Film noir

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Film noir is a film style and mood primarily associated with crime films, that portrays its principal characters in a nihilistic and existentialist 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 the gritty style of 1930s horror fiction. Film noir is first 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 term film noir (French for "black film") was unknown to the filmmakers and actors while they were creating the classic films noirs. Film noir was defined in retrospect by film historians and critics; many of the creators of film noir later professed to be unaware at the time of having created a distinctive type of film.

The use of the plural film noirs in English, is untrue to the French origin of the term. The plural form of film noir in French is films noirs (although the pronunciation is unchanged), which is sometimes used in English as is films noir.

Contents

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Precursors

Film noir is a result of a combination of genres and styles, with origins in painting and literature, as well as film.

The aesthetics of film noir are heavily influenced by German Expressionism. Under Nazism, many important film artists were forced to emigrate (including Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Robert Siodmak). They took with them techniques they developed (most importantly the dramatic lighting and the subjective, psychological point of view) and made some of the most famous films noirs in the USA. Concurrent with the development of German Expressionism were expressionistic gangster films in America in the 1930s, such as Little Caesar (1930), The Public Enemy (1931), Scarface (1932) and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932).

Other important influences came from French poetic realism, with its themes of fatalism, injustice, and doomed heroes, and from Italian neorealism, with its emphasis on authenticity. Several later films noirs, such as Night and the City (1950) and Panic in the Streets (1950), adopted a neorealist approach of using on-location photography with non-professional extras. Additionally, some films noirs strove to depict comparatively ordinary or downtrodden people with unspectacular lives in a manner similar to neorealist films, such as The Lost Weekend and In a Lonely Place.

In the United States, a major literary influence on film noir came from the hard-boiled school of detective and crime fiction, featuring writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, and popularized in pulp magazines such as Black Mask. Chandler's The Big Sleep and Murder My Sweet (based on Farewell, My Lovely) and Hammett's The Maltese Falcon are notable films noir. Although not itself considered a film noir, Orson Welles's landmark film Citizen Kane (1941) had a heavy influence on the development of the genre's style, particularly with its stunning visuals and complex narrative structure driven by voiceover narration

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The classic period

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The 1940s and 1950s were the "classic period" of film noir. Some film historians regard Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) as the first "true" film noir. Orson Welles's Touch of Evil (1958) is often cited as the last film in the classic period.

Some scholars believe film noir never really ended, but declined in popularity, only to be later revived in a slightly different form. Other critics -— probably a majority -— regard films made outside the classic period 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 perhaps were not.

Many of the classic films noirs were low-budget supporting features without major stars, in which "moonlighting" writers, directors and technicians, some of them blacklisted, found themselves relatively free from the typical big-picture constraints. 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. Film noir turned all this on its head, creating bleak, intelligent dramas tinged with nihilism, mistrust, paranoia, and cynicism, in real-life urban settings, and using unsettling techniques such as the confessional voiceover or hero's-eye-view camerawork. The noir style gradually re-influenced the mainstream--even beyond Hollywood.

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Notable films noirs of the classic period

Directors associated with classic film noir include John Huston, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Orson Welles. Alfred Hitchcock made some crime films that display elements of film noir (Notorious, Strangers on a Train), but are not always considered part of the film noir canon.

For an expanded list of films considered "noir," see List of film noir or Category:Film noir.

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Film noir outside the United States

Image:Thirdman1-9950.jpg There have been a number of films made outside the United States that can reasonably be called films noirs, for example, Pepé le Moko. Jules Dassin moved to France in the early 1950s as a result of the Hollywood blacklist, and made one of the most famous French films noir, Du rififi chez les hommes (1955). Other well-known French films sometimes considered to be noir include Touchez pas au grisbi (1954), Les Diaboliques (1955), and Quai des Orfèvres (1947). French director Jean-Pierre Melville is widely recognized for his tragic, minimalist films noirs, such as Le Samouraï or Le Cercle Rouge. Additionally, British director Carol Reed made The Third Man (1949), which is often considered film noir. Set in Vienna immediately after World War II, it starred Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, both prominent American film noir actors.

