Alain Silver

Last updated

Alain Silver
AJS 2019 Paris4.jpg
On location in Paris, Winter 2019
Alma mater University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., Theater Arts/Motion Pictures--Production, 1969; M.A. 1973 and Ph.D. 1976 in Theater Arts/Motion Pictures--Critical Studies.
Occupation(s)Film screenwriter, producer, director, historian, commentator, production manager, assistant director
Years active1977–present
Spouse Linda Brookover
Websitealainsilver.com

Alain Silver is an American 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, the samurai film, and horror films. Filmmakers about whom he has written include David Lean, Robert Aldrich, Raymond Chandler, Roger Corman, and James Wong Howe.

Contents

Career

Education and Affiliations

Silver graduated from UCLA with degrees in film production (B.A.) and critical studies (M.A. and PhD). [1]

He is a longtime member of the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, 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 [2] 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 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 Icon series; The Film Director's Team;Film Budgeting; and Movies Without Baggage. Silver has also written numerous articles on Raymond Chandler, samurai cinema, film noir, 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, [3] and visual style for Hillsdale College and "A Noir Tour of L.A." at the Los Angeles Film Festival. [4] Books forthcoming in 2024 are From the Moment They Met It Was Murder, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir (Running Press/TCM) [5] and 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

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film noir</span> Cinematic term used to describe stylized feature film crime dramas

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylized Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Chandler</span> American novelist and screenwriter (1888–1959)

Raymond Thornton Chandler 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 during the Great Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime. All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Wilder</span> Austrian-American filmmaker (1906–2002)

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-born filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and two Golden Globe Awards.

<i>Kiss Me Deadly</i> 1955 American film noir

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 their feature film debuts. The film follows a private investigator in Los Angeles who becomes embroiled in a complex mystery after picking up a female hitchhiker. The screenplay was written by Aldrich and A.I. Bezzerides, based on the 1952 crime novel Kiss Me, Deadly by Mickey Spillane.

<i>Double Indemnity</i> 1944 American film by Billy Wilder

Double Indemnity is a 1944 American crime thriller film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written with Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The film was based on James M. Cain's novella of the same name, which ran as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine beginning in February 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Aldrich</span> American film director (1918–1983)

Robert Burgess Aldrich 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 mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones. His most notable credits include Vera Cruz (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956), Attack (1956), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).

<i>The Longest Yard</i> (1974 film) 1974 film by Robert Aldrich

The Longest Yard is a 1974 American prison sports comedy-drama film directed by Robert Aldrich, written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, based on a story by producer Albert S. Ruddy, and starring Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad and James Hampton. The film was released as The Mean Machine in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The film follows a former NFL player recruiting a group of prisoners and playing football against their guards. It features many real-life football players, including Green Bay Packers legend Ray Nitschke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Coolidge</span> American filmmaker (born 1946)

Martha Coolidge is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. She has directed such films as Valley Girl, Real Genius and Rambling Rose.

<i>World for Ransom</i> 1954 film by Robert Aldrich

World for Ransom is a 1954 American film noir drama directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Dan Duryea, Patric Knowles, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny, and Nigel Bruce.

<i>The Big Knife</i> 1955 melodrama film by Robert Aldrich

The Big Knife is a 1955 American melodrama film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the 1949 play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winters, Ilka Chase, and Everett Sloane. The story delves into the dark side of Hollywood, exploring themes of corruption, betrayal, and the destructive nature of fame. Jack Palance delivers a powerful performance as a conflicted movie star trapped by his own success and the manipulations of the film industry. The film is noted for its intense atmosphere and sharp critique of the pressures and moral compromises inherent in show business. It received critical acclaim for its direction, screenplay, and strong ensemble cast, cementing its place as a significant work in 1950s American cinema.

<i>Apache</i> (film) 1954 film by Robert Aldrich

Apache is a 1954 American Western film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters and John McIntire. The film was based on the novel Broncho Apache by Paul Wellman, which was published in 1936. It was Aldrich's first color film.

<i>4 for Texas</i> 1963 film by Robert Aldrich

4 for Texas is a 1963 American comedy Western film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress, and featuring Charles Bronson and Mike Mazurki, with a cameo appearance by Arthur Godfrey and the Three Stooges. The film was written by Teddi Sherman and Robert Aldrich, who also directed.

<i>Big Leaguer</i> 1953 film by Robert Aldrich

Big Leaguer is a 1953 American sports drama film starring Edward G. Robinson and was the first film directed by Robert Aldrich.

Phedon Papamichael, ASC is a Greek cinematographer and film director, known for his collaborations with directors James Mangold, Alexander Payne and Wim Wenders. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography. He has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 2000.

<i>Hustle</i> (1975 film) 1975 film by Robert Aldrich

Hustle is a 1975 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Robert Aldrich, and starring Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve.

<i>The Angry Hills</i> (film) 1959 film by Robert Aldrich

The Angry Hills is a 1959 American-British war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Robert Mitchum, Stanley Baker and Elisabeth Müller. It is based on the novel by Leon Uris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Corman</span> American photographer and filmmaker

Catherine Ann Corman is an American photographer and filmmaker.

James Ursini is an American writer living in Los Angeles, and an educator.

Michael Luciano was an American film and television editor with about forty feature film credits and many additional credits for television programs. From 1954 to 1977, Luciano edited 20 of the films directed, and often produced, by Robert Aldrich. Aldrich was a prolific and independent maker of popular films "who depicted corruption and evil unflinchingly, and pushed limits on violence throughout his career." Their early collaboration, the film noir Kiss Me Deadly (1955), was entered into the US National Film Registry in 1999; the unusual editing of the film has been noted by several critics. Luciano's work with Aldrich was recognized by four Academy Award nominations, for Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).

The Greatest Mother of 'em All is a 1969 short film made by Robert Aldrich.

References

  1. Ford, Luke (2004). The Producers: Profiles in Frustration. New York: iUniverse, page 16.
  2. DGA brief bio
  3. "The Films of Billy Wilder--Double Indemnity as Film Noir".
  4. Kevin Crust. "Story in Los Angeles Times". Archived from the original on July 9, 2006.
  5. Silver, Alain; Ursini, James (February 13, 2023). From the Moment They Met It Was Murder. Running Press. ISBN   978-0-7624-8493-5.