yea, i think you only need to study three of the four prescribed texts... well that's what our class is doing... cos you only need to refer to two prescribed texts (along with your related ones) in the hsc exam. not that it hurts doing all the texts but it might be a bit of an overload..?
anyway if you're looking for an interesting related text for CF that's a good example of film noir and hard boiled you should check out the movie "Brick" (2005)... directed by Rian Johnson... it updates the entire film noir/ hardboiled genre and places it within the context of AMerican high school.... and it's not all ditzy and stereotypical etc. it's really disturbing, there's all the symbolism and figures i.e. femme fatale, gumshoe detective, use of clues etc. (im kinda bsing now, i really have no idea about CF...) yeesss...