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The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir
Film noir is all about style, even more than it is about crime. The poster art from the noir era has a bold look and an iconography all its own. During noir's golden age, studios commissioned these arresting illustrations for even the lowliest "B" thriller. The Art of Noir is the first book to present this striking artwork in a lavishly produced, large-format, full-color volume. The more than 300 dazzling posters and other promotional material range from the classics to rare archive films such as The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Blonde Kiss. With rare offerings from around the world and background information on the illustrators, The Art of Noir is the ultimate companion for movie buffs and collectors, as well as artists and designers.
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
6 people are currently reading
360 people want to read
About the author
Eddie Muller
41 books107 followersEDDIE MULLER is a second generation San Franciscan, product of a lousy public school education, a couple of crazy years in art school, and too much time in newspaper offices and sporting arenas. No college, but he's compensated by always hanging around smarter people, an effortless feat typically accomplished in bars.
Despite repeated warnings, he followed in his father's footsteps, earning a living as a print journalist for sixteen years. No scoops, no big prizes, but he left behind a thoroughly abused expense account that got him into (and out of) various intriguing parts of the world.
His career as an ink-stained fourth estate wretch sidetracked Muller's early goal of becoming a filmmaker. A stint in George Kuchar's notorious "narrative filmmaking" class at the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 1970s resulted in the creation of a 14-minute, 16mm hommage to Raymond Chandler called Bay City Blues, one of five national finalists for the 1979 Student Academy Award. He also appeared as an actor in several Kuchar movies of the period.
Since 1998 Muller has devoted himself full-time to projects that pique his interest, ranging from the creation of a Historical Boxing Museum, to a fully illustrated history of Adults Only movies, to acting as co-writer and -producer of one of the first completely digital theatrical documentaries, Mau Mau Sex Sex. He created his own graphics firm, St. Francis Studio, which enables him to design, as well as write, his non-fiction books. He has achieved much acclaim for his three books on film noir, earning the nickname "The Czar of Noir."
His father, the original Eddie Muller (he's not a junior— long story, don't ask), was a renown sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner who earned the nickname "Mr. Boxing" during his 52-year run. The senior Muller served as inspiration for the character of Billy Nichols, the protagonist of the younger Muller's two critically acclaimed novels, The Distance (2002) and Shadow Boxer (2003).
Eddie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Kathleen Maria Milne.
Despite repeated warnings, he followed in his father's footsteps, earning a living as a print journalist for sixteen years. No scoops, no big prizes, but he left behind a thoroughly abused expense account that got him into (and out of) various intriguing parts of the world.
His career as an ink-stained fourth estate wretch sidetracked Muller's early goal of becoming a filmmaker. A stint in George Kuchar's notorious "narrative filmmaking" class at the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 1970s resulted in the creation of a 14-minute, 16mm hommage to Raymond Chandler called Bay City Blues, one of five national finalists for the 1979 Student Academy Award. He also appeared as an actor in several Kuchar movies of the period.
Since 1998 Muller has devoted himself full-time to projects that pique his interest, ranging from the creation of a Historical Boxing Museum, to a fully illustrated history of Adults Only movies, to acting as co-writer and -producer of one of the first completely digital theatrical documentaries, Mau Mau Sex Sex. He created his own graphics firm, St. Francis Studio, which enables him to design, as well as write, his non-fiction books. He has achieved much acclaim for his three books on film noir, earning the nickname "The Czar of Noir."
His father, the original Eddie Muller (he's not a junior— long story, don't ask), was a renown sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner who earned the nickname "Mr. Boxing" during his 52-year run. The senior Muller served as inspiration for the character of Billy Nichols, the protagonist of the younger Muller's two critically acclaimed novels, The Distance (2002) and Shadow Boxer (2003).
Eddie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Kathleen Maria Milne.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 26, 2023
FILM NOIR IN BEAUTIFUL COLOR.
A simply dazzling collection of more than 350 posters and lobby cards devoted to the history of film noir, assembled by the 'czar of noir': Eddie Muller.
