Product Overview
Extremely popular and prolific in the 1930s and 1940s, Cornell Woolrich still has diehard fans who thrive on his densely packed descriptions and his spellbinding premises. A contemporary of Hammett and Chandler, he competed with them for notoriety in the pulps and became the single most adapted writer for films of the noir period. Perhaps the most famous film adaptation of a Woolrich story is Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window (1954). Even today, his work is still onscreen; Michael Cristofers Original Sin (2001) is based on one of his tales. This book offers a detailed analysis of many of Woolrichs novels and short stories; examines films adapted from these works; and shows how Woolrichs techniques and themes influenced the noir genre. Twenty-two stories and 30 films compose the bulk of the study, though many other additions of films noirs are also considered because of their relevance to Woolrichs plots, themes and characters. The introduction includes a biographical sketch of Woolrich and his relationship to the noir era, and the book is illustrated with stills from Woolrichs noir classics.
