Robert Siodmak: A Biography, With Critical Analyses of His Films Noirs and a Filmography of All His Works

This is a very worthwhile addition to anyone's library.


Intelligent, perceptive analyses of director's films noirs   October 31, 1998
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Although Alpi's book almost looks like a carbon copy of Herve Dumont's French study on Robert Siodmak (Switzerland, 1980)---even the structure is the same, the Alpi book however is superb because she does examine all of the films noirs of the great master of suspense as part of the chronology of Siodmak's life---and then adds a special section at the end of the book devoted only to the "noir" titles which contain many new insights not discussed in her earlier chapters. What intrigued this writer is her comparisons of Siodmak's American noirs to his earlier output in Germany and France. We agree, THELMA JORDON was Siodmak's last noir film and practically everything that came after proceeded downhill--but like Dumont, Alpi completes the director's output until his death. But unlike Dumont, Alpi could have included a filmography on Curt Siodmak, who exercised much influence over his brother's career and also better stills which illustrate the action of the noir films she describes. Although Alpi considers noir a "genre" but it is really a STYLE, and at times she is not aware how really well-known Siodmak was in Germany (in the early nineties, there was a complete retrospective of his films:FILMEXIL, EXILFILM---a cooperative venture of 4 film museums--in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg in 1997) and also a German autobiography was published in Munich in 1980 entitled R.Siodmak, ZWISCHEN BERLIN UND HOLLYWOOD, I can only sing the praises of Alpi's work on Siodmak since it is practically the most complete, the most accessible to American scholars. But Alpi must realize there is also a linguistic community out there is multi-lingual--and so Siodmak's life and career is nothing new to us--but her careful scholarship in America is the best I have ever seen on this director. Although Alpi makes occasional errors---Preminger's FALLEN ANGEL was a vehicle for Alice Faye, NOT Gene Tierney---well, she did not live during the peak noir era herself. Nevertheless, Alpi's book is a terrifically readable work, full of interesting speculations (what would Hitchcock and Siodmak have talked about when they met, for example) and hopefully it will generate interest in film revivals and scholarship on other neglected noir directors like John Farrow, Edgar Ulmer, Alfred Werker and Anthony Mann. McFarland also brought out a new work on Jacques Tourner, another neglected noir director of the forties---so hats off to McFarland as well for giving us Alpi's perceptive and formidable work.

Dr.Ronald Schwartz, Prof. of Romance Languages and Film at City University of New York at Kingsborough. 10/30/98