A large-scale book beautifully designed by Bernard Schleifer and a credit to publisher Overlook Duckworth. Generally, when you think about film noir you think in black and white, but this splendid book is all gorgeous color and though we've had a lot of poster and film noir books in recent years, this is one of the best and will be loved by those who love fine film art and this period of filmmaking.
There are detailed sections devoted to noir directors, writers, actors, themes and recently discovered gems. And one of the joys is the amount of graphic material gathered from around the globe with a special section on American noir advertising in foreign countries.
Once you pick up this tome, you'll find it too engrossing to put aside.
A simply dazzling collection of more than 350 posters and lobby cards devoted to the history of film noir, assembled by the 'czar of noir': Eddie Muller.
A large-scale book beautifully designed by Bernard Schleifer and a credit to publisher Overlook Duckworth. Generally, when you think about film noir you think in black and white, but this splendid book is all gorgeous color and though we've had a lot of poster and film noir books in recent years, this is one of the best and will be loved by those who love fine film art and this period of filmmaking.
There are detailed sections devoted to noir directors, writers, actors, themes and recently discovered gems. And one of the joys is the amount of graphic material gathered from around the globe with a special section on American noir advertising in foreign countries.
Once you pick up this tome, you'll find it too engrossing to put aside.
June 17, 2020
Of the big arty coffee table books that I have, this is the one that is picked up most often by visitors and starts conversations.
The pages are a generous ten by fourteen inches and are packed with 338 colour images of film noir posters from around the world – almost all from the 1940s and 50s. It’s fascinating to see the styles of different countries for these American films. As well as the original US versions, it’s the striking Belgian and Italian images that impress.
Unlike the black and white of the films, the job of the poster is to grab the attention of the cinemagoer for a future visit, and are therefore in lurid eye-catching colour. What they do have in common with the films is the heavy moody atmosphere – playing on the dark and light, accentuating the tough, often lonesome man (usually holding a gun), and the sexy woman with the all-knowing and all powerful look in the eye (again, often holding a gun). Action, mystery, the dark, and sex are the ingredients.
The reproductions, some of which take up a full page, are on very good quality paper. Text is sparse but informative.
With memorable images of the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Dana Andrews, Rita Hayworth, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Mitchum, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe… I can’t recommend this book highly enough for fans of this genre and era of cinema. Unlike the dull photographic efforts of today’s film poster, these are nearly all painted works of art. I was going to list a few favourites, but honestly, there are too many.
The pages are a generous ten by fourteen inches and are packed with 338 colour images of film noir posters from around the world – almost all from the 1940s and 50s. It’s fascinating to see the styles of different countries for these American films. As well as the original US versions, it’s the striking Belgian and Italian images that impress.
Unlike the black and white of the films, the job of the poster is to grab the attention of the cinemagoer for a future visit, and are therefore in lurid eye-catching colour. What they do have in common with the films is the heavy moody atmosphere – playing on the dark and light, accentuating the tough, often lonesome man (usually holding a gun), and the sexy woman with the all-knowing and all powerful look in the eye (again, often holding a gun). Action, mystery, the dark, and sex are the ingredients.
The reproductions, some of which take up a full page, are on very good quality paper. Text is sparse but informative.
With memorable images of the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Dana Andrews, Rita Hayworth, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Mitchum, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe… I can’t recommend this book highly enough for fans of this genre and era of cinema. Unlike the dull photographic efforts of today’s film poster, these are nearly all painted works of art. I was going to list a few favourites, but honestly, there are too many.
September 3, 2019
"Ice in her veins... Icicles on her heart... Her warm lips mastered men's souls..."
The Art of Noir, an explosion of color and talent, is a great poster collection that every noir fan should at least browse through. My personal favorites are the simple hand-painted ones (like the ones in the cover), with either a lurid yellow / dark blue-ish background or a two-toned overall look.
The overview of international posters is greatly appreciated. I was already aware that Europeans seemed to understand noir better than American critics and audiences, but that it also extended to the poster art was a surprise. Artists received credit, hand-painted images were still being created after American posters had moved on to photographic illustrations (precursors of modern boring-as-hell movie posters) etc. The interesting and genuinely artistic interpretations in the international section make you interested in the movie itself, which is obviously the point. I have a lot of new movies in my watchlist now.
