This document discusses the genre of film noir. It provides descriptions of some classic film noir movies from the 1940s-1950s and notes their dark, psychological themes of betrayal, madness, and moral corruption. It then outlines some of the key conventions of film noir, including the gloomy, pessimistic mood; morally ambiguous protagonists like detectives and criminals; and femme fatale female characters. It also describes the visual style of film noir, including expressionistic lighting, disorienting camera work, and dark, shadowy urban settings.

1. Film Noir
Abass Jah

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.

5. Conventions
• Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir
• The primary moods of classic film noir were
melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, a
mbiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia. Heroes (or anti-
heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-
boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, socio-
paths, crooks, war veterans, petty criminals, and murderers. These protagonists
were often morally-ambiguous low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of
violent crime and corruption. Distinctively, they were cynical, tarnished, obsessive
(sexual or
otherwise), brooding, menacing, sinister, sardonic, disillusioned, frightened and
insecure loners (usually men), struggling to survive - and in the end, ultimately
losing.

6. Conventions
• The females in film noir were either of two types - dutiful, reliable, trustworthy
and loving women; or femme fatales - mysterious, duplicitous, double-
crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-
sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate women. Usually, the
male protagonist in film noir wished to elude his mysterious past, and had to
choose what path to take (or have the fateful choice made for him). Invariably, the
choice would be an overly ambitious one. Often, it would be to follow the
goadings of a traitorous femme fatale who destructively would lead the struggling
hero into committing murder or some other crime of passion. When the major
character was a detective or private eye, he would become embroiled and trapped
in an increasingly-complex, convoluted case that would lead to
fatalistic, suffocating evidences of corruption and death

7. Conventions
• Film noir was marked by expressionistic lighting, deep-focus camera
work, disorienting visual schemes, jarring editing or juxtaposition of
elements, skewed camera angles (usually vertical or diagonal rather than
horizontal), circling cigarette smoke, existential sensibilities, and unbalanced
compositions. Settings were often interiors with low-key lighting, Venetian-blinded
windows and rooms, and dark, claustrophobic, gloomy appearances. Exteriors
were often urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt, dark
alleyways, rain-slicked or mean streets, flashing neon lights, and low key lighting.
Story locations were often in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit apartments and
hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses. [Often-times, war-time
scarcities were the reason for the reduced budgets and shadowy, stark sets of B-
pictures and film noirs.]