HARD-BOILED: Great Lines From Classic Noir Films...

HARD-BOILED: Great Lines From Classic Noir Films by Peggy Thompson & Saeko Usukawa (Chronicle Books: $14.95; 124 pp., paperback original). Although its roots lie in German Expressionism, the noir genre was produced in Hollywood as a response to the upbeat musicals, comedies and Westerns of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. The editors have culled hundreds of examples of darkly funny dialogue rarely matched in contemporary screenplays: “I’ll get even if I have to crawl back from the grave” (Bette Davis, “Marked Woman,” 1937); “That’s life. Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you” (Tom Neal, “Detour,” 1945).