January 2, 2014
Gorgeous deluxe collection of Noir posters, covering both the American and foreign markets. I dock it a star because, like most "mainstream" histories about the movies of the era, there is plenty of de rigueur clichés about the blacklist that'll induce eye-rolling in those of us who save our sympathies for Stalin's victims over the Hollywood Ten. I also suspect that the author's politics are the reason why the noir films of Elia Kazan go unmentioned in a otherwise comprehensive book.
Read
September 15, 2007A nice, large folio, thoroughly illustrated with images of poster art used to promote noir films back in the day. Muller isn’t trying to exhaust the gamut of film noir poster art here, but simply to provide an adequate representation of the various styles employed at different studios and in different countries (mainly in Europe, and a few from Japan, though Poland, renowned for their poster art, is conspicuously absent in this book), in addition to showing how various actors, writers, directors (i.e., the themes they dealt with), and noir iconography were portrayed in posters. In other words, this book is chock full of glorious painted images of guns and women, with small sidebars about each poster selected.
July 23, 2016
If you like movie posters & you like film noir you'll probably like this oversized, coffee table book of film noir posters. Big pictures and a few short, informative paragraphs per page, which is just right. Don't judge the book by the not-very-attractive cover.
August 19, 2009
The text is minimal but informative. The real star here is the art. This oversized book is full of beautiful movie posters from the golden age of movie posters, the 40's and 50's.
April 4, 2012
Rita Hayworth was moviedom's sex goddess before Marilyn Monroe replaced her on Hollywood's Olympus.
Hayworth's beauty was exceptional, the stuff of miracles. She radiates come-hither rainbows, even in black and white movies. The cinematography in other pictures puts Technicolor exclamation points on good looks that don't need the punctuation.
So one might think that all that is needed to draw the eye to a poster advertising a Hayworth film is the image of the woman who could drive men in the movies to dance or to kill, if they thought it would get her attention. Nope, at least not for Boris Grinsson. In his billboard poster for Gilda (1946), Grinsson painted Hayworth in a gown of pale orange. From a short distance, it makes her look naked.
That lack of subtlety characterizes the powerful works in The Art of Noir, a collection of more than 200 vintage movie posters compiled and critiqued by Eddie Muller. The classic and should-be-classic images Muller has gathered reflect all the vital elements of the grim gems that Hollywood crafted by the hundreds after World War II:
men who kill as easily as they breathe; women who kill even easier;
good guys and the dames who make them bad; bad guys and the good women who stand by them;
love and violence and betrayal and revenge; embraces and kisses and slaps;
pointed guns; crashing cars; seductive glances that purr "come here"; steely gazes that snarl "get away";
and futile warnings along the lines of "ice in her veins ... icicles on her heart ... her warm lips mastered men's souls ..." (Leslie Brooks in Blonde Ice, 1948) and "Loving her once is once too often!" (Nora Prentiss starring Ann Sheridan, 1947)
What the posters don't reflect is restraint. The art for Shield for Murder (1954) presents Edmond O'Brien as a "dame-hungry killer-cop [who] runs berserk." Hell's Half Acre (1954) takes us to Honolulu, a "City of Sin ... Toughest Spot in the Pacific." And the blurb for Mickey Spillane's I, The Jury (1953) promises, "His first motion picture blasts you out of your seat with its naked fury!"
Muller, an enthusiast who runs www.noircity.com and who hosts an annual film noir festival in Hollywood, shares posters from well-known films (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Out of the Past, Niagara and others) as well as from movies that have been almost forgotten (The Web, High Tide, The Woman on Pier 13). His captions provide a brief bit of context for each image and he includes more detailed overviews of important studios, performers, directors and writers.
He writes of Barbara Stanwyck's varied roles, "they always carry a tough veneer, but Stanwyck's characters could be both vindictive and vulnerable." Although Stanwyck was sometimes compared to Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, she "managed to never play the cartoon harridans that became the lot of those two later in life."
