Alain Silver is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter; music producer; film critic,

film historian The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art, visual art form created using history of film technology, film technologies that began in the late 19th century. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. Th ...

, DVD commentator, author and editor of books and essays on film topics, especially

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

, the samurai film, and

horror films Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

. 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 of Cinema of the United Kingdom, British cinema. He directed the large-scale epi ...

Robert Aldrich Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick '' auteur'' working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed main ...

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 (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

, 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 so ...

Career

Education and Affiliations

Silver graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

with degrees in film production (B.A.) and critical studies (M.A. and PhD). He is a longtime member of the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

, 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 Dir ...

, and the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Radio and Television Artists.

Film Writing and 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'' 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, development, or supervising producer on a number of movies such as '' The Creature Wasn't Nice'', '' Prince Jack'', '' The Ratings Game'', '' Mortuary Academy'', '' Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me'', '' The Quickie'', '' 10th & Wolf'', ''

The Kings of Appletown ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', ''The 7'', '' Dead for a Dollar'', and ''Lars Shrike Walks The Night''. 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'', '' Night Visitor'', '' 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'' 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, Writers Guild of America, West and at various festival venues such as the Slamdance Film Festival and Cinequest Film Festival.

Critical Writing

Silver has written and edited more than thirty books, mostly with James Ursini 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 Taschen and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Tasch ...

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

, samurai cinema,

, vampire films, 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. In 2024 ''From the Moment They Met It Was Murder, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir'' (Running Press/Hachette) was published as a TCM book. Forthcoming in 2025 is ''The Films of David Lean'' (3rd edition, Pendragon Books). He has also produced more than fifty soundtrack albums for Citadel Records and Bay Cities Music.

List of audio commentaries

* ''Boomerang'', with film historian James Ursini * ''Brute Force'', with James Ursini * '' Burn!'', with James Ursini * '' Call Northside 777'', with James Ursini * ''Crossfire'', with James Ursini * '' The Dark Corner'', with James Ursini * ''The Egyptian'', with James Ursini * '' He Walked by Night''. with James Ursini * ''Hobson's Choice'', with James Ursini * '' House of Bamboo'', with James Ursini * ''Hustle'', with James Ursini * ''Internal Affairs'', with James Ursini * '' Invisible Stripes'', with James Ursini * '' Kiss Me Deadly'', with James Ursini * ''Kiss of Death'', with James Ursini * '' Lady in the Lake'', with James Ursini * ''The Lodger'', with James Ursini * '' The Long Voyage Home'', with James Ursini * ''The Longest Yard'', with James Ursini * '' Murder, My Sweet'' * '' Mystery Street'', with film historian Elizabeth Ward * ''Nightmare Alley'', with James Ursini * ''Panic in the Streets'', with James Ursini * '' Red Rock West'', with Christopher Coppola * '' Ride the Pink Horse'', with James Ursini * '' The River's Edge'', with James Ursini * ''Smart Money'', with James Ursini * '' The Street with No Name'', with James Ursini * ''Tension'', with Elizabeth Ward and actress Audrey Totter * '' Thieves' Highway'' * ''Twilight'', with James Ursini * ''Up Tight!'', with James Ursini * ''The Wayward Bus'', with James Ursini * '' Where Danger Lives'', with James Ursini * '' The Woman Chaser'', with Christopher Coppola

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 male 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)