BOOK COVER -- HALF-TITLE -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- DEDICATION -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Part I GENRE -- 1 DEFINITIONS OF GENRE -- GENRE CRITICISM AND GENRE THEORY IN THE 1960S AND 1970S -- ICONOGRAPHY -- THEORETICAL QUESTIONS -- LITERATURE, LINGUISTICS AND GENRE -- GENRE AND THE GENRE FILM -- NOTES -- 2 DIMENSIONS OF GENRE -- VERISIMILITUDE -- INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF GENRE AND HOLLYWOOD -- LABELS AND NAMES -- THE EARLY WESTERN -- NOTES -- Part II GENRES -- 3 MAJOR GENRES -- ACTION-ADVENTURE -- BIOPICS -- COMEDY -- CONTEMPORARY CRIME: DETECTIVE FILMS, GANGSTER FILMS AND SUSPENSE THRILLERS -- Detective films -- Gangster films -- Suspense thrillers -- EPICS AND SPECTACLES -- HORROR AND SCIENCE FICTION -- Horror -- Science fiction -- Musicals -- SOCIAL PROBLEM FILMS -- TEENPICS -- WAR FILMS -- WESTERNS -- NOTES -- 4 FILM NOIR -- THE INITIAL PROPONENTS OF NOIR -- THE DIMENSIONS OF THE NOIR CANON -- NOIR'S SIGNIFICANCE -- GENDER AND SEXUALITY -- HARDBOILED FICTION -- NARRATION AND NARRATIVE -- VISUAL AND AURAL EXPRESSIONISM -- FILM NOIR, NEO-NOIR AND GENRE -- NOTES -- 5 MELODRAMA AND THE WOMAN'S FILM -- MELODRAMA AND FILM STUDIES -- MELODRAMA, REALISM, AND THE DISCOURSE OF THE FILM INDUSTRY -- MELODRAMA, GENDER, DOMESTICITY AND ROMANCE -- THE WOMAN'S FILM -- MELODRAMA AND HOLLYWOOD'S GENRES -- NOTES -- Part III HOLLYWOOD'S GENRES -- 6 GENRE THEORY -- AESTHETIC THEORIES -- SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORIES -- NOTES -- 7 GENRE AND HOLLYWOOD -- THE STUDIO ERA -- THE POST-STUDIO ERA -- ISSUES, CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS -- NOTES -- APPENDIX: Chronological Index of 'Principal' Noirs from Borde and Chaumeton (1955) -- CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY -- COSTUME CRIME FILMS -- GANGSTERS -- DOCUMENTARY POLICE THRILLERS -- SOCIAL TRENDS -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX.