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Film Noir 101: The 101 Best Film Noir Posters From The 1940s-1950s

This art book collects film noir posters and critical commentary, with a foreword by Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist). Collecting 101 noir movie posters of, arguably, the greatest noir films ever made (including classics The Maltese Falcon, Laura, and Double Indemnity). Reproduced in a stunningly designed, over-sized format that shows off the spectacular visual elan of Hollywood movie posters at their best, the book is not only a spectacular showcase of film noir art, but also establishes the crucial films and identifies their key characteristics, with critical commentary on each film by author and scholar Mark Fertig. This is an ideal handbook for noir rookies, a valuable resource for old-hats, and a visual feast for fans of film noir and American entertainment art. Full-color illustrations throughout.

Hardcover: 143 pages

Publisher: Fantagraphics; 1 edition (September 7, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1606997599

ISBN-13: 978-1606997598

Product Dimensions: 11 x 0.7 x 14.6 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #828,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #71 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Posters #522 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Genre Films #995 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Theory

"The 101 Best Film Noir Posters" is an outstanding and beautifully crafted book. It is an oversize coffee table book about the size of an average placemat. The design of the book is clean and purposeful with 101 full color pages of film noir poster art. There is one poster per page and nothing else on the page but the page number counting backward. This art work is the best from a clearly defined stylistic studio period which is easily recognizable to nearly every fan of noir. As with all Fantagraphics books, it is nicely bound and it is easy to lay the book flat on the table without damaging the spine.After the posters there is a separate section where each film is summarized with short essays in the exact order of their appearance in the book in a countdown fashion from 101 to 1. They are in order of author Mark Fertig's personal quality meter which seems to be well calibrated. Don't let anyone spoil the top ten for you in any reviews. As you work your way through the book you will be amazed at the powerhouse films which appear with greater frequency as you turn the pages. You will also be overwhelmed by the desire to dig up many of these films and watch them again or for the first time.I would also recommend this book as an excellent reference for artists and graphic designers. There are many creative uses of color and image/text placement among these pages. Most fascinating is the way each poster draws you to a single spot then moves your eyes like a cascading waterfall across and down the page. It is interesting to see the creativity needed for a poster artist to adapt to a fairly structured style with many recurring themes. It is especially interesting to study those who clearly achieved a mastery of the style. There are many.

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