During the Great Depression and shortly prior to the outbreak of World War II, many of the films produced were “propaganda” type films. Each one designed to cheer the American people’s dismal outlook during the 30s and 40s. However, with World War II and post-war attitudes, these films did little to help the cynicism of the American people. They were more interested in films that were genuine, depicting the harsh view of society from the perspective of everyday people. Nino Frank explains what they were looking for, “a third dimension: a touch of substance, a touch of depth, the logic of cinema definitively replaced by the logic of truth.”1 Films in this time period were usually adapted from hard-boiled fictions of the 1930s. These films dealt with the uniquely American experiences of despair and alienation as they adjusted to new social and political realities. Films in the early 1940s and late 1950s were, at the time, considered crime melodramas but are now known as “Film Noir,” or “black cinema.” Directors were not intentionally trying to create films that fit into a specific category, but instead were creating films that reflected much of the sentiment of the time. In most literature, there are many debates about what constitutes film noir. I hope to define the genre through historical background, cinematic conventions, and characteristics that categorize a film noir; as well as a progression of the genre into today’s movies.

Although Technicolor began in the 30s, they were very expensive and took a long time to make. So by the 40s, studios used a “Block Booking,” as system which would include one A-list blockbuster movie as well as a bundle of less desirable and cheaper B-list movies. Numerous screenplays inspired by crime fiction were brought to the screen, primarily by European émigré directors who shared highly stylized imagery often drawn from an earlier era of German “expressionism” cinema. Movie audiences responded favorably to these vivid, adult-oriented films and studios began to crank out crime thrillers and murder dramas with a particularly dark and venomous view of existence. In 1946, five such films, to include The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Double Indemnity(1944) were released for the first time in France. Because of it’s darker and cynical content, it’s low-key black and white visual styles and shadowy sexuality French critics christened this new type of film “film noir” or “black film.” Very few in Hollywood would use this term and it wasn’t until the 1970s that the term was widely adopted. Cinema historians define the films during the 40s and 50s as classical period film noirs and any other film noir after this time are considered neo-noir. To this day, it is still debated whether the film noir qualifies as a distinct genre, in some fault to the fact that it is so hard to specifically define. James Naremore writes: “It has always been easier to recognize a film noir than to define the term.”2 The main reason for the title of film noir was particularly attributed to the black and white films with this gloomy tone or mode. However, there are many other attributes that distinguish a film as film noir.

The first, and probably most identifiable, convention of film noir is the visual style of the film; with John Alton being cited as the most defining cinematographer of film noir. Most films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting that were either shot in black and white or had the notion that they were. Camera shots were done with low-key lighting or 3-point lighting, blocking shots (normally done through shutters, blinds or banisters), ephasizing shadows, silhouettes or ominous facial expressions; this adds to the darkness and mystery.
“The street, confusing and sinister as soon as sleep overtakes the houses bordering it...The signs of death mixed with all-seeing fogs and ghosts of the noises preceding it. Animated black and white are excellent creators of anxiety”3
Location shots were done in police stations, bars, rural buildings, or hotel rooms. Exteriors were often night scenes with rain slicked asphalt, dark alleyways, flashing neon lights or the mean streets. Encircling smoke played a significant role in film noir. The smoke not only hid people physically but it was symbolic of hiding their real intentions. Different camera techniques also contribute to the film noir. Films from German directors, such as Murnau and Wiene, were noted for their stark camera angles and movements and were inspirations to the directors of Sunset Boulevard and Touch of Evil. Other directors used vertical compositional lines, jarring juxtapositions between shots that involved extreme changes in screen size. Tilted camera angles suggested a sense of claustrophobia and emphasized a nocturnal world.

