Sex, Crime, Double Cross: Film Noir’s Hard-Boiled World
English 190 // Spring 2023 // Tues & Thurs 12:30 – 2 pm* // Wheeler 300
Mark Danner
Crime, sex and rebellion define American popular art and film noir emerged as its unlikely apotheosis. Though noir’s roots extend back to Poe and Collins, it was a handful of “hard-boiled” writers in the first half of the Twentieth Century — Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, W.R. Burnett, Jim Thompson — who created the dark world of tough loners and femmes fatales. Bring to their intricately plotted novels some innovative directors, including Robert Siodmak, Alfred Hitchcock, Jacques Tourneur, John Huston, Billy Wilder, and Orson Welles, add the lights and darks and sharp angles of German Expressionism, and you get classic film noir of the forties and fifties: Out of the Past, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Detour, Shadow of a Doubt, On Dangerous Ground, The Killers, Touch of Evil. Long after the era of classic noir ended, writers and filmmakers went on experimenting with the form, mixing it with other genres, and, by revivifying it, producing Chinatown, Blood Simple, Blue Velvet, Blade Runner, Jackie Brown, and One False Move. In this seminar we will screen the classics of noir and neo-noir and read their “hard-boiled” sources. As we sort out this potent mix of crime, sex, betrayal and existential dread, we will seek to understand how this most American of literary and popular arts came to be — and why it still flourishes.
*Screenings We will screen films every Wednesday from 5 to 7 pm in Wheeler 300. Attendance is required.
Course Assistant Sara Rovai-Cortes is our undergraduate course assistant. She will be taking attendance, recording classes, keeping notes. Please contact her for class notes and recordings, etc., and to schedule your presentation. Sara will also be updating the syllabus on bCourses and generally keeping up that site. She can be reached at sararplank@berkeley.edu.
Class Requirements This class will be a mixture of lectures and discussion, backed up by a solid amount of reading and viewing, and some writing. The most important requirements are that students
*Attend all class sessions and all screenings
*Keep up with reading and writing assignments
*Participate in discussions
*Offer a class presentation, in collaboration with one or two colleagues
*Complete one three-page midterm paper and one five-page final paper
A student’s record of attendance at classes and screenings and participation in class discussion, together with the quality of his or her writing, will determine the success of our class and contribute the better part of the grade. Students who miss multiple class sessions and screenings will not do well in this course.
Schedule Note that classes will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30 pm in Wheeler 306. Screenings will be held Wednesdays at 5 pm in Wheeler 300.
Films The films that we will screen are listed below and also in the Tentative Syllabus. Attendance at the screenings is a requirement of the course. We will watch two films a week. One of those will be shown at the screenings at 5 pm Wednesdays. The second you will watch yourself – before the date listed on the syllabus. Most of the listed films can be streamed from Kanopy or Swank or can be found on the Internet Archive, which has a large film noir section. When watching films please use the largest screen you have available and make use of the full screen. Please watch films without a break, and preferably with colleagues from the class. Watch closely and attentively. No multi-tasking.
Reading Our primary reading will draw on a series of “hard-boiled” novels on which many of the best-known noir films are based. They are listed below under Required Texts. I strongly urge you to obtain these books in your own copies and in the edition specified either from local bookstores or from online suppliers, so that you will be able to highlight and annotate them and so that during discussions we will all be “on the same page.” Note one collection of articles on film noir, Film Noir Reader, is also required.
I have listed a number of secondary volumes about noir novels and films and will likely suggest other books and articles as the class progresses. These are not required but are suggested for students wanting to supplement their primary reading.
Favorite Passages Always come to class with a favorite passage – anything from several sentences to a paragraph — drawn from that session’s assigned reading or from that week’s film. Be prepared to say a few words about why you chose it.
Writing Two papers are required in this class. Papers should be double-spaced, titled and paginated and handed in through bCourses by midnight of the date due. Prompts for the papers will be discussed in class but keep in mind that the two papers – like the presentation – are your chance to say something about a film that is important to you. A three-page paper analyzing a scene is due Friday, March 22. A five-page final paper is due Friday, April 26.
To bolster the clarity and vigor of your prose, I strongly suggest reading or re-reading George Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language.” I also suggest studying Strunk and White’s little manual, The Elements of Style.
Class Presentation Every student is required to put on a class presentation either alone or in collaboration with one other student. The presentations should last ten to fifteen minutes and take up some subject having to do with noir but ancillary to the class. Examples might include treatment of a given director, “back story” of a particular film, biographical account of one of the “hard-boiled” writers, explanation of an individual shooting technique or histories of a particular noir performer. There are many other possibilities but above all make it interesting – for you and the class. Use of images, recordings and video is strongly encouraged.
Office Hours I will want to meet individually with each of you at least once during the semester. I will be holding office hours Friday mornings, between 9 and 11 am or 10 and 12 pm, usually at Abe’s Café on Euclid just north of campus. Course assistant Sara Rovai-Cortes will make a sign up sheet available a few days into the semester. You are welcome to come talk to me about the class, the reading, the films, your writing, your career — or anything else of interest. Which is to say: You don’t need a specific reason to come to office hours.
