For a course I am designing I am seeking information on the European roots
of American film noir.  I'm familiar with the usual approaches, I think:
German directors Siodmak, Lang, Preminger, Wilder inter alia come to US
in 20s and 30s, and put their visual stamp on Hollywood productions.  More
detailed explanations tend to get broader rather than deeper:  they
mention more East Europeans (Curtiz, Ingster, Mate', Ophuls, Negulesco) or
other mid-or north Europeans (Austrians von Sternberg, Ulmer; Danish Sirk,
French Tourneur), and occasionally mention cinematographers
(Hungarian-born John Alton, or Rudolph Mate's work).
 
So what am I looking for?  I'm looking for more than a superficial list of
names or supposed expressionist devices using low-light etc.  Can anyone
suggest a book, chapter, or article which gives a closer analysis of
historical-technical links?  The development of depth focus from Renoir to
Toland in Citizen Kane is a pretty good example of what I mean, and Marsha
Kinder's explanation in _Close-Up_ is good for a 3rd year class.
 
Actually, you might be barking up the wrong tree. Marc Vernet, in a brilliant,
as yet unpublished (but soon to be, once "Shades of Noir" comes out) article
called "Film Noir On The Edge Of Doom" suggests that the cinematographic
essentials of film noir were extant in America long before the Europeans got
here. People were experimenting with deep focus in the early '30s, and
expressionistic lighting experiments go back to the early silent era. So any
suggestion that European influence was crucial to film noir is premature.
 
At this point I plan to use excerpts from some late 30s & early 40s French
films (Renoir, Carne'), and Visconti's _Ossessione_ in comparison with the
1946 _Postman Always Rings Twice_.  I might use early examples of Italian
neo-realism (Rossellini) too.
 
Vernet cites some film from 1932 (I think) called "Private Detective 62" that
has all the noir elements. You might want to check that one out.
 
Anyone interested in my tentative syllabus is welcome to request it.
Suggestions appreciated.  Absolute latest film date will be 1952, maybe
even earlier.  I want to focus almost exclusively on American 40s, with
European stuff used to understand origins, and similarities in different
cultural contexts.
 
Please pass it along.
 
Daniel Case                     State University of New York At Buffalo
        "Hey, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"-Dr. Strangelove
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