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Film Noirs
Starry Starry Noir Rebels and Censors is part history, part commentary, and part elegy that uncovers the lives behind the films, actors, directors, censors, and outcasts, and weaves a human tale out of forgotten reels. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I admire the work academics do on the much-studied genre of film noir. But I find the jargon and detachment from enjoying the films daunting. Discussing the social and philosophical aspects of film noir can be entertaining and that was the important goal of my book. Not everyone will be familiar with the work of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, but that is what he achieved in his films, seamlessly interweaving the intellectual and the entertaining. In my book, I have a lengthy appraisal of Kurosawa’s 1949 noir Stray Dog, one of my favorites.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
An analyst of classic Hollywood will see the sexism that devalued actor/ producer/ inventor Hedy Lamarr and actor/ director/ producer Ida Lupino. Another striking issue is censorship which reduced the quality of films and financially punished producers with costly delays. All for the questionable premise that objectionable films cause moral decay. If this is true wouldn’t censors be morally bankrupt from watching so many “dirty” films? The creative ways movie craftspeople overcame the burdens of censorship and low budgets spark much admiration.
Did you find anything in your research of this story that surprised you?
Surprises sprang from how the film noirs were created. Ida Lupino interviewed the young man on death row who was at the centre of The Hitch-Hiker. Kurosawa explained how he came to use music that clashed with images. Contrapuntal they call it and the neo-noir creators Martin Scorsese and the Coen Brothers love using it. The Great Flamarion 1945 is a good movie but open to a charge of misogyny. It came from a short story by feminist author Vicki Baum.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Starry Starry Noir Rebels and Censors?
I love film noir, and I hope to share that love with readers who will rush to watch some of the great movies mentioned. It does not sound very professional but my books on film noir took longer than expected because I would watch or rewatch films I was writing about. The other takeaway is, don’t let today’s censors grind you down.
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Beautiful Hedy Lamarr left the studio system that devalued her talent. Censorship and perfectionism derailed her career as an independent producer.
Anti-establishment content led to the infamous blacklisting of film noir artists, but it was sexual dalliance with an in-law of a studio boss that resulted in director Edgar G. Ulmer being banished from the major studios.
Silent-film director Erich von Stroheim was banished just as the talkies began because he exceeded his allocated budget and added salacious content one time too many. He resumed acting and continued writing.
Ida Lupino was a brilliant noir actor who began her Hollywood career as a teenager and was suspended over the years for her refusal to accept inferior roles as an ingenue. Studio heads called her Loopy Lupino, but she turned in great performances in many noirs before becoming the first woman to direct a Hollywood noir.
For the first decade of his illustrious career, all the films of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa were censored.
First, the wartime military expungers of Imperial Japan censored Kurosawa’s works.
After the war, the American occupation military censors cast their eyes over his films. Despite the censors looking over his shoulder, Kurosawa was able to create a tough noir that stands as one of the greatest of them all. It is called Stray Dog 1949.
Starry Starry Noir Rebels and Censors
Bernie Dowling’s Starry Starry Noir Rebels and Censors is a bold and biting dive into the shadowy corners of public domain film noir. It’s part history, part commentary, and part elegy for an era where rebellion simmered under celluloid. Dowling uncovers the lives behind the films, actors, directors, censors, and outcasts, and weaves a human tale out of forgotten reels. He doesn’t just retell film plots; he places them in a tug-of-war between art and morality, freedom and control. Censorship, both comedic and catastrophic, looms large as he dissects works like Dishonored Lady, Stray Dog, and The Hitch-Hiker.
I was immediately struck by how personal the writing feels. This isn’t some dry academic tour through noir tropes, it’s alive, angry, funny, and sad all at once. Take the story of Hedy Lamarr, co-producer and star of Dishonored Lady (1947), where Dowling explores how censors gutted what could’ve been a hard-edged noir into a limp melodrama. He doesn’t hold back, calling out how Lamarr—“dubbed Headache” by the Hollywood boys’ club, was judged more for her beauty than her brains, despite co-inventing frequency-hopping tech that would lead to Wi-Fi. And when Dowling digs into Ida Lupino’s gutsy leap from actress to noir director, you can feel his respect bleeding through the page. Lupino didn’t just break barriers, she shattered them, directing The Hitch-Hiker in 1953, a brutal, tension-drenched film that punched above its budget and bent censorship rules without flinching.
But my favorite parts are when Dowling tangles with the censors. He doesn’t just document their decisions he ridicules them, laughs at them, and sometimes mourns the films they destroyed. These are the book’s best beats: where Dowling paints censorship as absurd and tragic in equal measure. His love for these lost and maimed films is tangible, but he’s no rose-colored romantic. When a film doesn’t work, like Strange Illusion, he says so, calling it “all over the shop,” a mash of Freud, Hamlet, and shadows that just doesn’t gel.
This book made me feel things like irritation, admiration, nostalgia, and more than a few laughs. Dowling’s voice is sharp and full of heart, and he’s clearly done his homework. I’d recommend Starry Starry Noir Rebels and Censors to anyone who loves old films, stories of underdogs, or just really good writing. Film students, noir buffs, and history nerds will find gold here. But even if you’re none of those, you’ll come away with a deeper appreciation for the people behind the flickering black-and-white frames—and the battles they fought to get them made.
Pages: 295 | ASIN : B0DWXYVN7C
LITERARY TITAN 