Alain Silver is a US film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic, film historian, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

, the samurai film, and

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

. Filmmakers about whom he has written include

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

Robert Aldrich Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His notable credits include '' Vera Cruz'' (1954), '' Kiss Me Deadly'' (1955), '' The Big Knife'' (1955), '' Autumn ...

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

, and

James Wong Howe Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sou ...

Career

Education

Silver graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

with degrees in film production (B.A.) and critical studies (M.A. and PhD).

Film production

Silver entered the film industry through the Assistant Directors Training Program and was a trainee, second assistant and first assistant director on movies such as '' Every Which Way But Loose'', '' The Manitou'', and ''

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' is a 1977 American sports comedy-drama film and a sequel to the 1976 feature film '' The Bad News Bears''. Plot This film picks up the Bears' career a year after their infamous second-place finish i ...

'' and on television series such as '' Police Woman,'' '' Angie,'' '' Mork and Mindy'' and '' Laverne and Shirley''. In 1981, Silver began working as a production manager and producer. Since that time Silver has been executive or supervising producer on a number of movies such as '' The Creature Wasn't Nice'', ''

Prince Jack ''Prince Jack'' is a 1985 film from Castle Hill Productions which dramatizes some of the inner workings of the Kennedy administration, including efforts by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to address the issues arising from the Civil Rights ...

'', ''

The Ratings Game ''The Ratings Game'' is a 1984 comedy cable television film directed by Danny DeVito and produced by David Jablin. The Showtime comedy stars DeVito and Rhea Perlman, and features Huntz Hall, Michael Richards, George Wendt and Jerry Seinfeld. P ...

'', ''

Mortuary Academy ''Mortuary Academy'' is a 1988 American comedy film starring Christopher Atkins and Perry Lang. The film was released on DVD in full screen with no extras in 2005. Plot summary Sam (Christopher Atkins) and Max Grimm ( Perry Lang) inherit the Gr ...

'', ''

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" is a song written by Harry Noble and originally performed by Karen Chandler in 1952. It has been re-recorded several times since then, the most notable covers being by Mel Carter in 1965 and Gloria Estefan in 1994. ...

'', '' The Quickie'', '' 10th & Wolf'', ''

The Kings of Appletown ''Adventures in Appletown'' (also known as ''Hidden Treasure of the Mississippi'' or ''The Kings of Appletown'') is a 2008 dramedy/adventure film starring twin brothers Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse, written by Amanda Moresco, directed by Rober ...

'' and ''The 7''. With Linda Brookover he co-wrote and was Executive Producer of the Showtime family feature '' Time at the Top''. Silver has also produced sixteen independent features, including '' Kiss Daddy Goodbye'', ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...

'', ''

Night Visitor ''Night Visitor'' (produced under the title ''Never Cry Devil'') is a 1989 American thriller film directed by Rupert Hitzig, produced by Alain Silver, and starring Richard Roundtree, Elliott Gould, Allen Garfield, and Derek Rydall. Plot High ...

'', '' Cyborg 2'', '' Beat'', '' The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park'', ''Crashing'', '' Changing the Game'', ''Sacred Blood'' (which he also wrote), ''Radio Mary'', and ''Torch'' as well documentaries, music videos, and segments for the TV reality series ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

'' and ''I Survived!''. He wrote and directed the short films ''A Fish in the Desert'' (2002) and ''Texas Vampire Massacre'' (2004) and the narrative features ''White Nights'' (adapted from Dostoyevsky, 2005) and ''Nightcomer'' (aka ''Blood Cure'', 2013)). Silver has given lectures on production and appeared on and moderated panels for the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...

Writers Guild of America, West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 me ...

and at various festival venues such as the

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which al ...

and

Cinequest Film Festival The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

Writing

Silver has written and edited more than thirty books, mostly with

James Ursini James Ursini (born May 10, 1947) is an American writer living in Los Angeles, and an educator. He received his master's degree in Theater Arts and a Doctorate in Film in 1975 from UCLA. He was born on May 10, 1947, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ...

or Elizabeth Ward, including ''film Noir Fatal Women; The Noir Style; The Samurai Film; Film Noir the Encyclopedia; Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles; Film Noir Readers 1, 2, 3'' and ''4; Film Noir Graphics: Where Danger Lives; Film Noir Compendium; Film Noir Light and Shadow; Film Noir Prototypes; L.A. Noir: the City as Character; Gangster Film Reader; Horror Film Reader; Film Noir the Directors; David Lean and his Films; What Ever Happened to Robert Aldrich; More Things than Are Dreamt Of; The Vampire Film; Roger Corman: Metaphysics on a Shoestring; James Wong Howe: The Camera Eye; Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery'' and ''Katharine Hepburn'' for the

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, ...

