Explores The History Of American Film Noir, Focusing On Its Dreamlike, Erotic, Ambivalent, And Cruel Atmosphere, And Setting It In The Social Context Of Mid-twentieth Century America. A Season In Hell Or The Snows Of Yesteryear? / James Naremore -- Preface / Marcel Duhamel -- 1. Introduction (the Noir Series -- The Series Idea -- A Preliminary) -- 2. Toward A Definition Of Film Noir (the Crime Adventure Story -- Psychological Ambiguity -- Moral Ambivalence -- The Theme Of Violence -- The Strange -- The Disapperance Of Psychological Bearings And A Specific Sense Of Malaise -- 3. The Sources Of Film Noir (literature -- Psychoanalysis -- The Social Context And The Influence Of The War -- European Sources -- Gangster And Horror Films, And The Cartoon) -- 4. The War Years And The Formation Of A Style (1941-1945) (1941, A Pivotal Year In Hollywood -- The Maltese Falcon -- The Shanghai Gesture -- This Gun For Hire -- The Contributions Of Otto Preminger,billy Wilder, Curtis Bernhardt, And Fritz Lang -- The Rallying Of Academicism -- The Noirified Period Film) The Glory Days (1946-1948) (the End Of The War And Its Consequences -- 1946: Gilda, The Big Sleep, The Lady In The Lake -- 1947: The Lady From Shanghai, Dark Passage -- 1948: Sorry, Wrong Number, Ride The Pink Horse -- Minor Productions -- Films About Criminal Psychology -- Hitchcock's Oeuvre -- Police Documentaries, And Gangster And Prison Films) -- 6. Decadence And Transformation (1948-1950 (film Noir's Integration In Adjacent Series: He Walked By Night, The Enforcer, White Heat -- Three Successful Elia Kazan, Jules Dassin, And John Huston Films -- A Noir Version Of Amour Fou: Gun Crazy) -- 7. The Demise Of A Series (1951-1953) (new Series: Science-fiction, Anti-communist Films, And The Myth Of The Thinking Cop -- Macao And The Return Of Sternberg -- Stangers On A Train -- The Neorealist Detective Film -- A Poetic Transposition Of The Noir Series: The Band Wagon) 8. Influences (noir's Influence On The Feature-length Social Documentary: Crossfire, Thieves' Highway, The Set-up -- The Psychoanalytical Series -- Parodies And Cartoons -- European Film Noirs) -- 9. French Film Noirs -- 10. A Balance Sheet (the Validity Of Cinema Criticism And Its Methods -- A Technical Assessment Of The Noir Series -- Eroticism Of The Thriller -- Moral Questions -- The Role Of Violence -- A Psychosocial Balance Sheet -- Net Assets And Liabilities -- A Season In Hell). By Raymond Borde And Etienne Chaumeton ; Translated From The French By Paul Hammond. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Filmography: Pages 165-228.

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