From the 1920s through the 1950s, the famous Black Mask pulp magazine was the place where crime and mystery writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, and John D. MacDonald published their work; it also provided Holly-wood with some of its most prolific genre screenwriters, men who brought the Black Mask style to the movies. This book covers the film careers of Horace McCoy, Eric Taylor, Dwight V. Babcock, Peter Ruric, and John K. Butler. With more than two hundred feature film credits, this group of writers left their mark on Hollywood. From The Phantom of the Opera to Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome , from Big Jim McLain Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen , the contingent applied their expertise to the movies.