I’m back today with more stuff to covet. First, a few classics that any film noir fan should own. These books have been out for a while but I wanted to mention them because the Library of America editions are particularly well done.
“Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s” (Vol. 1) includes The Postman Always Rings Twice, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Thieves Like Us, The Big Clock (Library of America), $35.
“Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories” includes The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window (Library of America), $40.
“Raymond Chandler: Later Novels and Other Writings” includes The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, Playback, Double Indemnity screenplay, selected essays and letters (Library of America), $35.
And now for some newly released titles.
Film Noir Graphics: Where Danger Lives by Alain Silver and James Ursini, $40.
Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration by Deborah Nadoolman Landis, $75.
The Hollywood Canteen: Where the Greatest Generation Danced With the Most Beautiful Girls in the World by Lisa Mitchell and Bruce Torrence, $23.
W: The First 40 Years by Stefano Tonchi, Christopher Bagley and John B. Fairchild, $75.
How the French Invented Love: Nine Hundred Years of Passion and Romance by Marilyn Yalom, $16.
Another Insane Devotion: On the Love of Cats and Persons by Peter Trachtenberg, $24.
The Rolling Stones 50 by The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, $60.
An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris by Stephanie LaCava, $24.
The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman and Tara Duggan, $25. Jeffrey Steingarten recommends this coffee; nuff said.
As a curator for the History Channel Shop, I’ve recommended 30 of my favorite film noir titles. You can’t go wrong with the Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 1 (Warner Bros.). This essential set includes: The Asphalt Jungle, Out of the Past, Murder My Sweet, Gun Crazy and The Set-Up. (You can read mini-reviews of the first four titles on the Shop page or search for full-length reviews on this site.)
Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 1, $50.
Last month, Paramount released “Sunset Blvd.” on Blu-ray, $27. Here’s a special-feature clip, a discussion of the mansion and pool in the film.
Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Universal), Blu-ray, $300.
New from Criterion: Purple Noon, Blu-ray, $32.
From FNB readers