Buster Keaton is remembered today as one of the most innovative and hilarious comedians of the silent movie era, considered now to be the equal to Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Starting his career as a child in vaudeville with his parents in a violent, knockabout comedy act known as The Three Keatons, Buster - so called because he could take a fall without getting hurt - was a seasoned stage professional by the time of his film debut with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in 1917 at only 21 years old. Keaton's soaring success in motion pictures lasted 15 years until a devastating crash brought on by personal troubles, alcoholism and the advent of sound pictures. By 1932, Buster had become nearly unemployable. The true story of how he bounced back to become an icon in film history is the beautifully written and thoroughly researched tale lovingly crafted in Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy by film analyst and writer, Imogen Sara Smith.

Although film noir is traditionally associated with the mean streets of the Dark City, this volume explores the genre from a new angle, focusing on non-urban settings. Through detailed readings of over 100 films set in suburbs, small towns, on the road, in the desert, borderlands and the vast, empty West, the author investigates the alienation expressed by film noir, pinpointing its motivation in the conflict between desires for escape, autonomy and freedom--and fears of loneliness, exile and dissolution. Through such films as Out of the Past, They Live by Night and Touch of Evil, this survey examines how film noir reflected radical changes in the physical and social landscapes of postwar America, defining the genre's contribution to the eternal debate between the values of individualism and community.