Cinema of Obsession traces the history of obsessive love and erotic fixation. Seminal works of obsession, The Blue Angel, Peter Ibbetson, and Phantom of the Opera are seen as setting the groundwork for films that follow. The book defines and surveys examples of the explosive nature of amour fou, issues of male control (no matter how tenuous), and the fugitive couple - love on the run - in such films as Romeo and Juliet, Last Tango in Paris, Vertigo, Basic Instinct, and Wild at Heart. Male masochism is explored through film noirs, including Criss Cross, The Killers, Gilda, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. The book shifts gears in its finale and concentrates on the female gaze, films of female obsession: Jane Eyre, The Piano, The Lover, Fatal Attraction, and Vanilla Sky.

The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen documents the public's seemingly insatiable fascination with the warrior woman archetype in film and on television. The book examines the cautious beginnings of new roles for women in the late fifties, the rapid development of female action leads during the burgeoning second-wave feminist movement in the late sixties and seventies, and the present-day onslaught of female action characters now leaping from page to screen. The book itself is organized into chapters that group women warriors into sub-genres, e.g., classic Amazons like Xena Warrior Princess and the women of the Conan films; superheroes and their archenemies such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Catwoman; revenge films such as the Kill Bill movies; Sexploitation and Blaxploitation films such as Coffy and the Ilsa trilogy; Hong Kong cinema and warriors like Angela Mao, Cynthia Rothrock, and Zhang Ziyi; sci-fi warriors from Star Trek, Blade Runner, and Star Wars; supersleuths and spies like the Avengers and Charlie's Angels; and gothic warriors such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Van Helsing. In addition, the book is lavishly illustrated with over 400 photos of these popular-culture icons in action, interesting articles and sidebars about themes, trends, weapons, style, and trivia, as well as a complete filmography of more than 150 titles.

The earlier Film Noir Readers, which now boast a combined sale of well over 30,000 copies, have all quite deliberately conveyed a sweeping overview of the classic period, demonstrating how broad and inclusive noir movies are. Film Noir Reader 4 moves in a different direction. Its purpose is to identify the key films and motifs of noir and to analyze in depth the prototypical pictures that, while vivid examples of certain cinematic themes, bend and break their molds to find new ways to enthrall and frighten us. Like its predecessors, Film Noir Reader 4 is generously illustrated and features essays by such respected film critics and scholars as Robin Wood, J.P. Telotte, R. Barton Palmer, and Robert Porfirio. All have as their purpose to explain why and how these classic films work; the way screenplay, direction, acting, cinematography, editing and all the other filmmaking crafts blended together to produce work that exemplifies both a particular movement in film history and the innovations that keep the noir style fresh and compelling.

The Third and most recent edition of The Vampire Film featuring a new chapter, "The Vampire at the Millennium," was released in October 1996 to coincide with the centennial of Stoker's novel Dracula. More vampire films have been produced since the First Edition of The Vampire Film appeared in 1974 than in the entire history of motion pictures prior to that year. The first completely revised and updated edition was published in 1993. The Third Edition, at over 340 pages in length and with well over 200 illustrations, insures that what began as the first book-length study of the subject in 1974 remains the most comprehensive available. The authors, Alain Silver and James Ursini, are continuing their research for future revisions and invite comments from their readers.

This bountiful anthology combines all the key early writings on film noir with many newer essays, including some published here for the first time. Part one reprints eight seminal essays that classify and analyse the period and its product and also offers the initial extensive discussion of film noir in English. In Part Two there are 'case studies' of individual film and film makers. Part Three probes deeper into the question 'What Is This Thing Called Noir?' -- the title of one of the new essays. Other original pieces consider such issues as narrative structure, the femme fatale, the influence of film noir on early television and, finally the rebirth of the genre in the neo-noir films of our own day.

Film noir is one of the most enduring and popular genres in cinema. But it did not spring up spontaneously fully formed. Rather its origins can be traced to sources as varied as Victorian literature German Expressionism and American art and photography. In this comprehensive collection of essays that's packed with illustrations and artwork a team of eminent scholars and film writers present thorough analyses of the influence of prototypes on the classic period of film noir.THSome essays focus on particularly influential genres such as the rogue cop film and gothic thrillers; while others discuss the choices of individual filmmakers including John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock in their most well-loved films.THThe editors and all of the featured contributors a Sheri Chinen Biesen Todd Erickson Richard Edwards Julie Grossman Robert Miklitsch Homer Pettey Robert Porfirio Tom Ryall Marlisa Santos Jesse Schlotterbeck and Tony Williams a are noted scholars in the field of film noir most of whom have written book-length studies of their own.THFrom the gangster and horror genres to social realism and Hitchcock's spy films of the 1930s EFilm Noir PrototypesE offers compelling accounts of the genre's influences. As befits the topic over 300 illustrations keyed to the text capture the richness and breadth of the classic period's imagery.

Noted film noir authority James Ursini (The Film Noir Reader series, L.A. Noir, and numerous DVD commentaries) analyzes the work of five underrated independent directors--Hugo Haas, Reginald LeBorg, Ida Lupino, Gerd Oswald, and Edgar G. Ulmer. This lavishly illustrated study examines their films as works of art and their careers as outsiders who directed films on the edge of Hollywood and paved the way for the modern American independent film movement.

Humphrey Bogart is a legend and an icon whose magic has not dissipated with time. The wounded tough guy image Bogart molded over the decades of his career still resonates. There is a truth to this image; audiences sense that the world-weariness, the angst, and the vulnerability, which made him an icon of noir as well, were rooted somehow in reality. Even if the spectator knew nothing about his personal life, they believed and still do believe in his performances in cinema classics like "Casablanca", "The Maltese Falcon", "High Sierra", "The Big Sleep", "In a Lonely Place", and "The African Queen". The "Movie Icon" series: People talk about Hollywood glamour, about studios that had more stars than there are in heaven, about actors who weren't actors but were icons. Other people talk about these things, "Taschen" shows you. "Movie Icons" is a series of photo books that feature the most famous personalities in the history of cinema. These 192-page books are visual biographies of the stars. For each title, series editor Paul Duncan has painstaking selected approximately 150 high quality enigmatic and sumptuous portraits, colorful posters and lobby cards, rare film stills, and previously unpublished candid photos showing the stars as they really are. These images are accompanied by concise introductory essays by leading film writers; each book also includes a chronology, a filmography, and a bibliography, and is peppered with apposite quotes from the movies and from life.