The very best portrait photography of the film-noir era, with previously unpublished images from beloved gems such as The Night of the Hunter and Sweet Smell of Success
With its singular focus on the very best portrait photography of the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood film noir era, every page of this coffee-table volume is rich in brooding atmosphere. The portraits gathered here, of actors such as Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Gene Tierney, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Jack Palance, Joan Crawford and Richard Widmark, were taken by premier studio photographers such as Robert Coburn, Ernest Bachrach and A.L. "Whitey" Schafer. Their remarkable ability to exaggerate the play of shadow and light to dramatic effect is the reason that their work still has the same ability to arrest the viewer as it did in the 1940s. The photographs remain some of the most innovative and striking portraits in the history of cinema.
Carefully curated, the photographs are taken from the collection of MPTV, one of the world’s most exclusive archives of entertainment photography. The book includes many previously unseen images, including hitherto unpublished outtakes from The Night of the Hunter (1955) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957); and classic moments from films such as Gilda (1946), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and celebrated B-noirs such as Gun Crazy (1950) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Reel Art Press’ exquisite print quality serves to emphasize the timeless power of the black-and-white studio portraiture.
Featured image, of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner in 'The Killers' (1946), is reproduced from ‘Film Noir Portraits'.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Guardian
Tony Nourmand
Mean, moody and magnificent...Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth were never more glamorous than in the photographs taken by studio photographers to publicise black and white thrillers in the 1940s and 50s.
Indulge
Ghalib Dhalla
Think of this sumptuous book not just as an homage to the genre, but a valuable catalogue for which essential noir movies to enjoy.
Esquire
Alex Belth
The design and execution of the book—good for a coffee table, not too bulky for the shelf—is grade A. Superior, soup to nuts.
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Featured image—of Joan Crawford in her iconic 1945 come-back performance of ruthlessly ambitious yet heartlessly scorned single mother Mildred Pierce—is reproduced from Film Noir Portraits, Reel Art Press's authoritative new compendium of classic and previously unpublished film-noir studio photography. "These are the faces of men and women who had survived World War Two but had been permanently damaged or broken by the experience," Paul Duncan writes. "These are the faces of the desperate and the afraid, the smitten and the disgusted, the hardboiled and the furious, often writhing in pain after taking a punch or a bullet. These are the faces of noir." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 10 x 12 in. / 256 pgs / 240 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $59.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $83.95 ISBN: 9781909526815 PUBLISHER: Reel Art Press AVAILABLE: 11/22/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AFR ME
Published by Reel Art Press. Edited by Tony Nourmand. Text by Paul Duncan.
The very best portrait photography of the film-noir era, with previously unpublished images from beloved gems such as The Night of the Hunter and Sweet Smell of Success
With its singular focus on the very best portrait photography of the 1940s and 1950s Hollywood film noir era, every page of this coffee-table volume is rich in brooding atmosphere. The portraits gathered here, of actors such as Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Gene Tierney, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Jack Palance, Joan Crawford and Richard Widmark, were taken by premier studio photographers such as Robert Coburn, Ernest Bachrach and A.L. "Whitey" Schafer. Their remarkable ability to exaggerate the play of shadow and light to dramatic effect is the reason that their work still has the same ability to arrest the viewer as it did in the 1940s. The photographs remain some of the most innovative and striking portraits in the history of cinema.
Carefully curated, the photographs are taken from the collection of MPTV, one of the world’s most exclusive archives of entertainment photography. The book includes many previously unseen images, including hitherto unpublished outtakes from The Night of the Hunter (1955) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957); and classic moments from films such as Gilda (1946), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lady from Shanghai (1947) and celebrated B-noirs such as Gun Crazy (1950) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Reel Art Press’ exquisite print quality serves to emphasize the timeless power of the black-and-white studio portraiture.
