About the Author

Alain Silver is the author of The Samurai Film and Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles (with Elizabeth Ward). Among his other books, co-authored with James Ursini, are The Noir Style, The Vampire Film, Film Noir (Taschen), More Things than are Dreamt Of, L.A. Noir, and director studies of David Lean, Robert Aldrich and Roger Corman. He is co-editor of Film Noir: The Encyclopedia, four Film Noir Readers, Horror Film Reader, Gangster Film Reader and a contributor to Film Noir and Philosophy. Forthcoming are Where Danger Lives: Film Noir Graphics and Film Noir: the Directors. His produced screenplays include Kiss Daddy Goodbye, the Showtime feature Time at the Top, and an adaptation of Dostoevsky's White Nights, which he also directed. Selected feature credits as a producer include Crashing, Beat, Cyborg2, 10th & Wolf, Night Visitor, and Palmer's Pick-up. He has been a guest lecturer at film noir retrospectives in Palm Springs, Detroit, and Santa Fe, New Mexico and served as a moderator and panelist for numerous presentations sponsored by the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, the American Film Market, and at the Torino, Cinequest, Pacific Northwest, Slamdance and Los Angeles Film Festivals. He has been interviewed as an expert on Raymond Chandler, film noir, the samurai film and vampire films for documentary programming produced by the BBC; TV-Ontario; E! Entertainment Television; Channel Four, UK; ZDF/Germany; Starz/Encore channel; the Sci-Fi Channel; the American Movie Channel and KCET Los Angeles. His DVD work includes audio or video commentaries for over two dozen titles from Warner Bros., 20th-Century Fox and Criterion including David Lean's Hobson's Choice and numerous classic period film noir such as Murder, My Sweet, Out of the Past, Thieves' Highway, Call Northside 777, Panic in the Streets, The Dark Corner, Laura, Double Indemnity, Kiss of Death, The Street with No Name, Crossfire, Lady in the Lake, Nightmare Alley, Brute Force, Tension, Mystery Street and Where Danger Lives. His essays accompany the Criterion releases of Samurai Spy and The Seven Samurai. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America west and Directors Guild of America and holds degrees in Theater Arts/Motion Pictures from U.C.L.A.