Icon series; ''The Film Director's Team;'' ''Film Budgeting;'' and ''Movies Without Baggage.'' Silver has also written numerous articles on

samurai cinema , also commonly spelled "''chambara''", meaning "sword fighting" films,Hill (2002). denotes the Japanese film genre called samurai cinema in English and is roughly equivalent to Western and swashbuckler films. ''Chanbara'' is a sub-category of ' ...

vampire films Vampire films have been a staple in world cinema since the era of silent films, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in films throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptat ...

, and other topics on film history and production. He has provided audio and video commentary on the DVD titles listed below. He has done film noir visual presentations on the long take, Billy Wilder and ''Double Indemnity'', and visual style for Hillsdale College and "A Noir Tour of L.A." at the Los Angeles Film Festival. He has also produced more than fifty soundtrack albums for Citadel Records and Bay Cities Music. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

, and the

List of audio commentaries

* ''Boomerang'', with film historian James Ursini * ''Brute Force'', with James Ursini * ''

Call Northside 777 ''Call Northside 777'' is a 1948 reality-based newspaper drama directed by Henry Hathaway. The film parallels the true story of a Chicago reporter who proved that a man jailed for murder was wrongly convicted 11 years before. James Stewart stars ...

'', with James Ursini * ''Crossfire'', with James Ursini * '' The Dark Corner'', with James Ursini * ''The Egyptian'', with James Ursini * ''

He Walked by Night ''He Walked by Night'' is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film, shot in semidocumentary tone, was loosely based on newspaper accounts of the real-life actions of Erwin ...

''. with James Ursini * ''Hobson's Choice'', with James Ursini * ''

House of Bamboo ''House of Bamboo'' is a 1955 American film noir shot in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color, directed and co-written by Samuel Fuller, and starring Robert Ryan. The other co-screenwriter was Harry Kleiner. The cinematographer was Joseph MacDonald. Pl ...

'', with James Ursini * '' Invisible Stripes'', with James Ursini * ''

Kiss Me Deadly ''Kiss Me Deadly'' is a 1955 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, and Wesley Addy. It also features Maxine Cooper and Cloris Leachman appearing in th ...

'', with James Ursini * ''Kiss of Death'', with James Ursini * '' Lady in the Lake'', with James Ursini * ''The Lodger'', with James Ursini * ''

Murder, My Sweet ''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The film ...

'' * '' Mystery Street'', with film historian Elizabeth Ward * ''Nightmare Alley'', with James Ursini * ''Panic in the Streets'', with James Ursini * '' Ride the Pink Horse'', with James Ursini * ''

The River's Edge ''The River's Edge'' is a 1957 film noir adventure, crime, and drama DeLuxe CinemaScope film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn and Debra Paget. The picture is based on the unpublished short story "The Higher Mounta ...

'', with James Ursini * ''Smart Money'', with James Ursini * '' The Street with No Name'', with James Ursini * ''Tension'', with Elizabeth Ward and actress

Audrey Totter Audrey Mary Totter (December 20, 1917 – December 12, 2013) was an American radio, film, and television actress and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s. Early life Audrey – some sources indicate "Audra" – Totter w ...

* ''

Thieves' Highway ''Thieves' Highway'' is a 1949 film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides, based on his novel ''Thieves' Market''. The film was released on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection in 2005. Plot A war-v ...

'' * ''Twilight'', with James Ursini * ''The Wayward Bus'', with James Ursini * '' Where Danger Lives'', with James Ursini

References

External links

Alain Silver's homepage
*
Review of ''Film Noir: the Encyclopedia'' at ''Bright Lights Film Journal''

Review of ''Film Noir the Directors'' at the ''DGA Magazine''

Appearance in the documentary ''Los Angeles: The City of Film Noir''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Alain American film producers American screenwriters American film historians American male non-fiction writers Film theorists Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni UCLA Film School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)

Career

Education

Film production

Writing

List of audio commentaries

See also

References

External links