Film noir

Film noir is a film style and mood primarily associated with crime films, that portrays its principal characters in a nihilistic and existential world. Film noir is primarily derived from the hard-boiled style of crime fiction of the Depression era, (many films noir were adaptations of such novels), and may first be clearly seen in films released in the early 1940s. 'Noirs' were historically made in black and white, and had a dark, high-contrast style with roots in German Expressionist cinematography.

Further Reading

• Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition; Alain Silver, Elizabeth M. Ward, eds.
• The Film Noir Reader, Vol. 1-4. Alain Silver et al, eds.
• Christopher, Nicholas. Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City. New York: Free Press, 1997. ISBN 0-684-82803-0
• Hirsch, Foster, The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir
• Muller, Eddie, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
• Naremore, James, More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts
• Rabinowitz, Paula Black & White & Noir: America's Pulp Modernism, Columbia University Press 2002
• Schrader, Paul, "Notes on Film Noir." Film Comment 198?.
• Silver, Alain, The Noir Style