In a Lonely Street : Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity

Taking issue with many orthodox views of Film Noir, Frank Krutnik argues for a reorientation of this compulsively engaging area of Hollywood cultural production. Krutnik recasts the films within a generic framework and draws on recent historical and theoretical research to examine both the diversity of film noir and its significance within American popular culture of the 1940s. He considers classical Hollywood cinema, debates on genre, and the history of the emergence of character in film noir, focusing on the hard-boiled' crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain as well as the popularisationof Freudian psychoanalysis; and the social and cultural upheavals of the 1940s. The core of this book however concerns the complex representationof masculinity in the noir tough' thriller, and where and how gender interlocks with questions of genre. Analysing in detail major thrillers like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past and The Killers , alongside lesser known but nonetheless crucial films as Stranger on the Third Floor, Pitfall and Dead Reckoning Krutnik has produced a provocative and highly readable study of one of Hollywood most perennially fascinating groups of films. Taking issue with many orthodox views of Film Noir, Frank Krutnik argues for a reorientation of this compulsively engaging area of Hollywood cultural production. Krutnik recasts the films within a generic framework and draws on recent historical and theoretical research to examine both the diversity of film noir and its significance within American popular culture of the 1940s. He considers classical Hollywood cinema, debates on genre, and the history of the emergence of character in film noir, focusing on the hard-boiled' crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain as well as the popularisationof Freudian psychoanalysis; and the social and cultural upheavals of the 1940s. The core of this book however concerns the complex representationof masculinity in the noir tough' thriller, and where and how gender interlocks with questions of genre. Analysing in detail major thrillers like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past and The Killers, alongside lesser known but nonetheless crucial films as Stranger on the Third Floor, Pitfall and Dead Reckoning Krutnik has produced a provocative and highly readable study of one of Hollywood most perennially fascinating groups of films. Dr. Frank Krutnik is Reader in Film Studies at the University of Sussex, UK

Taking issue with many orthodox views of Film Noir, Frank Krutnik argues for a reorientation of this compulsively engaging area of Hollywood cultural production. Krutnik recasts the films within a generic framework and draws on recent historical and theoretical research to examine both the diversity of film noir and its significance within American popular culture of the 1940s. He considers classical Hollywood cinema, debates on genre, and the history of the emergence of character in film noir, focusing on the hard-boiled' crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain as well as the popularisationof Freudian psychoanalysis; and the social and cultural upheavals of the 1940s.

The core of this book however concerns the complex representationof masculinity in the noir tough' thriller, and where and how gender interlocks with questions of genre. Analysing in detail major thrillers like The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Out of the Past and The Killers , alongside lesser known but nonetheless crucial films as Stranger on the Third Floor, Pitfall and Dead Reckoning Krutnik has produced a provocative and highly readable study of one of Hollywood most perennially fascinating groups of films.

Taking issue with many orthodox views of film noir, this study argues for a reorientation of this compulsively engaging area of Hollywood cultural production. The author recasts the films within a generic framework & draws on recent historical & theoretical research to examine both the diversity of film noir & its significance within American popular culture of the 1940s. He considers classical Hollywood cinema, debates on genre & the history of the emergence of character in film noir, focusing on the hard-boiled crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler & James M. Cain as well as the popularization of Freudian psychoanalysis & the social & cultural upheavals of the '40s. Pt. 1. Classical Hollywood, Genre, And Film Noir. Classical Hollywood : Film And Genre -- Genre And The Problem Of Film Noir. Pt. 2. Film Noir : Sources And Determinants. Hard-boiled Crime Fiction And Film Noir -- Film Noir And The Popularization Of Psychoanalysis -- Film Noir And America In The 1940s. Pt. 3. The Representation Of Masculinity In The Noir 'tough' Thriller. Masculinity And Its Discontents -- The 'tough' Investigative Thriller -- The 'tough' Suspense Thriller -- The Criminal-adventure Thriller -- A Problem In 'algebra' : Dead Reckoning And The Regimentation Of The Masculine. Frank Krutnik. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [227]-259) And Index. Discussing the diversity and cultural significance of Film Noir, Krutnik examines films such as The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and analyses the `tough' thriller in terms of its role in reaffirming a disrupted masculine order