L.A. private detective Philip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case and follows a trail peopled by murderers, pornographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich - just to name a few. Marlowe is hired to protect a young woman and in the process, he falls in love with the woman's older sister.

Former private detective Jeff Bailey is trying to lead a quiet life, but his past comes back to haunt him and he finds himself framed for murder.

Film noir is one of the most intriguing yet difficult to define terms in cinema history. First associated with Hollywood thrillers of teh 1940s and 50s, film noir has become fully international in its nature and appeal, attracting the interest of great directors right up to our present time. In this Very Short Introduction James Naremore analyses classic examples of the films, as well as a few lesser known noir pieces, highlighting their key themes...

Nancy Ordway is an aspiring writer hoping to make it big in New York at the expense of everyone around her, including Broadway producer Peter Denver, who reluctantly lets her use his apartment to work during the day. And when Peter's wife, Iris, comes home from a trip to find Nancy dead in the bathroom, the assigned detective, Lt. Bruce, soon realizes this assumed suicide is more likely a murder. Everyone Ordway knew is suddenly suspect while a series...

Prague 1942. Following the assassination of Nazi "Reich Protector" Heydrich, Masha Novotny, a professor's daughter, hides the culprit in her parents' apartment. When the Gestapo take 400 people hostage in retaliation, Masha's father is among those arrested. The assassin, surgeon Dr. Svoboda, manages to escape. As they search for him the Gestapo also train their sights on Masha.

A crusading District Attorney is out to convict the head of a vicious murder-for-hire ring. But when his star witness is killed, Bogart must race against time to find the evidence he needs to bring down the mob boss. Told in a series of flashbacks, this tense, tough-as-nails crime thriller on the cutting edge of film noir was based on actual Murder, Inc. trials.

Collecting 100 noir movie posters of, arguably, the greatest noir films ever made in the genre (including classics The Maltese Falcon, Laura, and Double Indemnity). Reproduced in a stunningly designed, over-sized format that shows off the spectacular visual elan of Hollywood movie posters at their best, the book is not only a spectacular showcase of film noir art, but also establishes the crucial films, identifies their key characteristics, with critical...

Features directors, actors, histories, and themes, of 1940's Film Noir years for film fans, students, and scholars.

Stellan Skarsgard plays an enigmatic Swedish detective with a checkered past who arrives in a small town in northern Norway to investigate the death of a teenage girl. As he digs deeper into the heinous killing, his own demons and the tyrannical midnight sun begin to take a toll.

A tale of Leonora, an aspiring carhop who meets and marries a mysterious millionaire, Smith Ohlrig. Soon after the wedding, Laura realizes she's trapped in a loveless marriage with a ruthless workaholic husband who torments her with twisted mind games. Unable to obtain a divorce from Smith, she moves out of the mansion and goes to work for a dedicated doctor, Larry Quinada. The two quickly fall in love but the romance comes to an abrupt halt when...