A second convention of film noir was the typical themes or storylines and seen throughout these crime fictions. A theme sets the movie in motion and allows the audience to grasp what the movie is going to be about. Film noir thematically showed the dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed love. They emphasized the brutal, seamy and sadistic sides of human experience. The atmosphere is oppressive with pessimism, suspicion, futility, defeat and entrapment. The protagonists in the film were driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes. Chinatown is a perfect example of this. As the movie ends, the male role is left with a dead woman in Chinatown, an experience we had already heard earlier in the film. Plotlines were usually about corruption, desperation, jealousy, sex and betrayal. Although not all film noir uses the first-person voiceover narration, it was predominant in most. They were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted. This was partly due to the popularity of Freudian thought at the time, but moreover, it represented psychological reflection and introspection by a character. Storylines were often non-linear and twisting. They were typically told with foreboding background music and used flashbacks. The dialogue was witty, razor-sharp, and normally reflective and confessional. Throughout the story, revelations would be made to justify actions of the characters. Just as in most films throughout history, it is the characters that we immortalize and make into legends. Although characters throughout the different film noirs may differ slightly, they can usually be categorized into four groups; the male protagonists or anti-hero, the proletarian tough guy, the femme fatale and the “other” woman. The males were often anti-heroes as they often had murky pasts and were not innocent nor your typical good guys. This is epitomized in Out of The Past (1947) when Kathie Moffat pleads to Jeff Bailey, “Oh Jeff, you ought to have killed me for what I did a moment ago.” And Jeff replies, “There’s time.” They were disillusioned men who encounter a beautiful but promiscuous, amoral, double-dealing and seductive woman. Men such as Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in Maltese Falcon or The Swede (Burt Lancaster) in The Killers became legends. Many of the male actors considered icons today, received their start in film noir. However, we also had the doomed innocent man who was pummeled by fate or chance. Similar to Oedipus, circumstances were out of his control. Scarlet Street and Detour were prime examples of this male type. The Femme Fatale (also called Spider Woman) was intent on destroying the male protagonist by exploiting the weakness of men to her own advantage. This “deadly woman” was sexy, mysterious, double-crossing, manipulative and often times desperate. Roger Ebert simplifies the femme fatale as “women who would just as soon kill you as love you, and vice versa.”4 The portrayal of these women came because of women’s new found independence following the war; being perceived as a threat to male power. The proletarian tough guy would be considered the bad guy of the movie, although sometimes anti-hero could also be considered the proletarian tough guy. This character is a working class man who achieves his toughness by repressing all signs of weakness in him. He represses “feminine virtues,” like feelings and emotions, and heightens “masculine virtues,” like loyalty and facing problems with aggression and dominance. Not often a big character in most film noir, the “other” woman was dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving. She was usually the secretary of the anti-hero or perhaps a relative to the femme fatale. This character was important to the protagonist male and attempted to keep him safe and in the hero role rather than anti-hero. She often reminded him of his past and the possibility of getting away from previous mistakes.

Although the classic film noir ended with ____ with what historians agree is the last film of that era, film noir has not disappeared but instead has progressed to fit modern society. Even today, there are films that replicate the 50’s style classic. However, most noir films of today have been classified into sub-genres. Neo-noir is considered films of the 60s and onward; movies like American Gangsters or Smokin’ Aces. Noir Science-fiction combines sci-fi and film noir into films like Blade Runner and V for Vendetta. Noir film has even been parodied, for instance The Naked Gun. If you take a close look at the newest Batman movies, you will see the characteristics very predominant in film noir. Although film noir may be debated on whether it is a genre or simply a mood of a film, it is impossible to not tell when you are watching one. Each film has a distinct style, cinematography, character style

Cinematic Conventions Style, Story lines, setting, theme,

Characters

Progression in Film Noir 1. Nino Frank, ‘Et la troisième dimension?’, L’Ecran français, no.56, 24.7.46, p.3

2. Naremore, James, More Than Night: Film Noir in It’s Contexts. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1998.
3. Pierre Mac Orlan, ‘Le domaine du fantastique’, L’Ecran français, no. 21, 21.11.45, p.3.
4. Ebert, Roger, A Guide to Film Noir Genre,

Fritz Lang has only ever treated one subject, the fundamental tragic subject of man defeated by his fate...As in Greek tragedy before Socrates, the hero is neither good nor evil: morality is excluded from the matter; it features man, depersonalised, at grips with a specific adventure which Fate has prepared for him. Jacques Bourgeois, ‘La Tragédie policière’, La Revue du Cinéma, no. 2, 1.11.46, p.71. A narrator or commentator is introduced, making it possible to break the story up, to slide rapidly over transitional scenes, and to accentuate the sense of "living" the characters' experiences. It is evident that this procedure makes it easier to get the story going, and that it also puts a certain dynamism into a psychological treatment otherwise lacking mobility Nino Frank, ‘Un nouveau genre “policier”: L’aventure criminelle’, L’Ecran français, no.61, 28.8.46, p.14