James Naremore - More Than Night : Film Noir In Its Contexts

There are so many books about noir today that reading some of them can become almost tedious. Many authors try to provide a definitive definition of noir, but the more definitions one reads, the more elusive the term becomes. Is noir a mood? Is it a cycle of crime films influenced by German Expressionism and French Poetic Realism? Is it the story of a lost protagonist, a man seduced by a femme fatale? Or is noir simply a brand name, a marketable label that has come to be applied to almost everything?

This is precisely why James Naremore's More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts feels so refreshing. Naremore largely avoids offering a single, definitive definition of noir. Instead, he examines how the concept emerged, how it evolved, and how different generations of critics, filmmakers, and audiences have understood it.

The strongest part of the book is its first half. Here Naremore discusses the origins of noir, its artistic influences, and its key figures. Particularly fascinating are the chapters devoted to John Alton and his classic book Painting with Light, as well as the discussions of directors such as Anthony Mann and films like T-Men and He Walked by Night. Alongside film history, Naremore also explores the literary roots of noir through the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, and James M. Cain.

Naremore also pays attention to the critics and theorists who helped shape the modern understanding of noir. Among them, a special place belongs to Paul Schrader and his influential essay Notes on Film Noir, which for decades served as a starting point for many discussions of the subject. Naremore often agrees with earlier writers, but at the same time he questions their assumptions and demonstrates how difficult it is to reduce noir to a single definition or a fixed set of characteristics.

The book also examines the political context surrounding noir, especially the anti-communist witch hunts in America, as well as the later development of post-noir and neo-noir cinema. Naremore is, in my opinion, at his best when discussing the history and ideas of noir. He is less engaging when he provides detailed plot summaries or close analyses of individual scenes.

Nevertheless, despite occasional digressions, More Than Night remains one of the best books on noir that I have read. Rather than attempting to settle the debate over what noir is, Naremore demonstrates why that debate has continued for decades.