CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title>Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir - R. Barton Palmer - Google Books</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/books/css/_c5f9cd9e241b1329c3ee374578edd3c4/kl_about_this_book_kennedy_full_bundle.css" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet"href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Product+Sans:wght@400"><script src="/books/javascript/atb_c5f9cd9e241b1329c3ee374578edd3c4__en.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Hollywood_s_Dark_Cinema.html?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://books.google.com/books/about/Hollywood_s_Dark_Cinema.html?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ"/><meta name="title" content="Hollywood's Dark Cinema"/><meta name="description" content=""R. Barton Palmer's thoughtful and exhaustive study details this "new" darling of critics, scholars, and fans with astonishing depth. Dark cinema, appropriately, has the most complex and elusive background of any Hollywood genre; it is, in fact, not a genre at all, but rather a set of common themes found in films belonging to established genres. Palmer's examination thus begins with the Hollywood genre film and its requisite characters, plots, and settings. With this background of studio system production in place, Palmer traces the advent of the film noir in the cold light of industry aims, target audiences, censorship, and the role Hollywood played in American society. In subsequent chapters, he investigates the film noir in all its guises: the crime melodrama, the detective film, the thriller, and the woman's picture. In so doing, no favorite is missed: Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Edward Dmytryk, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles as well as other top directors and their films noir."--BOOK JACKET."/><meta property="og:title" content="Hollywood's Dark Cinema"/><meta property="og:type" content="book"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="Google Books"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE702VUrVasf0oI6G9Uhx1ae5UC0DxmrNsfgpTYzevfw-k83bNCzLVlRSwO8Ky2aRC84sR_6ypY7qyIWz2Q4gxEnEjNBbFuxEknWzHMBEAilxipXurdtmIDQTUllLReRxbWmzuHiL"/><link rel="image_src" href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE702VUrVasf0oI6G9Uhx1ae5UC0DxmrNsfgpTYzevfw-k83bNCzLVlRSwO8Ky2aRC84sR_6ypY7qyIWz2Q4gxEnEjNBbFuxEknWzHMBEAilxipXurdtmIDQTUllLReRxbWmzuHiL"/><script></script><style>#gbar,#guser{font-size:13px;padding-top:1px !important;}#gbar{height:22px}#guser{padding-bottom:7px !important;text-align:right}.gbh,.gbd{border-top:1px solid #c9d7f1;font-size:1px}.gbh{height:0;position:absolute;top:24px;width:100%}@media all{.gb1{height:22px;margin-right:.5em;vertical-align:top}#gbar{float:left}}a.gb1,a.gb4{text-decoration:underline !important}a.gb1,a.gb4{color:#00c !important}.gbi .gb4{color:#dd8e27 !important}.gbf .gb4{color:#900 !important} #gbar { padding:.3em .6em !important;}</style></head><body class=""><div id=gbar><nobr><a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tab=pw">Search</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.google.com.sg/imghp?hl=en&tab=pi">Images</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://maps.google.com.sg/maps?hl=en&tab=pl">Maps</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://play.google.com/?hl=en&tab=p8">Play</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://www.youtube.com/?tab=p1">YouTube</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://news.google.com/?tab=pn">News</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=pm">Gmail</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 href="https://drive.google.com/?tab=po">Drive</a> <a target=_blank class=gb1 style="text-decoration:none" href="https://www.google.com.sg/intl/en/about/products?tab=ph"><u>More</u> »</a></nobr></div><div id=guser width=100%><nobr><span id=gbn class=gbi></span><span id=gbf class=gbf></span><span id=gbe></span><a target=_top id=gb_70 href="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=print&continue=https://books.google.com.sg/books%3Fid%3DMp3UxwEACAAJ%26redir_esc%3Dy%26hl%3Den&hl=en&ec=GAZACg" class=gb4>Sign in</a></nobr></div><div class=gbh style=left:0></div><div class=gbh style=right:0></div><div role="alert" style="position: absolute; left: 0; right: 0;"><a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=en&output=html_text" title="Screen reader users: click this link for accessible mode. Accessible mode has the same essential features but works better with your reader."><img border="0" src="//www.google.com/images/cleardot.gif"alt="Screen reader users: click this link for accessible mode. Accessible mode has the same essential features but works better with your reader."