Film Noir And The Cinema Of Paranoia

Wheeler Winston Dixon FILM NOIR AND THE CINEMA OF A I O N A R PA Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia For Oyekan Owomoyela, and all friends loved and lost Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia Wheeler Winston Dixon Edinburgh University Press © Wheeler Winston Dixon, 2009 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in 11/13 Ehrhardt by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wilts A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 2399 0 (hardback) ISBN 978 0 7486 2400 3 (paperback) The right of Wheeler Winston Dixon to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Contents Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1. The Dream of Return 2. The Postwar Bubble 3. 1950s Death Trip 4. The Flip Side of the 1960s 5. The Failure of Culture 6. Living in Fear 1 9 37 56 91 129 153 Appendix: A Gallery of Classic Noir ‘Heavies’ Works Cited and Consulted Index 170 175 186 Acknowledgments This volume would not have been possible without the help and advice of numerous colleagues and friends; of the many who contributed, I would like to single out Dennis Coleman, always an authority on films maudit; Mikita Brottman and David Sterritt, comrades in arms; Peter Brunette, a solid source of encouragement and guidance; Stephen Prince, who shares many of the concerns reflected in this manuscript; Steve Shaviro, whose writings have long been a source of both wonder and inspiration; Lucy Fischer, an astute judge of critical writing and a good friend; along with Patrice Petro, Jean-Pierre Geuens, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dana Polan, David Desser, Marcia Landy, Stephen C. Behrendt, Maria Prammagiore, Valérie Orlando, Michael Downey, Miriam Linna, Billy Miller and a host of others who contributed, either directly or indirectly, to this project. Dana Miller, as always, did a superb job in typing the original manuscript from my customary handwritten draft, and thus earns my undying thanks. Jennifer Holan provided the index for this volume, and also did a superb job of correcting the final page proofs; my sincere thanks to her. Through all of this, Gwendolyn Foster provided an atmosphere of love and patience that made this work possible, and remains my best friend, staunchest critic, and constant ally. While most of this volume is comprised of new material, there are some sections of this text that have previously appeared in either journals or collections of essays. For permission to use brief portions of these materials here, the author wishes to thank Yoram Allon and Wallflower Press for permission to reprint ‘House of Strangers: The Family in Film Noir,’ in A Family Affair: Cinema Calls Home, Wallflower Press; 2008; Leslie Mitchner and Rutgers University Press for permission to reprint ‘The Endless Embrace of Hell: Hopelessness and Betrayal in Film Noir,’ in Cinema and Modernity, Rutgers University Press, 2006, and ‘Night World: New York as a Noir Universe,’ in City That Never Sleeps: New York and the Filmic acknowledgments vii Imagination, Rutgers University Press, 2007; James Peltz and State University of New York Press for permission to reprint ‘The Eternal Summer of Harold Pinter and Joseph Losey’s Accident,’ in The Films of Harold Pinter; ed. Stephen S. Gale, State University of New York Press, 2001, 21–37; and pages 95–107, on the writer Jim Thompson, from my book Straight: Constructions of Heterosexuality in the Cinema, State University of New York Press, 2003; Felicia Campbell, editor of the journal Popular Culture Review, for permission to reprint ‘The Commercial Instinct: New Elstree Studios and The