For fans of this film genre a must

The birth of film noir is difficult to assess, because the breadth of this cinematic concept is huge. The editors of this compendium have rightly decided to also include films from The Maltese Falcon arrived in theaters long before 1941, the year. And because they define the film noir unlike most encyclopedias, even films like Sin City, No Country for Old Man, The Dark Knight, Black Swan Drive and found still included in this tribute, which presents a total of 100 works.

The screenwriter of neo-noir classic Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader, calls his introduction notes, which alone indicates that the accompanying texts to stand out from the usual jargon of media scholars pleasant. In addition, the first text contribution also makes it clear that the pictures are just as important as the clever interpretations and background information about the featured films.

Opting out too academic tones, the editors have the 27 authors placed apparently so intense his heart that reading their posts often as entertaining as the movies. And who wants to know in what field the suppliers of knowledge resources are active, information should be available at the end of the book. There one also encounters a register that lists the main people involved in the production of a film, the production companies and the German distribution title. And who might not be satisfied with 100 films, is in the compilation of 1000 film noirs and Neo-Noirs from around the world, from 1920 to 2012, have joy.

The main section, ie more than 650 pages, is dedicated to the 100 selected films. However, if you just look up what it says about his favorite films, missed a lot. Because the concept provides that in box lot of information is conveyed, that could also be important for other films. Cherry picking would also miss many quotations, of which the majority are to be found in any of the usual collections.

The imagery is excellent, whatever it is sure that the editor Paul Duncan from his private archive can operate. A good network of contacts, tenacity and the reputation of the publishing house opened the doors to other archives. Together with the material that presented the film companies available, producing the fundus, which will delight any film lover. Especially images and movie posters are printed in a quality that is an example of a book in this price range.

My conclusion: This image and text tape from the Taschen Verlag will delight every lover of film noir. The concept is just as convincing as the imagery and the contributions of 27 authors. The weighty book can actually open only the question of where it should keep its lucky owners. Because in standard bookcases it does not fit with its format definitely.