Muller notes that director Samuel Fuller never scored a big hit at the box office. Fuller "nevertheless managed to get his iconoclastic productions into theaters. With a muckraker's gift for slapping subliminal political blasts into his melodrama, he infuriated the Left and Right in equal measure. European critics cherish his work, finding in Sam Fuller a peculiarly American sensibility."
Although he provides some history and analysis, Muller's emphasis is on the posters. Some are from foreign countries where artists were not restricted by studios and could take such liberties as making Burt Lancaster look vulnerable. Others are from the United States, where the studio chiefs were in complete control. This didn't work out so well for advertising for Angel Face, a 1953 RKO picture starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons and directed by Otto Preminger. Howard Hughes, the studio's owner, approved a poster that gives away every bit of the movie's plot by revealing who kills whom and what happens to everyone at the end.
In the poster for Nightmare Alley (1947) featured on the book's cover, a burning cigarette dangles from Tyrone Power's lips as he looks warily over his shoulder at Joan Blondell, Colleen Gray and Helen Walker, who regard him with varying degrees of allure and forbidding. Born to Kill (1947) has Claire Trevor dressed in diamonds and a gown that highlights her leg as she faces, "The coldest killer a woman ever loved." In one Double Indemnity (1944) poster, surreal demons haunt Fred MacMurray. In another, Stanwyck's hair looks like fiery tendrils dragging him to hell.
Muller considered other titles for his lush collection of lurid and evocative posters. Dangerous Desire was one, Gats and Gams another. Either title would have suggested some of the dominant themes and images, but The Art of Noir gives deserved credit to the creators -- many of them anonymous -- of the vibrant works Muller spotlights. Their creations might lack the understatement of paintings by the old masters, but they deserve the serious attention that Muller's book gives them.
Muller writes, "If Hollywood reflects a fascination with the American dream, noir is the dream turned nightmare, from which we all wake up screaming." The art he presents reflects those movies, making it the stuff dreams are made of. And maybe some nightmares.
Hayworth's beauty was exceptional, the stuff of miracles. She radiates come-hither rainbows, even in black and white movies. The cinematography in other pictures puts Technicolor exclamation points on good looks that don't need the punctuation.
So one might think that all that is needed to draw the eye to a poster advertising a Hayworth film is the image of the woman who could drive men in the movies to dance or to kill, if they thought it would get her attention. Nope, at least not for Boris Grinsson. In his billboard poster for Gilda (1946), Grinsson painted Hayworth in a gown of pale orange. From a short distance, it makes her look naked.
That lack of subtlety characterizes the powerful works in The Art of Noir, a collection of more than 200 vintage movie posters compiled and critiqued by Eddie Muller. The classic and should-be-classic images Muller has gathered reflect all the vital elements of the grim gems that Hollywood crafted by the hundreds after World War II:
men who kill as easily as they breathe; women who kill even easier;
good guys and the dames who make them bad; bad guys and the good women who stand by them;
love and violence and betrayal and revenge; embraces and kisses and slaps;
pointed guns; crashing cars; seductive glances that purr "come here"; steely gazes that snarl "get away";
and futile warnings along the lines of "ice in her veins ... icicles on her heart ... her warm lips mastered men's souls ..." (Leslie Brooks in Blonde Ice, 1948) and "Loving her once is once too often!" (Nora Prentiss starring Ann Sheridan, 1947)
What the posters don't reflect is restraint. The art for Shield for Murder (1954) presents Edmond O'Brien as a "dame-hungry killer-cop [who] runs berserk." Hell's Half Acre (1954) takes us to Honolulu, a "City of Sin ... Toughest Spot in the Pacific." And the blurb for Mickey Spillane's I, The Jury (1953) promises, "His first motion picture blasts you out of your seat with its naked fury!"
Muller, an enthusiast who runs www.noircity.com and who hosts an annual film noir festival in Hollywood, shares posters from well-known films (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Out of the Past, Niagara and others) as well as from movies that have been almost forgotten (The Web, High Tide, The Woman on Pier 13). His captions provide a brief bit of context for each image and he includes more detailed overviews of important studios, performers, directors and writers.
