Street with No Name: A History of the Classic American Film Noir

by Andrew Dickos

Andrew Dickos's Street with No Name traces the film noir genre back to its roots in German expressionist cinema and the French cinema of the interwar years. Dickos describes the development of the film noir in America from 1941 through the 1970s and examines how this development expresses a modern cinema. He argues that, in its most satisfying form, the film noir exists as a series of conventions with an iconography and characters of distinctive significance. Featuring stylized lighting and urban settings, these films tell melodramatic narratives involving characters who commit crimes predicated on destructive passions, corruption, and a submission to human weakness and fate.

Unlike other studies of the noir, Street with No Name follows its development in a loosely historical style that associates certain noir directors with those features in their films that helped define the scope of the genre. Dickos examines notable directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, and Robert Siodmak. He also charts the genre's influence on such celebrated postwar French filmmakers as Jean-Pierre Melville, Francois Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Addressing the aesthetic, cultural, political, and social concerns depicted in the genre, Street with No Name demonstrates how the film noir generates a highly expressive, raw, and violent mood as it exposes the ambiguities of modern postwar society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, History

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Brian Holmsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, but don’t go into it thinking it will be light, breezy reading. It’s a critical look a film noir, and the author is both knowledgeable and obviously a loving fan of the genre. Great in-depth looks at filmmakers, stylistic cues, and the ingredients that truly make a film a “film noir.” As a lover of this genre I learned a lot, and will be able to view these films with better intent and understanding going forward.

[Deb Montague · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent review of the film noir genre with a detailed history of its inception and a brief discussion of the current state of noir. The bibliography is extensive and I will slowly add many of the books listed to my noir library.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough and well worth the time to read.