"With keen insight and a deep appreciation of the politics of film noir, Broe has broken new ground in the interpretation of cinema itself. With this book film noir has found its most astute and informed critic."--Gerald Horne, author of The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten

"Reminds the reader that class, while often submerged, was important to postwar American society and culture. The classic noir films of the period provided a vivid commentary on class in America."--Richard Greenwald, Drew University

Film noir, which flourished in 1940s and 50s, reflected the struggles and sentiments of postwar America. Dennis Broe contends that the genre, with its emphasis on dark subject matter, paralleled the class conflict in labor and union movements that dominated the period.

By following the evolution of film noir during the years following World War II, Broe illustrates how the noir figure represents labor as a whole. In the 1940s, both radicalized union members and protagonists of noir films were hunted and pursued by the law. Later, as labor unions achieve broad acceptance and respectability, the central noir figure shifts from fugitive criminal to law-abiding cop.

Expanding his investigation into the Cold War and post-9/11 America, Broe extends his analysis of the ways film noir is intimately connected to labor history. A brilliant, interdisciplinary examination, this is a work that will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.

Dennis Broe is associate professor of film at Long Island University.

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"Forces the reader to review film noir in a new and provocative light."
--Book News

"A fascinating study of film, politics, and history, Broe's study confirms the intertextuality of film and society, revealing how each invariably affects the other. Highly recommended"
--Choice

"A brilliant, interdisciplinary examination, this is a work that will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers."
--Union Librarian

"A fascinating study of film, politics, and history, Broe's history confirms the intertextuality of film and society, revealing how each invariably affects the other. Highly recommended."
--Choice

"A welcome reminder that Hollywood's hard-boiled sentiments are distellations of a complex and shifting proletarian ethos."
--The Journal of American History

"A welcome reminder that Hollywood's hard-boiled sentiments are distellations of a complex and shifting proletarian ethos."
--The Journal of American History

"Gives compelling descriptions and provocative analyses of a number of films, and Broe's categories and periodizations are useful."
--Labor Studies Journal

"Very usefully reminds us of the necessity to ground films in a rich historical understanding and boldly setsout what has often been only hinted at in much of the literarure and commentaru on noir: namely that it is an aesthetic forged by class, class struggle, and class consciousness."
--Interntaional Socialism (issue 25)

"An intriguing interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences and humanities."
--Film and History An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television