Film Noir

Film noir began in the 1930's and remained as a strong cinematic medium until the early 1960's. Film noir literally means "black film" in French and features themes which are more negative than positive, with an overall dark and shadowy outlook--being filmed in black and white. This film genre takes in detective and crime noir as well as many gangster films of the 1930's. Noir also moves into more modern films combining with other genres. These would include western noir--"High Noon", romance noir--"Laura", crime noir--"The Big Heat" and even modern detective noir--"L.A. Confidential" and "Chinatown".

The first recognized noir movie was "Stranger on the Third Floor" from 1940, although films made use of many noir facets well before. "Stranger on the Third Floor" featured what was at the time a new cinematic technique that made use of dark or dim lighting effects, dreary settings, filtered lights and generally dark themes and characterizations. Noir scenes are made from interesting camera angles and with dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. Frequently the stories use of smoke-filled rooms, views of light filtered through venetian blinds, seedy downtown areas with neon lights, dark wet streets to heighten the noir effect. Brightly-lit scenes are not used in noir films since the desired effect is that of dreary hopelessness.

The content of noir films keeps pace with the settings. Most noir stories feature main characters who find themselves embroiled in hopeless situations, fighting against a force that threatens to overtake them, the force being their inability to resist temptation. Most often this main character is male, although there are some noir movies in which the main character is female. Sometimes they’re known as the femme fatale. The femme fatale is most often depicted as a beautiful woman, cruel and dishonest, who is willing to do anything necessary to reach her ends.