This document discusses and provides examples of classic film noir movies from the 1940s-1950s such as In a Lonely Place, Criss Cross, Sunset Boulevard, and The Asphalt Jungle. It describes the defining visual and thematic elements of film noir, including flawed heroes, dangerous criminals, femme fatales, and a dark, gritty tone that reflected the post-war era in America. Film noir is characterized as depicting cynical stories of betrayal, failure, and corrupted dreams played out on the shadowy city streets of LA, New York, and other urban settings.

1. Film Noir
AbassJah

2. Film Noirs
IN A LONELY PLACEColumbia,
1950. This incredible
rethinking of Dorothy B.
Hughes' disturbing serial killer
novel is as close as a studio
film ever got to "personal
filmmaking." No noir
iconography, just a profound
darkness of the soul.
CRISS CROSSUniversal, 1949.
Stupidly, I used to think there
was something missing at the
core. But it keeps getting better
ever time I see it. De Carlo in
the parking lot pleading straight
to the camera might be noir's
defining moment.
SUNSET
BOULEVARDParamount, 1950.
To those who think this isn't
noir: Man uses woman.
Woman uses man. Queasy
sex. Betrayal. Madness.
Gunshots. He's face down in
the pool he always wanted.
Case closed.
THE ASPHALT
JUNGLEMGM, 1950. "I
wouldn't cross the street
to see garbage like that,"
said the head of the
studio that made this, the
granddaddy of all caper
films. A pure "crime"
film, with every character
indelible.
DOUBLE
INDEMNITYParamount,1944.
Cain's basic blueprint has
served as foundation for most
of the unhappy homes in Dark
City; but for that sloppy
subplot with Nino Sachetti
this would be #1. Too bad
Wilder didn't make Postman,
too.

3. What is film noir?
• “Between the Great Depression and the start of the Cold War, Hollywood went
noir, reflecting the worldly, weary, wised-up under current of midcentury America. In classics
such as Laura, Sweet Smell of Success, and Double Indemnity, where the shadows of L.A. and
New York pulse with killers, corpses, and perilous romance, failure is not only a logical option
but a smart-talking seduction.” – Vanity Fair March 2007 The dark night of forsaken city
streets, vistas of blissful angst and unholy pilgrimage. I have been there and known their
inhabitants: deadly dames, drunken losers, dangerous hoods, crooked cops, dreamers of
broken dreams, and flawed heroes. The dark night of forsaken city streets, vistas of blissful
angst and unholy pilgrimage. I have been there and known their inhabitants: deadly
dames, drunken losers, dangerous hoods, crooked cops, dreamers of broken dreams, and
flawed heroes. LA, Frisco, Chicago, and New York. I know these cinematic cities though I have
never been. A resident knows his locale, but the city in its ectoplasmic center is not reached
corporeally, only in the phantasmagoria of a thousand and one shards of shattered night.
Luminescent environs of a cosmic b-movie. Wet asphalt, fog-laden piers, deserted
streets, rusting hulks at anchor, the neon glimmer of purgatory dives, cigarettes and
booze, dark tenements, the skid of car tires, and the wailing sirens of the dead. Staccato
rhythms and aching horns, crowded pavements and desperate loneliness.