Film Studies Librarian
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Other library resource(s)
A definition for crime films
An extremely wide-ranging group of films that have crime as a central element. The chase film, which often had the committing of a crime as motivation for its defining action, is an important precursor and early crime films (see Early Cinema) include Biograph and Mutoscope’s five-part series, A Career in Crime (US, 1900), which shows a young man turning to crime and ends with him being sentenced to death by electric chair. The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, US, 1903), The Life of Charles Peace (William Hagger, UK, 1905), and Salaviinanpolttajat/The Bootleggers (Louis Sparre and Teuvo Puro, Finland, 1907) all based their plots on real-life crimes. In France, the Fantômas serial (Louis Feuillade, 1913–14) showed the exploits of a dashing master criminal; and numerous adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s and Arthur Conan Doyle’s crime stories were made in Europe and the US in the silent cinema era. There was a significant cycle of gangster films (or ‘crook melodramas’ as they were called) in the mid 1910s and in the late 1920s to early-mid 1930s, and this sub-genre of the crime film is popular and lasting and has attracted a great deal of film studies scholarship. The 1920s and 1930s were also the golden age of detective literary fiction, with the hardboiled novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in the US, and the detective stories of Agatha Christie in Britain enjoying commercial and critical success, and with the work of these authors regularly adapted into films from the 1940s. These detective films focused on detection and investigation and were extremely popular with audiences, who relished the opportunity to solve a mystery, or puzzle, and to try to figure out ‘whodunnit’ before the ubiquitous scene of revelation at the film’s resolution. In the postwar period a darker version of the US crime film attracted the label film noir, with the act of detection often thwarted.
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Crime film. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 Jun. 2022
Finding library resources for crime films
To find what we have in the Library's collection, you can do a subject search for "crime films" in the online catalog. That search will show you what film titles are classified as crime films as well as books and other items about them. The search includes the "history and criticism" about the genre itself. The search also includes crime films produced in other countries.
- crime filmsBooks and other items are scattered throughout call number range PN 1995.9 .C66 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
The heist film: stealing with style by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .C66 .L44 2014ISBN: 9780231169691A concise introduction to the genre about that one last big score, The Heist Film: Stealing With Style traces this crime thriller's development as both a dramatic and comic vehicle growing out of film noir, mutating into sleek capers in the 1960s and splashing across screens in the 2000s in remake after remake. Built around a series of case studies, this volume explores why directors of such varied backgrounds, from studio regulars to independents, are so drawn to this popular genre.
The new American crime film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .C66 S57 2012ISBN: 9780786459209The American crime film has recently enjoyed a surge in popularity and proliferation, making it the most pervasive genre in contemporary cinema. Though it now tackles current issues, it continues to reference the classic narratives and archetypes established in the great crime pictures of past decades. The titles explored in this critical survey feature a variety of themes and show that the crime film genre has fused with other genres to create fascinating hybrids.
Versions of Hollywood crime cinema: studies in Ford, Wilder, Coppola, Scorsese, and others by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .C66 F74 2013ISBN: 9781841507248No society is without crime, prompting Nathaniel Hawthorne's narrator to make his famous statement in The Scarlet Letter that, however high its hopes are, no civilization can fail to allot a portion of its soil as the site of a prison. Crime has also been a prevailing, common theme in films that call us to consider its construction: How do we determine what is lawful and what is criminal? And how, in turn, does this often hypocritical distinction determine society? Film, argues Carl Freedman, is an especially fruitful medium for considering questions like these. With Versions of Hollywood Crime Cinema, he offers a series of critical readings spanning several genres.
Selected book titles
Arresting cinema: surveillance in Hong Kong film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .S86 F36 2017ISBN: 9781503600706When Ridley Scott envisioned Blade Runner's set as "Hong Kong on a bad day," he nodded to the city's overcrowding as well as its widespread use of surveillance. But while Scott brought Hong Kong and surveillance into the global film repertoire, the city's own cinema has remained outside of the global surveillance discussion. In Arresting Cinema, Karen Fang delivers a unifying account of Hong Kong cinema that draws upon its renowned crime films and other unique genres to demonstrate Hong Kong's view of surveillance. ...
