In elegant and engaging prose, Nicholas Christopher explains how elements like the play of light and shadow, the backdrop of the city's mysterious maze, and the hero's haunting voice-over come together to produce the mood we love in film classics like Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, and Chinatown, as well as neo-noirs like Blade Runner and The Usual Suspects. His insightful analysis of more than 300 films reveals the many cultural archetypes and artistic influences that come into play, focusing on the modern psyche and all of the psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread that lurk just below our society's bright, pop-culture surface. But Somewhere in the Night does more than describe and explain the importance of a truly American art form, it pays homage to it as only a poet could. Christopher is, quite simply, the first author who has imbued a book on film noir with the style, humor, depth, and intelligence that has filled the genre and drawn to it countless fans for more than four decades.