" is subtitled "<a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</a>," and <a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a>, an associate professor of radio, television and film studies at Rowan University, delivers the goods in this scholarly book. At the end of World War II, a large backlog of American films suddenly became available overseas. The French, seeing these films for the first time "all at once" instead of over a period of years, noticed a "dark" trend in them that had not been especially obvious to their American producers. French critics coined the term "film noir" to describe what they saw as virtually a new genre in filmmaking.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/Powell1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/Powell1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 219px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 292px;" /></a><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">Films noir typically (but not exclusively) featured hard-boiled private detectives, alluring but deadly "femmes fatale," stories told in flashbacks, complex plots, unconventional camera angles and stark black-and-white photography. Many of them involved crimes gone wrong, double- and triple-crosses, murder and mayhem, and the nastier side of human relationships. "Blackout" shows how these characteristics arose from the political, social, cultural and material conditions that existed in America during World War II. For example, films noir are "dark" because: a) lights were in short supply, b) power was rationed, and c) the West Coast (where most films during the War were made) was blacked out nightly because of the fear of Japanese submarine attacks. Many film noir stories took place at night, because the Government prohibited daytime photography that could accidentally include defense installations—thus eliminating most of the favored movie-making locations in Southern California. Relationships between men, serving overseas in combat, and women, who now did many of the previously male-dominated jobs on the Home Front, changed during the War, and films noir could not help but reflect these changes.</span><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/PhantomLady.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/PhantomLady.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">One of the most fascinating aspects of film production in World War II was the interaction of the movie studios with the Production Code Administration (PCA). "Blackout" describes in detail how the PCA enthusiastically carried out its "responsibility" of censoring screenplays that the studios presented to it in order to obtain the important "seal of approval." For example, the PCA banned "excessive drinking...references to sex, suggestive dancing, [and] any condoning of divorce..." from the screenplay for "Phantom Lady." This is just one very minor example. One wonders not only how films made under the heavy hand of PCA censorship could be very good (which many are), but indeed how any meaningful films could possibly have been made at all.<br /><br />"<a href="http://ahr.oxfordjournals.org/content/112/3/887.extract?sid=c94e2382-fa50-4d78-9c9b-01abf3d30ebf">Blackout</a>" covers the evolution of film noir trends in great depth. It focuses on genre classics such as "Double Indemnity," "This Gun For Hire," "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Murder, My Sweet" and "Laura," but it also covers many other films. The text is detailed, readable and thoroughly footnoted, although I did find it somewhat repetitive in parts. For example, the point about location filming restrictions is similarly made many times. "Blackout" may be heavy going in some places for readers with just a casual interest in the subject, but it is nevertheless an excellent primer on the development of a uniquely American film style.’ — Terry Sunday<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/MurderMySweet-510.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/MurderMySweet-510.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a><b>Reviews: A historical and theoretical study informed by primary research</b></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";">"This volume stands out as one of, if not the, best book in English on film noir, a movement previously largely defined mostly through stylistic analysis and psychoanalytic interpretation. It differs from traditional approaches, offering background which the other books fail to include. By relying on historical sources and context, Biesen indicates noir's rise with the social and most particularly production circumstances brought about by World War II. None of this has been treated before, in any detail, and many of her points are original (such as the impact of realism on film noir). Demonstrating how actual wartime life and daily constraints led to the genre will be one of the ways this book will be important for historians of all types for this era and its culture. The book is simultaneously accessible yet sophisticated, vital and engaging, and is written to attract the widest possible audience. The primary research mines lodes of information too often overlooked in film studies, demonstrating the manner in whh such sources as censorship and studio publicity may enhance a critical and theoretical examination. Biesen demonstrates a familiarity with the films and supporting documentation which are the source of the book's assertions. Unlike so many studies marked by excessive theoretical speculation and cursory historical research, this book combines a wide range of examples with a determination to remain rooted in the evidence they offer. Biesen merges close interpretation of individual films, production history, censorship records, publicity, critical response, audience reception, the star system, industry history, and genre analysis. Most studies use only two or three of these possibilities, and the author is to be commended for the depth and breadth of research. Endemic of this exhaustive research is the usage of reviews beyond Variety and the New York Times, the indexed, reprinted journals which are as far as most studies go—although neither offer representative reviews. Few <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/DoubleIndemnity.