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.

The classic period

The 1940s and 1950s were the "classic period" of film noir. Some film historians regard Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) to be the first true film noir. Orson Welles's Touch of Evil (1958) is often cited as the last film in the classic period, although Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) is also sometimes credited.

Related Topics:
Stranger on the Third Floor - Touch of Evil - Odds Against Tomorrow

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Some scholars believed film noir never really ended, but declined in popularity, only to be later revived in a slightly different form. Others critics ? probably a majority ? regard films made outside the classic time frame to be something other than genuine film noir. These critics regard true film noir as belonging to a cycle or period, and that subsequent films that try to evoke the classic films are different because the creators are conscious of a noir "style" in a way that the original makers of film noir were not.

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Many of the classic noir films were low-budget supporting features without major stars, in which 'moonlighting' writers, directors and technicians, some of them blacklisted, found themselves relatively free from big-picture restraints. Many of the most popular examples of film noir center upon a woman of questionable virtue and are also known as bad girl movies. Major studio feature films demanded a wholesome, positive message. Weak and morally ambiguous lead characters were ruled out by the "star system", and secondary characters were seldom allowed any depth or autonomy. In "A" films, flattering soft lighting, deluxe interiors and elaborately-built exterior sets were the rule. Noir turned all this on its head, creating bleak but intelligent dramas tinged with nihilism, mistrust, bleakness, paranoia and cynicism, in real-life urban settings, and using unsettling techniques such as the confessional voice-over or hero's-eye-view camerawork. Gradually the noir style re-influenced the mainstream.

Related Topics:
Writer - Directors - Blacklisted - Bad girl movies - Nihilism - Paranoia - Cynicism - Urban

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Notable film noirs of the classic period

• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Scarlet Street (1945)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
• Out of the Past (1947)
• The Third Man (1949)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• Touch of Evil (1958)

Directors associated with classic film noir include John Huston, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, and Orson Welles. Alfred Hitchcock made some crime films that are similar to film noir, but are generally not considered part of the film noir canon.

Related Topics:
John Huston - Billy Wilder - Fritz Lang - Orson Welles - Alfred Hitchcock

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