"Neo-noir" is a term often applied to films made after the classic period. Neo-noir films have been produced internationally in most countries with a prominent film industry. Examples include High and Low (Japan), La Haine (France), Insomnia (Norway), Alphaville (France), The American Friend (Germany), and Blind Shaft (China).

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Neo-noir and the influence of film noir

See main article Neo-noir.

In the 1960s, American filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah, Arthur Penn, and Robert Altman created films that drew from (and commented upon) the original films noirs. In The Long Goodbye, Altman's hard-boiled detective is presented as a hapless bungler who can't help but lose the moral battle. Perhaps the most successful neo-noir was Roman Polanski's 1974 film, Chinatown.

Film noir has been parodied many times, both broadly and affectionately. Bob Hope first parodied film noir in My Favorite Brunette (1947), playing a baby photographer who is mistaken for tough private detective. Other notable parodies include Carl Reiner's black and white "cut and paste" homage Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, and Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam. Film noir parodies have been extended to comic strips as well, with Sam Spayed from Garfield and Tracer Bullet from Calvin and Hobbes.

Many of Joel and Ethan Coen's films are examples of modern films influenced by noir, especially The Man Who Wasn't There and Blood Simple, the comedy The Big Lebowski (itself a tribute to author Raymond Chandler, whose crime novels inspired the genre and a direct homage to The Long Goodbye), and Miller's Crossing, loosely based on by Dashiell Hammett's novels The Glass Key and Red Harvest. The Coens also include prominent film noir elements in the filming and writing of their movie Fargo, and some critics consider it a modern classic in the genre. Curtis Hanson's widely praised L.A. Confidential may be the closest thing to a modern-day film noir, with its tale of corrupt cops and femme fatales seemingly lifted right from the 1950s.

The cynical, pessimistic worldview of films noirs strongly influenced the creators of the cyberpunk genre of science fiction in the early 1980s. Blade Runner being among the most popular films of this genre. Characters in these films are often derived from 1930s gangster films and pulp magazines such as The Shadow, Dime Mystery Detective, and The Black Mask. Other examples for "sci-fi noir" films are Gattaca, The Thirteenth Floor, Ghost in the Shell, Dark City and The Matrix.

Some consider the films of David Lynch to have a notable noir influence, particularly his best-known work, Blue Velvet.

Recent works of popular fiction in a noir vein include the TV show Veronica Mars, the films Sin City (2005), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Fargo (1996), and A Simple Plan (1998), the video game series Max Payne, and Christopher Nolan's remake of Insomnia. Nolan's Memento is also arguably an example of neo-noir, as is Tzameti.

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Characteristics

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Visual style

Films noirs tended to use dramatic shadows, stark contrast, low-key lighting, and black-and-white film, typically resulting in a 10:1 ratio of dark to light, rather than the more typical 3:1 ratio. A number of films noirs were shot on location in cities, and night-for-night shooting was common. Shadows of venetian blinds, dramatically cast upon an actor's face as he or she looks out a window, are an iconic visual in film noir.

Film noir is also known for its use of dutch angles, low angle shots, and wide angle lenses. Other devices of disorientation common in film noir include shots of people in mirrors or multiple mirrors, shots through a glass (such as during the strangulation scene in Strangers on a Train), and multiple exposures.

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Setting

Film noir tends to revolve around flawed and desperate characters in an unforgiving world. Crime, usually murder, is an element of most films noirs, often sparked by jealousy, corruption, or greed. Most films noirs contain certain archetypal characters (such as hard-boiled detectives, femmes fatales, corrupt policemen, jealous husbands, insurance agents, or down-and-out writers), familiar locations (downtown Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco), and archetypal storylines (heist films, detective stories, and court films).

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Morality

The morals of film noir tend to be ambiguous and relative, rather than simple "black and white" decisions. Characters may adhere to an absolute moral goal, but are more than willing to let the "ends justify the means." For example, in The Stranger, the investigator is so obsessed with tracking down a Nazi war criminal that he places other people in mortal danger to accomplish his goal.

