“Three Faces of Noir Curse Crime Cringe” is another good read by Bernie Dowling. It explores noir actors, directors, producers, studios, and even the film’s score creator; to do so, it uses a handful of movies as starting points. Whether you like the handful of movies is incidental, as you’ll learn about all the stakeholders’ filmography, or at least noir filmography. You’re just as likely to learn about whether the studio was running out of money as you are the geopolitical setting of the movie, e.g. Vichy government. As with other books in the series, it will talk about any censorship or personal life of an actor. This one also mentions pre-politics Trump, the theremin, and that a particular actress who went into jewelry-making. There are a lot of pictures, e.g. stills and movie posters, so it’s a fast read and you’ll feel immersed in the genre. I’ve read four books in this series, and will happily read another.