
Since the earliest days of cinema, filmgoers have delighted in the depiction of violence, criminality, and sudden death. Evil, whether it is portrayed in psychological, social or spiritual terms, has long held a fascination for our culture. This wide-ranging study of film noir...

From the seething internal aftermath of the German Occupation to the stylish radicalism of the New Wave and the slick post-modern fantasies of today, French directors such as Melville, Becker, Godard, Truffaut, and Chabrol have adapted American crime movie conventions to create...