In this essential study of film noir editors Alain Silver and James Ursini select the most significant and influential articles on the movement from their highly respected Film Noir Reader series and assemble them into a single convenient heavily illustrated volume. Still included of course are many rare early articles and such seminal essays as Borde and Chaumeton's Towards a Definition of Film Noir from EPanorama du Film Noir AmericainE Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir and Paint It Black: the Family Tree of the Film Noir by Raymond Durgnat. With newer studies such as Lounge Time by Vivian Sobchack Manufacturing Heroines in Classic Noir Films by Sheri Chinen Biesen and Voices from the Deep: Film Noir as Psychodrama J. P. Telotte this collection of over 30 articles probes this most influential American film movement from varying angles: formalist feminist structuralist sociological and stylistic; narrative-thematic historical and even from the point of view of a pure aficionado. There is something in this volume for every student or devotee of film noir. Plus like the readers that have proven an invaluable tool for academics planning a syllabus it can serve as the most complete core text for any of the myriad of film noir courses taught throughout the world.