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Outlook

Film noir is, at its core, pessimistic. The stories it tells are of people trapped in situations they do not want (and which are generally not of their own making), striving against random uncaring fate, and usually doomed. Almost all film noir plots involve the hard-boiled, disillusioned male and the dangerous femme fatale. Much of the success of film noir is due to the political landscape of the 1930s, 40s and 50s (most notably, the global insecurity and alienation resulting from World War II and the Red Scare).

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Elements of noir

Film noir is harder to define specifically than "classic" genres like the Western or the Musical, mostly because the filmmakers most responsible for the genre's creation were unaware they were part of a stylistic trend. Some movies, therefore, are considered noir by some but not by others. Examples include Vertigo (1958) or Niagara (1953), shot in (desaturated) color but sometimes considered noir. Films considered to be noir usually contain some, if not all, of the following:

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Character elements
Femme fatale or an homme fatal (male version of a femme fatale)
Morally ambiguous protagonist(s)
Alienated protagonist(s)
Fall guy (male or female)
Violence relative to character development/interaction
Protagonist's presence in virtually every scene
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Settings
Black and white, or desaturated color cinematography
Low angle shooting, and expressionistic techniques
Sense of fatalism (either spoken or visual)
Use of mise en scène to portray alienation
Odd camera angles or visual effects and sequences
Urban setting
Exotic, remote, and/or barren location setting
Night club and/or gambling setting
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Plot/screenwriting elements
Convoluted story line
Use of flashbacks
Murder or heist at the center of the story
Spoken narratives
Betrayal or double-cross
Story told from criminal's perspective
False accusation (or fear of same)
Sexual relationships vs. plot development
Hard-boiled dialogue/repartee
Bleak ending. Some writers will not consider a noir to be truly authentic without a bleak ending, such as the end of Scarlet Street. Some "noir" films end with happy, but somewhat bleak endings, such as Pitfall where the protagonist's life ultimately is turned upside down and his marriage is badly damaged -- but he's alive.
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Further reading

  • Borde, Raymond, and Etienne Chaumeton, A Panorama of American Film Noir, 1941-1953, Trans. Paul Hammond, City Lights Books, 2002.
  • Christopher, Nicholas, Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City, Free Press, 1997
  • Copjec, Joan, ed., Shades of Noir, Verso, 1993
  • Hannsberry, Karen Burroughs, Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film, McFarland, 1998
  • Hannsberry, Karen Burroughs, Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir, McFarland, 2003
  • Hirsch, Foster, The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir, Da Capo Press, 1981
  • Kaplan, E. Ann, ed., Women in Film Noir, New ed., British Film Institute, 1998
  • Muller, Eddie, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
  • Keaney, Michael F., Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959, McFarland, 2003
  • Lyons, Arthur, Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir, Da Capo Press, 2000
  • Naremore, James, More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts, University of California Press, 1998
  • Neale, Steve, Genre and Hollywood, Routledge, 2000
  • Rabinowitz, Paula, Black & White & Noir: America's Pulp Modernism, Columbia University Press, 2002
  • Schrader, Paul, "Notes on Film Noir," Film Comment, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1972
  • Selby, Spencer, Dark City: The Film Noir, McFarland, 1984
  • Silver, Alain, et al., eds., The Film Noir Reader, Vol. 1-4, Limelight Editions
  • Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth M. Ward, eds., Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, 3rd ed., Overlook Press, 1992
  • Silver, Alain, and James Ursini, The Noir Style, Overlook Press, 1999
  • Spicer, Andrew, Film Noir, Pearson Education, 2002
  • Telotte, J. P., Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir, University of Illinois Press, 1989
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See also

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External links

| url = http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
| title = Film Noir
| work = filmsite.org
| accessyear = 2005
| accessdate = March 23
}}
  • {{cite web 
| url = http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue02/infocus/filmnoir.htm
| title = Film Noir: An Introduction
| work = Images Journal
| accessyear = 2005
| accessdate = March 23
}}
  • {{cite web 
| url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950130/COMMENTARY/11010314/1023
| title = A Guide to Film Noir Genre
| publisher = Rogerebert.com
}}

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