He writes of Barbara Stanwyck's varied roles, "they always carry a tough veneer, but Stanwyck's characters could be both vindictive and vulnerable." Although Stanwyck was sometimes compared to Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, she "managed to never play the cartoon harridans that became the lot of those two later in life."
Muller notes that director Samuel Fuller never scored a big hit at the box office. Fuller "nevertheless managed to get his iconoclastic productions into theaters. With a muckraker's gift for slapping subliminal political blasts into his melodrama, he infuriated the Left and Right in equal measure. European critics cherish his work, finding in Sam Fuller a peculiarly American sensibility."
Although he provides some history and analysis, Muller's emphasis is on the posters. Some are from foreign countries where artists were not restricted by studios and could take such liberties as making Burt Lancaster look vulnerable. Others are from the United States, where the studio chiefs were in complete control. This didn't work out so well for advertising for Angel Face, a 1953 RKO picture starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons and directed by Otto Preminger. Howard Hughes, the studio's owner, approved a poster that gives away every bit of the movie's plot by revealing who kills whom and what happens to everyone at the end.
In the poster for Nightmare Alley (1947) featured on the book's cover, a burning cigarette dangles from Tyrone Power's lips as he looks warily over his shoulder at Joan Blondell, Colleen Gray and Helen Walker, who regard him with varying degrees of allure and forbidding. Born to Kill (1947) has Claire Trevor dressed in diamonds and a gown that highlights her leg as she faces, "The coldest killer a woman ever loved." In one Double Indemnity (1944) poster, surreal demons haunt Fred MacMurray. In another, Stanwyck's hair looks like fiery tendrils dragging him to hell.
Muller considered other titles for his lush collection of lurid and evocative posters. Dangerous Desire was one, Gats and Gams another. Either title would have suggested some of the dominant themes and images, but The Art of Noir gives deserved credit to the creators -- many of them anonymous -- of the vibrant works Muller spotlights. Their creations might lack the understatement of paintings by the old masters, but they deserve the serious attention that Muller's book gives them.
Muller writes, "If Hollywood reflects a fascination with the American dream, noir is the dream turned nightmare, from which we all wake up screaming." The art he presents reflects those movies, making it the stuff dreams are made of. And maybe some nightmares.
August 11, 2013
This a beautiful collection of film noir movie posters from around the world. In any language the scenes depicted capture a passionate and dramatic time when posters captured the spirit of the movie. Great gift book
November 30, 2014
Superb showcase of Noir posters.
July 16, 2018
I like old movies and poster art and graphic design fascinates me but I know next to nothing about noir and I've barely seen any of the movies featured in this book. From that perspective, it was fine. There are glimmers of poetic language and an interesting anecdote here or there but its very uneven. This is a coffee table book. You're meant to look at the pretty pictures. Sometimes you learn about the plot of the movie or get some insight into how the author feels about the artwork or learn something about the movie making process or the actors but it varies wildly. Get it for the artwork, not for the reading experience. At times it feels like reading blurbs in a magazine.
October 20, 2019
I love noir and this book is written by Muller who hosts Noir Alley on TCM every Sunday. Muller talks about the characteristics of the Noir genre and illustrates with posters how those themes are depicted in the movie art. My favorite chapters are those that talk about outstanding Noir actresses, writers and directors and then illustrating with Noir movie posters. As always Muller fills each paragraph chuck full of interesting facts and side notes. A completely interesting and informative read that will take you into the back alleys of Noir movie posters. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves to spend a rainy Sunday watching old movies of the golden age of Noir.
April 16, 2018
Great collection of era poster with descriptions of each film beside. This book also serves as a history lesson as to why these posters were made and the various styles each individual studio or country used to do so. You can tell that the author has a real appreciation for the subject matter, which is why it was a pleasure to get through.
March 7, 2021
Wanted to give this five stars but as another reviewer pointed out, the omission of pivotal director Elia Kazan for apparently political purposes is too big to overlook. It's still one of my favorite art books I own, and one of the best poster art books I've seen. Glad I found it and highly recommended despite the author's selective history. So many movies I haven't seen are now on my list!