></a></div><div class="kd-appbar"><h2 class="kd-appname"><a href="/books">Books</a></h2><div class="kd-buttonbar left" id="left-toolbar-buttons"><a id="appbar-view-print-sample-link" href=""></a><a id="appbar-view-ebook-sample-link" href=""></a><a id="appbar-patents-prior-art-finder-link" href=""></a><a id="appbar-patents-discuss-this-link" href="" data-is-grant=""></a><a id="appbar-read-patent-link" href=""></a><a id="appbar-download-pdf-link" href=""></a></div><div class="kd-buttonbar right" id="right-toolbar-buttons"></div></div><div style="display: none"><ol id="ofe-gear-menu-contents" class="gbmcc"><li class="gbe gbmtc"><a class="gbmt goog-menuitem-content" id="" href="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=print&continue=https://books.google.com.sg/books%3Fop%3Dlibrary&hl=en">My library</a></li><li class="gbe gbmtc"><a class="gbmt goog-menuitem-content" id="" href="http://books.google.com.sg/support/topic/4359341?hl=en-SG">Help</a></li><li class="gbe gbmtc"><a class="gbmt goog-menuitem-content" id="" href="https://books.google.com.sg/advanced_book_search">Advanced Book Search</a></li></ol></div><div id="volume-main"><div id="volume-left"><div id=menu_container ><div id="menu_scroll_wrapper"><div id="menu_scroll" role="navigation"><div id="gb-get-book-container"><a id="gb-get-book-content" href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&sitesec=buy&source=gbs_atb">Get print book</a></div><p id="gb-get-book-not-available">No eBook available<p><h3 class=about_title><a name="buy_anchor"></a></h3><div id=buy class=about_content><div id=buy_v><ul style="list-style-type: none; padding-left: 0; margin: 0;"><li><a style="white-space:normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9780805793352" dir=ltr onMouseOver="this.href='http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index\x3dbooks\x26linkCode\x3dqs\x26keywords\x3d9780805793352';return false" onMouseDown="this.href='/url?client\x3dca-google-gppd\x26format\x3dgoogleprint\x26num\x3d0\x26id\x3dMp3UxwEACAAJ\x26q\x3dhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/search%3Findex%3Dbooks%26linkCode%3Dqs%26keywords%3D9780805793352\x26usg\x3dAOvVaw3n159YyeZ9x9oLFKW_n1wC\x26source\x3dgbs_buy_r';return true"><span dir=ltr>Amazon.com</span></a></li><li><a style="white-space:normal" href="http://www.mphonline.com/books/nsearch.aspx?do=detail&pcode=9780805793352" dir=ltr onMouseOver="this.href='http://www.mphonline.com/books/nsearch.aspx?do\x3ddetail\x26pcode\x3d9780805793352';return false" onMouseDown="this.href='/url?client\x3dca-google-gppd\x26format\x3dgoogleprint\x26num\x3d0\x26id\x3dMp3UxwEACAAJ\x26q\x3dhttp://www.mphonline.com/books/nsearch.aspx%3Fdo%3Ddetail%26pcode%3D9780805793352\x26usg\x3dAOvVaw0Z_Fo9E6d1SO1VhGHMDJlX\x26source\x3dgbs_buy_r';return true"><span dir=ltr>MPH</span></a></li><li><a style="white-space:normal" href="https://www.popular.com.sg/catalogsearch/result/?q=9780805793352" dir=ltr onMouseOver="this.href='https://www.popular.com.sg/catalogsearch/result/?q\x3d9780805793352';return false" onMouseDown="this.href='/url?client\x3dca-google-gppd\x26format\x3dgoogleprint\x26num\x3d0\x26id\x3dMp3UxwEACAAJ\x26q\x3dhttps://www.popular.com.sg/catalogsearch/result/%3Fq%3D9780805793352\x26usg\x3dAOvVaw1385PTOifJyaCtlP46P5k-\x26source\x3dgbs_buy_r';return true"><span dir=ltr>Popular</span></a></li><li><hr style="margin-right: 20%; color: #666;"></li><li><a style="white-space:normal" href="https://books.google.com.sg/url?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&q=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/231622932&clientid=librarylink&usg=AOvVaw2pFhys9XgxMZR-MiRookir&source=gbs_buy_r"><span dir=ltr>Find in a library</span></a></li><li><a class="secondary" style="white-space:normal" href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&sitesec=buy&source=gbs_buy_r" id="get-all-sellers-link"><span dir=ltr>All sellers</span> »</a></li></ul></div></div><div class=menu id=menu><div class="menu_content" style="margin-bottom:6px"><div style="margin-bottom:4px"></div><div style="margin-bottom:3px"></div><div></div></div></div><div class="sidebar-hr"></div><div class="ebook-promo"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books"><img border="0" src="/googlebooks/images/ebook_promo.png" /><h3 class="section">Shop for Books on Google Play</h3><p class="ebook-promo-description">Browse the world's largest eBookstore and start reading today on the web, tablet, phone, or ereader.</p><p class="ebook-promo-clickme">Go to Google Play Now »</p></a></div><div class="sidebar-hr"></div><div><div id="navbarContainer" class="gb-navbar"></div><script>_OC_InitNavbar({"child_node":[{"title":"My library","url":"https://books.google.com.sg/books?uid=114584440181414684107\u0026source=gbs_lp_bookshelf_list","id":"my_library","collapsed":true},{"title":"My History","url":"","id":"my_history","collapsed":true}],"highlighted_node_id":""});</script></div></div></div></div></div><div id="volume-center"><div id="scroll_atb" role="main"><div class=vertical_module_list_row><div id=ge_summary class=about_content><div id=ge_summary_v><div class="hproduct"><table id="summary_content_table" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td id="bookinfo"><h1 class="booktitle"><span class="fn"><span dir=ltr>Hollywood's Dark Cinema</span></span>: <span class="subtitle"><span dir=ltr>The American Film Noir</span></span></h1><div class="bookcover"><img src="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&imgtk=AFLRE71_ZhWkoq9Vw_z6vbbTVlUteGi8hJy6UDiOIX7h-RLrHWrolqXDUlHgvCOGGdTkoWwzcV5AExBIOwi4dovMQl8pxsWcmZxZn_3InsheDvM0gcyUlXYr_nITWmm_mIejNX0mrBe9" alt="Front Cover" title="Front Cover" width=128 border=1 id=summary-frontcover ></div><div class="bookinfo_sectionwrap"><div><a href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22R.+Barton+Palmer%22" class="secondary"><span dir=ltr>R. Barton Palmer</span></a></div><div><span dir=ltr>Twayne Publishers</span>, 1994 - <a class="secondary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts%22&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0"><span dir=ltr>Performing Arts</span></a> - <span dir=ltr>206 pages</span></div></div><div id=synopsis><div id=synopsis-window><div id=synopsistext dir=ltr class="sa">"R. Barton Palmer's thoughtful and exhaustive study details this "new" darling of critics, scholars, and fans with astonishing depth. Dark cinema, appropriately, has the most complex and elusive background of any Hollywood genre; it is, in fact, not a genre at all, but rather a set of common themes found in films belonging to established genres. Palmer's examination thus begins with the Hollywood genre film and its requisite characters, plots, and settings. With this background of studio system production in place, Palmer traces the advent of the film noir in the cold light of industry aims, target audiences, censorship, and the role Hollywood played in American society. In subsequent chapters, he investigates the film noir in all its guises: the crime melodrama, the detective film, the thriller, and the woman's picture. In so doing, no favorite is missed: Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Edward Dmytryk, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles as well as other top directors and their films noir."--BOOK JACKET.</div></div></div><div class="search_box_wrapper"></div></td> </tr></table><div id="summary-second-column"></div></div></div></div></div><div class=vertical_module_list_row><h3 class=about_title><a name="book_other_versions_anchor"></a>Other editions - <a href='https://books.google.com.sg/books?q=editions:ISBN0805793356&id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ'>View all</a></h3><div id=book_other_versions class=about_content><div id=book_other_versions_v><div class="one-third-column"><div class="crsiwrapper"><table class="rsi" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0><tr><td class="coverdstd" align="center"><a href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=1" ><img alt="" class="coverthumb hover-card-attach-point" src="https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=5" border="0" height="80"></a></td><td valign=top><div class=resbdy><a class="primary cresbdy" href="https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=1"><span dir=ltr>Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir</span></a><br><span style="line-height: 1.3em; font-size:-1;"><span><a href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22R.+Barton+Palmer%22" class="secondary"><span dir=ltr>R. Barton Palmer</span></a></span><br/><span><span style="color:#999">Snippet view</span> - 1994</span><br/></span></div></td><td align=right></td></tr></table></div></div><script>(function () {var fn = window['_OC_WSBookList'] || window['_OC_BookList'];fn && fn('book_other_versions', [{"title":"Hollywood's Dark Cinema","authors":"R. Barton Palmer","bib_key":"UOM:39015032983721","pub_date":"1994","snippet":"These morbid tales of criminality, fatal attraction, and social failure are now the subject of scholarly writing, international film festivals, and high-ticket Hollywood remakes.","subject":"Performing Arts","info_url":"https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ\u0026source=gbs_book_other_versions","preview_url":"https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ\u0026source=gbs_book_other_versions","thumbnail_url":"https://books.google.com.sg/books/content?id=noNZAAAAMAAJ\u0026printsec=frontcover\u0026img=1\u0026zoom=1","num_pages":232,"viewability":1,"preview":"noview","embeddable":false,"my_ebooks_url":"https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=print\u0026continue=https://books.google.com.sg/books%3Fas_coll%3D7\u0026hl=en","can_download_pdf":false,"can_download_epub":false,"is_pdf_drm_enabled":false,"is_epub_drm_enabled":false,"subtitle":"The American Film Noir"}]);})();</script></div></div></div><div class=vertical_module_list_row><h3 class="about_title">Bibliographic information</h3><div class="about_content" id="metadata_content" style="padding-bottom:.3em"><div class="metadata_sectionwrap"><table id="metadata_content_table"><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label">Title</td><td class="metadata_value"><span dir=ltr>Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir</span><br><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=bibliogroup:%22Twayne%27s+filmmakers+series%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=2"><i><span dir=ltr>Twayne's filmmakers series</span></i></a></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Author</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22R.+Barton+Palmer%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=2"><span dir=ltr>R. Barton Palmer</span></a></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Edition</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><span dir=ltr>illustrated</span></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Publisher</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><span dir=ltr>Twayne Publishers, 1994</span></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>ISBN</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><span dir=ltr>0805793356, 9780805793352</span></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Length</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><span dir=ltr>206 pages</span></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Subjects</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><div style="display:inline" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb"><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts%22" itemprop="url" dir=ltr><span itemprop="title">Performing Arts</span></a></div> › <div style="display:inline" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb"><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts+Film%22" itemprop="url" dir=ltr><span itemprop="title">Film</span></a></div> › <div style="display:inline" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb"><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts+Film+General%22" itemprop="url" dir=ltr><span itemprop="title">General</span></a></div><br><br><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts+/+Film+/+General%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=2"><span dir=ltr>Performing Arts / Film / General</span></a><br/><a class="primary" href="https://www.google.com.sg/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=subject:%22Performing+Arts+/+Film+/+History+%26+Criticism%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=2"><span dir=ltr>Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism</span></a></td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td>&nbsp</td><td>&nbsp</td></tr><tr class="metadata_row"><td class="metadata_label"><span dir=ltr>Export Citation</span></td><td class="metadata_value"><a class="gb-button " href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/download/Hollywood_s_Dark_Cinema.bibtex?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&output=bibtex"><span dir=ltr>BiBTeX</span></a> <a class="gb-button " href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/download/Hollywood_s_Dark_Cinema.enw?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&output=enw"><span dir=ltr>EndNote</span></a> <a class="gb-button " href="https://books.google.com.sg/books/download/Hollywood_s_Dark_Cinema.ris?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&output=ris"><span dir=ltr>RefMan</span></a></td></tr></table></div><div style="clear:both"></div></div></div><script>_OC_addFlags({Host:"https://books.google.com.sg/", IsZipitFolderCollectionEnabled:1, IsBrowsingHistoryEnabled:1, IsBooksRentalEnabled:1, IsBooksUnifiedLeftNavEnabled:1});_OC_Run({"is_cobrand":false,"sign_in_url":"https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=print\u0026continue=https://books.google.com.sg/books%3Fid%3DMp3UxwEACAAJ%26redir_esc%3Dy%26hl%3Den\u0026hl=en"}, {"volume_id":"Mp3UxwEACAAJ","is_ebook":false,"volumeresult":{"has_flowing_text":false,"has_scanned_text":false,"can_download_pdf":false,"can_download_epub":false,"is_pdf_drm_enabled":false,"is_epub_drm_enabled":false},"sample_url":"https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ\u0026source=gbs_atb_hover","is_browsable":false,"is_public_domain":false}, {});</script><div id="footer_table" style="font-size:83%;text-align:center;position:relative;top:20px;height:4.5em;margin-top:2em"><div style="margin-bottom:8px"><a href="/intl/en/googlebooks/about.html"><nobr><nobr>About Google Books</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="/intl/en/googlebooks/privacy.html"><nobr><nobr>Privacy Policy</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="/intl/en/googlebooks/tos.html"><nobr><nobr>Terms of Service</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="http://books.google.com.sg/support/partner/?hl=en-SG"><nobr><nobr>Information for Publishers</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="http://books.google.com.sg/support/answer/180577?hl=en-SG&url=https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=en&v=Mp3UxwEACAAJ&is=atb"><nobr><nobr>Report an issue</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="http://books.google.com.sg/support/topic/4359341?hl=en-SG"><nobr><nobr>Help</nobr></nobr></a> - <a href="https://www.google.com.sg/"><nobr><nobr>Google Home</nobr></nobr></a></div></div></div></div></div><script>(function() {var href = window.location.href;if (href.indexOf('?') !== -1) {var parameters = href.split('?')[1].split('&');for (var i = 0; i < parameters.length; i++) {var param = parameters[i].split('=');if (param[0] == 'focus') {var elem = document.getElementById(param[1]);if (elem) {elem.focus();}}}}})();</script>