Into the Dark

The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950

Contributors

By Mark A. Vieira

By Turner Classic Movies

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$40.00

Price

$50.00 CAD

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  1. Hardcover $40.00 $50.00 CAD
  2. ebook $21.99 $28.99 CAD

You know film noir when you see it: the shadowed setting; the cynical detective; the femme fatale; and the twist of fate. Into the Dark captures this alluring genre with a cavalcade of compelling photographs and a guide to 82 of its best films.

Into the Dark is the first book to tell the story of film noir in its own voice. Author Mark A. Vieira quotes the artists who made these movies and the journalists and critics who wrote about them, taking readers on a year-by-year tour of the exciting nights when movies like Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Sunset Boulevard were sprung on an unsuspecting public. For the first time, we hear the voices of film noir artists speak from the sets and offices of the studios, explaining the dark genre, even before it had a name. Those voices tell how the genre was born and how it thrived in an industry devoted to sweetness and light.

Into the Dark is a ticket to a smoky, glamorous world. You enter a story conference with Raymond Chandler, visit the set of Laura, and watch Detour with a Midwest audience. This volume recreates the environment that spawned film noir. It also displays the wit and warmth of the genre’s artists. Hedda Hopper reports on Citizen Kane, calling Orson Welles “Little Orson Annie.” Lauren Bacall says she enjoys playing a bad girl in To Have and Have Not. Bosley Crowther calls Joan Crawford in Possessed a “ghost wailing for a demon lover beneath a waning moon.” An Indiana exhibitor rates the classic Murder, My Sweet a “passable program picture.” Illustrated by hundreds of rare still photographs, Into the Dark conveys the mystery, glamour, and irony that make film noir surpassingly popular.

About TCM:

Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. It engages, entertains, and enlightens to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

  • “Bursting with glossy stills and archival material, film historian and photographer Mark A. Vieira's Into The Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950 offers an unprecedented portal into Hollywood's golden era of cynicism. A systematic study of noir, this gorgeous coffee table tome fills a significant gap in scholarship on the genre.”
    --MovieMaker

On Sale
May 24, 2016
Page Count
336 pages
Publisher
Running Press
ISBN-13
9780762455232

Mark A. Vieira

About the Author

Mark A. Vieira is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer who specializes in Hollywood history. He is the author of Warner Bros. 100, Forbidden Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMille, Into the Dark, and many other film-related titles. He is also the creator of the documentary series DeMille Is Hollywood. Vieira has also appeared in documentaries such as Turner Classic Movies’ Garbo. He has lectured at USC, UCLA, Lincoln Center, and Universal Studios. Vieira resides in the Westlake District of Los Angeles.

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Turner Classic Movies

About the Author

Kirk Douglas (1916-2020) distinguished himself as an actor, producer, philanthropist, and author. His numerous recognitions for achievements both on and off screen include an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and France’s Legion of Honor. Over a career spanning seventy years, he starred in some eighty films.

Anne Buydens Douglas built her career in the film industry as a publicist. She met Kirk Douglas during the making of Act of Love (1953) and they married soon after. Anne would become his closest advisor and eventually take the reins as president of their independent production company, Bryna Productions.Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. We entertain and enlighten to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

Learn more about this author