Charles McGraw - Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy

Alan K. Rode       (McFarland  2007)

 

For most people Charles McGraw is one of those nameless character actors who appears in old films and television shows.  But to the fans of film noir McGraw is one of the iconic actors of the genre.  As I stated in the actor’s  profile section of this site - no actor at any level is more associated with noir than Charles McGraw.

 

McGraw’s life and career were rather ordinary, at least by Hollywood standards so it says much about the dedication of author Alan Rode to bring the actor’s bio to print some 28 years after his death.  It also speaks to the burgeoning interest in film noir.  

 

McGraw’s career took him through the heart of the film noir era, and it’s this journey that Rode marvelously documents with all the attendant anecdotes.  Rode rightly makes the case that  a career break here or there and McGraw could have been a star on par with that of Robert Mitchum.   McGraw’s life was not unlike other successful actors who fell to the bottle and died broke (Tom Conway, Eroll Flynn, Peter Lawford) but given his connection to film noir, Charles McGraw:  Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy is essential reading for anyone interested in the genre.

 

 

 

Film Noir

Andrew Spicer  (Pearson Education  2002)

 

I was in a Borders Bookstore the other day and was looking in the film section.  I keep noticing the section on film noir seems to be always expanding which confirms the notion of the continued increase in th genre.   I came across Andrew Spicer’s book, simply titled Film Noir.  Spicer is a professor of Film Studies and European Cinema at the University of the West of England.   

 

As can be expected Spicer takes a decidedly academic approach to the subject with much time  spent discussing the cultural and psychological aspects of the genre.  Spicer makes the case for a broader definition of the genre including the neo-noir, post-modern noir and black noir.   For a noir traditionalist  this is heretical speak and diminishes its relevance. Being British, Spicer does devote space to the discussion of British noir which could rate a book unto itself.

 

 

Dark City - The Lost World of Film Noir

Eddie Muller  (St Martin’ Griffin  1998)

 

Eddie Muller is  founder of The Film Noir Foundation as well as the driving force of the Noir City website.  In Dark City Muller delves into the elements of film noir devoting individual chapters to to various elements of the genre - writers, cops, dames etc.  Muller hits the basics without submerging the reader with academic theory  making this a good read for those newly interested in the genre.  That’s not to say there isn’t enough for any hardcore noir fan to enjoy.

Fearing the Dark - The Val Lewton Career

Edmund G. Bansak  (McFarland  1995)

 

Legendary producer Val Lewton has acquired a new generation of admirers in the past few years, what with the release of his RKO films on DVD and a documentary about his career.

 

If your looking for an in depth bio on Lewton you won’t find it here.  Author Edmund G. Bansak does provide the basics about Lewtons early years as a pulp writer and his journey to Hollywood and his association with David O. Selznick.   But as the subtitle suggest, this book is about Lewton’s career, not so much his personal life.   As such you will not find a more definitive source on Lewton’s time in Hollywood.  

 

This book was first published in 1995, before DVDs and when most of Lewton’s films were not available.  Bansak devotes a chapter to each of the 11 films Lewton made at RKO.  The circumstances of each production is intriguing, but Bansak’s descriptive retelling of each of the film’s stories  makes for a lot of extraneous reading if one has previously seen the films. Bansak also goes into some detail profiling the careers of the people who Lewton mentored as part of his staff while at RKO.  

 

This book goes a long way in explaining the legacy of Val Lewton.  So much so that the appropriate subtitle for this book should have been:  The Val Lewton Influence.  For that influence is well documented by Bansak and certainly extended to film noir.