James Ursini (born May 10, 1947) is an American writer living in Los Angeles, and an educator.

Biography

Born on May 10, 1947, in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Ursini received his master's degree in Theater Arts and a Doctorate in Film in 1975 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 ...

. He has written and/or edited over a dozen books—most with Alain Silver and two with Dominique Mainon (''The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen'' and ''Cinema of Obsession: Erotic Fixation and Love Gone Wrong in the Movies''). He is noted for his work on

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 ...

with Alain Silver (''The Noir Style,'' ''The Film Noir Reader'' series, ''Film Noir,'' ''LA Noir,'' etc.) He has also done director studies on

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,

Preston Sturges Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He is credited as being the first screenwriter to find success as a director. Prior to Sturges, other ...

, and Roger Corman and numerous DVD commentaries for Warner Bros., 20th Century-Fox, and

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

. Books forthcoming in 2024 are ''From the Moment They Met It Was Murder, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir'' (Running Press/TCM) and ''The Films of David Lean'' (3rd edition, Pendragon Books). He has also produced several features and short documentaries as well as appearing in documentaries on film noir.

DVD commentaries

*''

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

'', with film historian Alain Silver *'' Brute Force'', with Alain Silver * '' Burn!'', with Alain Silver *'' Call Northside 777'', with Alain Silver *'' Crossfire'', with Alain Silver, plus audio interview excerpts of director

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s films noir, noir films and received an Academy Award for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Director for ...

*'' The Dark Corner'', with Alain Silver *'' Dark Victory'', with CNN film critic Paul Clinton *'' Hobson's Choice'', with Alain Silver *'' House of Bamboo'', with Alain Silver * ''Hustle'', with Alain Silver * ''Internal Affairs'', with Alain Silver *'' Invisible Stripes'', with Alain Silver *'' Kiss of Death'', with Alain Silver *'' Lady in the Lake'', with Alain Silver * ''The Longest Yard'', with Alain Silver *'' Nightmare Alley'', with Alain Silver *''

Out of the Past ''Out of the Past'' (billed in the United Kingdom as ''Build My Gallows High'') is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Geoffrey Homes (Daniel ...

'' *'' Panic in the Streets'', with Alain Silver *'' The River's Edge'', with Alain Silver *'' Smart Money'', with Alain Silver *'' The Street with No Name'', with Alain Silver * ''Twilight'', with Alain Silver * ''The Wayward Bus'', with Alain Silver *'' Where Danger Lives'', with Alain Silver

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ursini, James 1947 births American film critics American film educators American film historians American male non-fiction writers Film theorists Writers from Pittsburgh UCLA Film School alumni Living people Historians from Pennsylvania