Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir by Sheri Chinen Biesen

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Textbook (Paperback - New Edition)

  • 264pp
  • Sales Rank: 474,980

Textbook Information

  • ISBN-13: 9780801882180
  • Edition Description: New Edition
  • Edition Number: 1
  • Pub. Date: October 2005
  • Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

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Product Details

  • Pub. Date: October 2005
  • Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
  • Format: Textbook Paperback, 264pp
  • Sales Rank: 474,980

Synopsis

Biesen (film studies, Rowan U.) traces the origins of film noir to their roots in the political, social, and material conditions of Hollywood during WWII. Drawing upon archival research, she shows how factors such as an increased tolerance for violence among audience members and the entry of women into the workforce influenced this unique cinematic form. Some of the films examined include The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, and Ministry of Fear. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Biography

Sheri Chinen Biesen is an associate professor of radio, television, and film studies at Rowan University.

Customer Reviews

Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noirby Anonymous

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March 05, 2006: 'Biesen adds a new perspective that enhances scholarship on the subject and makes this book a must. Summing up: Essential.'--Choice. A fine film noir book. Biesen scores. Blackout '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 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 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, Nota Bene, Chronicle of Higher Education

Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noirby Anonymous

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December 19, 2005: 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 which 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 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


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