Sunday, September 21, 2008

Out of the Past--Investigating Film Noir: Chinatown

Chinatown
Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir
Hosts: Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards



Robert Towne's screenplay for the 1974 film "Chinatown" tells an original story, but a story whose scope, intrigue, characters, pacing, and style owe a great debt to the work of Raymond Chandler. That said, it would be a mistake to view "Chinatown" as a simple nostalgia piece. In this tale of the fundamental--indeed foundational--corruption of Los Angeles, Director Roman Polanski, Writer Towne, and Cinematographer John Alonzo tell a hard-boiled tale in a modern filmic style, and this productive collision allows them to simultaneously critique and reaffirm the mythic qualities of genre literature and film.

To Listen the Episode

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