Rating: 
Summary: The Killer "Bs" Of Film Noir
Review: Art Lyons has written an informative, entertaining book exploring the seldom-entered realm of "B" film noir. You won't find DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST, or LADY FROM SHANGHAI in this book. Instead you'll read about SCREAMING MIMI, SO DARK THE NIGHT, WHEN STRANGERS MARRY, BLONDE ICE and many other "B" films that showed the gritty noir milieu their "A" production counterparts often smoothed over. The author has an obvious love of his subject and has taken the time to research the films, actors, actresses, directors and cinematographers that produced this most neglected segment of the film noir cycle. Some of the film could compete with "A" productions; one or two could better them; but few authors could write about them as well as Art Lyons has. And he's included a generous filmography, which will simultaneously make your mouth water while frustrating your efforts to find on video.
Rating:
Summary: The Killer "Bs" Of Film Noir
Review: Art Lyons has written an informative, entertaining book exploring the seldom-entered realm of "B" film noir. You won't find DOUBLE INDEMNITY, OUT OF THE PAST, or LADY FROM SHANGHAI in this book. Instead you'll read about SCREAMING MIMI, SO DARK THE NIGHT, WHEN STRANGERS MARRY, BLONDE ICE and many other "B" films that showed the gritty noir milieu their "A" production counterparts often smoothed over. The author has an obvious love of his subject and has taken the time to research the films, actors, actresses, directors and cinematographers that produced this most neglected segment of the film noir cycle. Some of the film could compete with "A" productions; one or two could better them; but few authors could write about them as well as Art Lyons has. And he's included a generous filmography, which will simultaneously make your mouth water while frustrating your efforts to find on video.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap and Lost but not forgotten
Review: Ever heard of the films Bad Blonde, The Come-On and The Mysterious Mr. Valentine? No...? Well then get into the car Punchy, we're going for a ride into dark and dank world of film noir. Thanks to Arthur Lyons' book 'Death On The Cheap', obsure film noir is back!
Rating: 
Summary: It was okay . . .
Review: I am a fan of noir, but it looks like I was focusing on the A Movie Variety. So I picked up this book to see what the B-side had to offer.Overall, it was an okay read in that it introduced me to some noir titles I was not familiar with. However, it lacked the depth that I am used to in reading film anthologies. The author chose to drop as many titles as possible in the book without more than a generalized plot summary in the filmography section. I would have preferred a good discussion about a few notable titles. To that point, the placement of the summary of films also perplexed me. I did not even realize there was an epilogue until this morning when I decided I had my fill of the book and flipped through the remaining pages. These criticisms aside, I am glad I read the book since now I have a starting point to explore this side of noir further. In the end, maybe that was the point of the book? P.S. It was fascinating to discover that Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward Cleaver) played the hard-boiled type in some B movies.
Rating:
Summary: It was okay . . .
Review: I am a fan of noir, but it looks like I was focusing on the A Movie Variety. So I picked up this book to see what the B-side had to offer. Overall, it was an okay read in that it introduced me to some noir titles I was not familiar with. However, it lacked the depth that I am used to in reading film anthologies. The author chose to drop as many titles as possible in the book without more than a generalized plot summary in the filmography section. I would have preferred a good discussion about a few notable titles. To that point, the placement of the summary of films also perplexed me. I did not even realize there was an epilogue until this morning when I decided I had my fill of the book and flipped through the remaining pages. These criticisms aside, I am glad I read the book since now I have a starting point to explore this side of noir further. In the end, maybe that was the point of the book? P.S. It was fascinating to discover that Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward Cleaver) played the hard-boiled type in some B movies.
Rating:
Summary: Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir
Review: There's a raging battle going on in the world of film noir. One camp declares that noir is a genre into itself. The opposing forces adamantly defend their stance that noir is not a genre, but a style of filmmaking that can be found in many genres including, Crime, Westerns, & Melodramas. The smart bombs hurled by film noir fans during their debates are the classic dark thrillers from the 1940's and 50's. Rare and lost films noir from obscure studios are resurrected, researched, analyzed and debated. Then ultimately offered up by both sides as evidence that the understanding and classification of classic film noir is still a work in progress. The by-product of all this frenzy has been that the canon of noir has expanded to include many titles that haven't been seen in 50 years. 'DEATH ON THE CHEAP: The Lost 'B' Movies of Film Noir' by Arthur Lyons is absolutely the best and most up to date reference material on those obscure films that are now at the vanguard of the debate,"what is this thing called film noir". Lyons' list of movies includes dates, run times, directors, production staff as well as actors. A short review is given about each film and the author is realistic about the qualities of the B films listed in his book. He separates the gems from the turkeys and explains why. In several chapters the book follows the evolution of the "B' movie and the studios that cranked them out. This background is essential in understanding why the classic noir looks like it does. While Lyons topic is the stuff that film academics ponder, 'DEATH ON THE CHEAP' is far from being difficult to read. This book actually is pure entertainment and Lyons' sense of humor fits right in place as he reminds us that after all, we are talking about films with titles like 'Blonde Ice', 'The Man Who Died Twice' and 'Please Murder Me' . 'Death On The Cheap' IS A MUST READ if you love vintage film noir or want to know more about it!
Rating: 
Summary: a welcome change in noir writing
Review: This book wisely steers clear of the usual suspects (the classic films noir that everyone has written about) and stakes out new territory. I discovered a lot of promising B films to pursue. If you want something different to read about film noir, and something not overblown with pretension, don't miss this book. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: a welcome change in noir writing
Review: This book wisely steers clear of the usual suspects (the classic films noir that everyone has written about) and stakes out new territory. I discovered a lot of promising B films to pursue. If you want something different to read about film noir, and something not overblown with pretension, don't miss this book. Excellent.
Rating:
Summary: B production values on a book about B films?
Review: This is a workmanlike history, survey and listing of second-tier noir films for film nuts who have exhausted the A-list. There is a very annoying quirk in this book's layout: after listing the credits (cast, director, etc.)of each film the designer or editor (I presume not the author) has opted not to begin a new paragraph before beginning the synopsis of the film. The eye has to sift through the small print to find the beginning of the film description. One can only assume this was done to save space. How many pages were saved to justify the use of this awkward format? This is a bad precedent; are publishers now going to do away with paragraphing, punctuation, etc., in order to trim a few pages from a books? Nonetheless, a necessary volume for the noir-obsessed.
Rating: 
Summary: The Big Letdown
Review: Very disappointing. This is basically a jumped up filmography, with fairly extensive but prosaic plot synopses, which seems unnecesary in this age of cable/sattelite TV and video tape making just about anything available on video (eventually). Lyons admits most of the films he desribes are awful, so why bother to synopsize them? He should have cherry picked those B films worth seeking out. My biggest complaint concerns Lyon's critical evaluations of the film. They're perfunctory, sometimes running only one sentence, and lack any insight into why we should watch the film. I was hoping for something like Barry Gifford's compulsively readable Out of the Past, which you read for Gifford's sensibility and fresh takes on familiar films. I really didn't need another reference book that tells me how unintentionally funny Shack Out on 101 is (I've never found it funny and the film was already discovered by Film Comment about 15 years ago).
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