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/DoubleIndemnity.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>scholars have mined such treasures as the film pressbooks, especially with such fruitful results. So too, Biesen's arguments have been carefully thought through; for instance, I was pleased to see the connections between noir and the espionage genre made, similar genres whose relation is too often overlooked. The role of female executives in producing noir was surprising. The linkage between realism and noir was a brilliant insight, and a case convincingly made by the author, one which will profoundly change conceptions of the genre. The relevance of HUAC in ending noir was also enlightening. I was relieved to see, too, that the author knows to interpret documents, not simply taking them at face value. For instance, noting when filmmakers blithely disregarded censorship instructions will change conceptions of the role of censors. I strongly and without reservation recommend this book."—Brian Taves</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/FN-murder-sweet.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/FN-murder-sweet.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>"Readers will come away from <i>Blackout</i> with a fuller understanding of the industrial and historical contexts of wartime <i>film noir.</i>—Charles Maland, <i>Cineaste</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i> </i><br />"This text offers a compelling history of wartime Hollywood and a provocative challenge to current noir scholarship."—<i>Southern California Quarterly</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i> </i><br />
"An important contribution to the history of <i>film noir</i>."—Jan-Christopher Horak, <i>Screening the Past</i> <br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/lorre-lg.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/lorre-lg.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 230px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 333px;" /></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/1600/Out_of_the_past.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/46/1878/400/Out_of_the_past.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 297px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 186px;" /></a></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><a href="http://sherichinenbiesen.blogspot.com/">Sheri Chinen Biesen</a>, Ph.D. is a film historian and professor of radio, television, and film studies at Rowan University, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"> and author of <a href="http://noirbooks.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-film-noir-book.html"><i>Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir</i></a> and <a href="http://musicintheshadows.blogspot.com/"><i>Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films</i></a> at Johns Hopkins University Press</span></span></span>. </span>Educated at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television (B.A. 1987, M.A. 1995) and University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. 1998), Professor Biesen is the recipient of numerous research awards and teaching honors and has taught cinema history at the University of Texas at Austin, University of California, University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, and University of Leicester in England. She has worked as a writer and script analyst for The American Film Institute Alumni Writers Workshop and contributed to</span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </span>the BBC documentary </span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rules of
Film Noir</i>, </span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>Film Noir: </i></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The Directors</i></span></span></span>, </i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The Historical Journal of </i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>Film, R</i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">adio</span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span> and Television, </i></span></span></span></span>
Film Noir Reader 4, Film and History, Gangster Film Reader, Film Noir: </i></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><i>The </i></span></span></span>Encyclopedia, Literature/Film Quarterly, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, The Historian, Television and Television History, Popular Culture Review, </i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Turner Classic Movies<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Public Enemies</i></span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in the Warner Bros. Gangster Collection</span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">,</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></i></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">and edited <i>The Velvet Light Trap</i>. <a href="http://www.physics.udel.edu/%7Egizis/blackout/Blackout_Interview.mp3">Blackout interview</a></span><br /><br />Films and behind-the-scenes...<br /><i>Blind Alley, Let Us Live, Rio, You Only Live Once<br />Stranger on the Third Floor, Brother Orchid<br />Blues in the Night, Face Behind the Mask, Out of the Fog<br />Suspicion, Citizen Kane, espionage, gothic thriller<br />Spellbound, Shadow of a Doubt</i><br />PreCode-era <i>Maltese Falcon</i>, and 1941 version<br /><i>All Through the Night, Across the Pacific<br />This Gun for Hire, Casablanca<br />Moontide<br />Street of Chance</i><br />newsreels, propaganda films like <i>Hangmen Also Die</i><br />war films like <i>Sahara</i><br />Val Lewton psychological horror noir, B pictures<br /><i>Ministry of Fear<br />Double Indemnity<br />Murder My Sweet<br />Postman Always Rings Twice<br />Phantom Lady<br />Mildred Pierce<br />Gilda, Lady from Shanghai<br />Laura, Detour<br />Woman in the Window<br />Scarlet Street<br />To Have and Have Not<br />The Big Sleep<br />The Blue Dahlia<br />The Stranger<br />Dead Reckoning, Out of the Past</i><br />legacy of wartime noir in postwar era</span></span></span>Sheri Chinen Biesenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17698509480398869685noreply@blogger.com