The crime films of Anthony Mann by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781617039249Anthony Mann (1906-1967) is renowned for his outstanding 1950s westerns starring James Stewart. But there is more to Mann's cinematic universe than those tough Wild West action dramas featuring conflicted and secretive heroes. This brilliant Hollywood craftsman also directed fourteen electrifying crime thrillers between 1942 and 1951, among them such towering achievements in film noir as 'T-Men,' 'Raw Deal,' and 'Side Street.' Mann was as much at home filming dark urban alleys in black-and-white as he was the prairies and mountains in Technicolor, and his protagonists were no less conflicted and secretive than his 1950s cowboys.
Italian crime filmography, 1968-1980 by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .C66 C87 2013ISBN: 9780786469765In 1970s Italy, after the decline of the Spaghetti Western, crime films became the most popular, profitable and controversial genre. In a country plagued with violence, political tensions and armed struggle, these films managed to capture the anxiety and anger of the times in their tales of tough cops, ruthless criminals and urban paranoia. Recent years have seen renewed critical interest in the genre, thanks in part to such illustrious fans as Quentin Tarantino. This book examines all of the 220+ crime films produced in Italy between 1968 and 1980, the period when the genre first appeared and grew to its peak.
Finding articles & using SUMMON
Articles and other writings about movies can be found in many publications. Our collection does not include a journal or magazine which looks exclusively at crime films. Other film journals within our collection will cover this genre. You can use Film & Television Literature Index to find relevant articles or use the search box at the top of the page.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about crime films.
The web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Selected movie titles
To find more crime or caper films, search the library's online catalog.
The amazing Dr. Clitterhouse by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #11284ISBN: 9781419875441Dr. Clitterhouse wants to find out what makes a criminal tick. Eager to study the physical and mental states of lawbreakers, he joins a gang of jewel thieves. Rocks Valentine is an ice-blooded tough guy the doc calls "a magnificent specimen of pure viciousness," is part of the gang. Jo Keller is a savvy crime queen the doc hooks up with.
The Boondock saints by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9596FBI agent Paul Smecker is on the trail of two vigilante brothers whose spiritual sense of right and wrong has turned Boston's streets red with blood. The victims: villains and mob bosses whom the authorities have been powerless to stop. Now, Smecker finds himself torn between whether he should catch the killers ... or join them.
Changgun ŭi adŭl = General's son by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #4608Having been orphaned as the age of eight, Kim Tu-han spends time as a beggar and loiterer until he becomes a member of the Chongno Gang. In recognition of his fists and fighting spirit, Ŏm Tong-uk, chief student fistfighter, supports him to grow stronger. Japanese "yakuzas" or gangsters try to expand their territory to Chongno. Kim Tu-han continues to protect Korean shop owners in Chongno. One day "yakuzas" attack Ŏm wounding him severely. Kim makes an assault on the "yakuzas". When he stands victoriously after beating every "yakuza", Kim Tu-han is reborn as the son General Kim Chwa-jin, the famed Korean patriot.
Classe tous risques by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #9559ISBN: 9781604650471Exiled from France for his exploits, underworld kingpin Abel Davos has been living for nearly a decade in Milan, even acquiring a family. In spite of the death sentence hanging over his head, Davos wants to return with them to France. His old mob cronies have gone bourgeois and affluent, reluctant to help, sending just one young thief, Eric Stark, to his aid. An exploration of the importance of loyalty and honor among thieves, this film shows exactly what it is stand-up guys stand up for. Stark is the only one of the Parisian gangsters who understands the code they have forgotten, and does his best to live by it.
Double = Dublerzy by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #19552After two Polish tourists meet at a wedding in Italy, they inadvertently become involved with the Mafia, and their problems follow them back to Poland.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.