My writing and speaking and syllabi for past courses can be found on my website, www.markdanner.com
Grading Students will be graded on their attendance at class sessions and screenings, their preparedness for and their participation in class, the strength of their presentations and the quality of their written work, roughly as follows:
Attendance – 30 percent
Participation – 25 percent
Writing – 25 percent
Presentation – 20 percent
Films
Robert Aldrich, Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Joel Coen, Blood Simple (1984)
Michael Curtiz, Mildred Pierce (1945)
John Dahl, The Last Seduction (1994)
Carl Franklin, One False Move (1992)
Tay Garnett, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Howard Hawks, The Big Sleep (1946)
John Huston, The Maltese Falcon (1941)
John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Rian Johnson, Brick (2005)
Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street (1945)
Charles Laughton, Night of the Hunter (1955)
David Lynch, Blue Velvet (1986)
Roman Polanski, Chinatown (1974)
Otto Preminger, Laura (1944)
Nicholas Ray, On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Carol Reed, The Third Man (1949)
Robert Siodmak, The Killers (1946)
Robert Siodmak, Criss Cross (1949)
Ridley Scott, Bladerunner (1982)
Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown (1997)
Jacques Tourneur, Cat People (19942)
Jacques Tourneur, Out of the Past (1947)
Charles Vidor, Gilda (1946)
Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Orson Welles, Touch of Evil (1958)
Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity (1944)
Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Required Texts
W.R. Burnett, The Asphalt Jungle (Prion, 1999 [1949])
James M. Cain, Double Indemnity (Vintage, 1999 [1943])
James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice (Vintage, 1989 [1934])
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (Vintage, 1988 [1939])
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Del Rio, 1996 [1968])
Graham Greene, The Third Man (Penguin, 1999 [1949])
Davis Grubb, Night of the Hunter (Vintage, 2015 [1953])
Dashiell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon (Vintage, 1992 [1930])
Ernest Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927), The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 1998)
Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch (Mariner, 2011 [1992])
Alain Silver and James Ursini (eds.), Film Noir Reader (Limelight, 2003 [1996])
Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly (Hachette, 1955)
Recommended Secondary Texts
Foster Hirsch, Film Noir: The Dark Side of The Screen (Da Capo, 1981)
Foster Hirsch, Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir (Limelight, 1999)
Alain Silver et al, Film Noir: The Encyclopedia (Overlook Duckworth, 2010)
Syllabus
January 16 – Introduction to the Course.
January 17 SCREENING (5 pm, #300) – Robert Siodmak, The Killers (1946). Read Ernest Hemingway, “The Killers” (1927)
January 18 – Watch Jacques Tourneur, Out of the Past (1947). Read Paul Schrader, “Notes on Film Noir,” in Film Noir Reader. Read Robert Porfirio, “The Killers…” in Film Noir Reader
January 23 – Watch Otto Preminger, Laura (1944)
January 24 – SCREENING — John Huston, The Maltese Falcon (1941)
January 25 – Read Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)
January 30 – Watch Tay Garnett, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
January 31 – SCREENING Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (1982)
February 1 ––Watch Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity (1944). Read James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain, Double Indemnity
February 6 – Watch Edgar Ulman, Detour (1945). Read Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
February 7 – SCREENING Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street (1945)
February 8 – Read Borde & Chaumeton, “Toward a Definition of Film Noir” in Film Noir Reader
February 13 – Watch Michael Curtiz, Mildred Peirce (1945)
February 14 – SCREENING Howard Hawks, The Big Sleep (1946)
February 15 – Read Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (1939)
February 20 – Watch Charles Vidor, Gilda (1946)
February 21 – SCREENING Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
February 22 – Read Robert Porfirio, “No Way Out…,” in Film Noir Reader
February 27 – Watch Jules Dassin, Night and the City (1950)
February 28 – SCREENING Carol Reed, The Third Man (1949)
February 29—Read Graham Greene, The Third Man (1949)
March 5 – Watch Richard Siodmak, Criss Cross (1949)
March 6 – SCREENING John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
March 7 – Read W.R. Burnett, The Asphalt Jungle (1949)
March 12 – Watch Nicholas Ray, On Dangerous Ground (1951)
March 13 – SCREENING Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard (1950)
March 14 –
March 19 – Watch Jacques Tourneur, Cat People (1942)
March 20 – SCREENING Charles Laughton, Night of the Hunter (1955)
March 21 – Read Davis Grubb, Night of the Hunter (1953)
March 22 – Three-page paper analyzing scene DUE
March 26 – Spring Recess – No Class
March 27 – Spring Recess – No Screening
March 28 – Spring Recess – No Class
April 2 – Watch Robert Aldrich, Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
April 3 – SCREENING Orson Welles, Touch of Evil (1958)
April 4 – Read Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly (1952). Alain Silver, “Kiss Me Deadly…” in Film Noir Reader
April 9 – Watch Carl Franklin, One False Move (1992)
April 10 – SCREENING Roman Polanski, Chinatown (1974)
April 11 –
April 16 – Watch Joel Coen, Blood Simple (1984)
April 17 – SCREENING Rian Johnson, Brick (2005)
April 18 – Read Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
April 23 – Watch David Lynch, Blue Velvet (1986). John Dahl, The Last Seduction (1994)
April 24 – SCREENING Quentin Tarantino, Jackie Brown (1997). Dress Up Pot Luck Final Screening Party
April 25 – Read Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch (1992)
April 26 – Five-page final paper DUE
Some Further Noir Viewing
M
Gun Crazy
The Big Heat
In A Lonely Place
Ministry of Fear
The Woman in the Window
Odd Man Out
Point Break
Charley Varrick
Body Heat
Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Red Rock West
Drive
He Walks By Night
The Naked City
LA Confidential
The Black Dahlia
Cape Fear