New Edition: Somewhere in the Night – Film Noir & the American City

Intellectually stimulating, thoroughly researched, and excellently written. Christopher writes with the mind of a scholar and the heart of a poet . – Publishers Weekly

As Christopher observes . . . film noir is more than just a style – it’s a way of looking at the world, ‘a dark mirror reflecting the dark underside of American urban life’. – Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Author Nicholas Christopher from this new and expanded edition of Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City:

I had seen film noirs before, with only the vaguest notion of what that term really signified (something dark and sinister?), and was attracted by their unique visual style, gritty, textured rendering of urban life, sharply drawn characters, and psychological complexity.

Starting with the classic Out of the Past, Christopher explores over 300 films noir by identifying the genre’s central motif: “The city as labyrinth is key to entering the psychological and aesthetic framework of the film noir.”.