Silver and Ursini trace the development of noir to its origins and documents its borrowings from other visual arts, with chapters covering each of the recurring motifs that define the genre. Stills and background are provided for classics like A TOUCH OF EVIL, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and IN A LONELY PLACE....

Beginning with a general overview of film noir and covering its most important themes chapter by chapter (lovers plan murder, corrupt police, doomed love, psychological noir, etc.), this copiously illustrated handbook provides instant and in-depth access to the film noir genre for amateurs and aficionados alike....

The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen documents the public\'s seemingly insatiable fascination with the warrior woman archetype in film and on television....

In terms of celebrity icons, few attained the highest levels of fame and controversy as rapidly as Mae West. Labeled a \\\"pornographer\\\" by censorship boards, she was also one of 1930s Hollywood\"s most lucrative box-office draws (causing Variety in 1933 to label the star \\\"as hot an issue as Hitler\\\")....

Visual biographies of cinema\'s greatest stars Most moviegoers associate Robert De Niro with adjectives like \"intense,\" \"violent,\" \"streetwise,\" and \"brooding.\" It is an image that De Niro has carefully nurtured throughout his career....

The last true Hollywood diva Elizabeth Taylor was a \"diva\" when that word still had meaning, before it was applied to every female celebrity with slightest bit of attitude and style....

We\'ve searched far and wide, through Africa\'s deserts and jungles, cities and wildlife reserves, islands and mountains, to uncover the continent\'s most inspirational dwellings; our goal was to find the kind of interiors that defy description, and we think the results will definitely leave you speechless....

Marlene Dietrich once said, \"I am not a myth.\" But by referencing the term, Dietrich only reinforces the fact more emphatically. For, using almost any common dictionary definition of that word, Dietrich is a myth....