January 26, 2022
This was just wonderful. I don't usually read non-fiction, but this was compelling. Of course, it has the art work which is gorgeous in itself, but also Mr. Muller explains how different studios, as well as different countries, did their movie cards and posters. A must for the film noir fan.
February 7, 2022
Eddie Miller has a nice appreciation for graphic art. The book contains many beautiful examples of Noir posters. And I really appreciate that Eddie have credit to the artists where possible. It was very interesting to compare posters from different countries.
March 28, 2019
Amazing book. Well worth getting for anyone who loves film noir or even just classic movie posters.
November 30, 2021
Fans of film noir and film art will embrace this survey of both.
March 25, 2023
Sensational! Nothing compares to this influential posters!
August 2, 2024
great dame book
December 15, 2024
I love Film Noir, and I am delighted to see such loving attention paid to the works of art the advertised them. I love Film posters, and this is a wonderful collection of the best of Noir.
August 24, 2025
This is the kind of coffee table book I feel pretentious to see in my own home. I'm glad I own it.
January 30, 2021
This giant coffee-table book boasts striking images and lavish color that pack a punch nearly equal to that of some of the films they advertised. Included are spectacular posters for forgotten B-flicks. For some of the noirs produced by Poverty Row studios, these posters are all that remains of the films.
There is a vast selection of foreign noir posters created by local illustrators who, without studio intervention, had free rein to produce what they liked. French posters tended toward the romantic, while the Swedes came up with distinctive, arty photomontages. The Belgians went all out with bold color, creating some of the most vibrant works on high-quality paper. Brutal and scary with thick brush strokes, the German posters emphasized the most violent aspects of these films, creating dark, creepy images of women being attacked and close-ups of knife fights
The Art of Noir was compiled by noir expert Eddie Muller of Turner Classic Films. His pulpy writing includes some delicious tidbits in paragraph-size biographies of actors, directors and writers. For instance, tough guy Lawrence Tierney once gave him the advice "Never get in a fight with a guy who knows how to handle a knife."
He mentions that Ida Lupino referred to herself as "the poor man's Bette Davis." Of Marie Windsor, Muller writes, "No one was as good at being bad as Marie Windsor. Her statuesque structure bowled men over in every genre, but it was in gritty crime pictures that she was most sublime, stopping guys dead in their tracks with a merciless glare from those huge, heavy-lidded eyes."
In the images and writing of "The Art of Noir," Muller has nailed down the essence of the genre.
There is a vast selection of foreign noir posters created by local illustrators who, without studio intervention, had free rein to produce what they liked. French posters tended toward the romantic, while the Swedes came up with distinctive, arty photomontages. The Belgians went all out with bold color, creating some of the most vibrant works on high-quality paper. Brutal and scary with thick brush strokes, the German posters emphasized the most violent aspects of these films, creating dark, creepy images of women being attacked and close-ups of knife fights
The Art of Noir was compiled by noir expert Eddie Muller of Turner Classic Films. His pulpy writing includes some delicious tidbits in paragraph-size biographies of actors, directors and writers. For instance, tough guy Lawrence Tierney once gave him the advice "Never get in a fight with a guy who knows how to handle a knife."
He mentions that Ida Lupino referred to herself as "the poor man's Bette Davis." Of Marie Windsor, Muller writes, "No one was as good at being bad as Marie Windsor. Her statuesque structure bowled men over in every genre, but it was in gritty crime pictures that she was most sublime, stopping guys dead in their tracks with a merciless glare from those huge, heavy-lidded eyes."
In the images and writing of "The Art of Noir," Muller has nailed down the essence of the genre.
December 1, 2018
This large book, formed as a poster in length, is one of my favourite books that I own. I still remember fondly, years ago, when it came in the mail. I looked through and read this book so many times, I can't even count how many times. If you have an interest in the bygone era of poster art―back when it was an art form in of itself―then this book is the book to get. For all fans of film noir, I highly recommend this.
Read
September 11, 2015741.674 M9583 2004
March 21, 2017
using in my prison art class.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews