Film noir

Noir is a French term meaning “black”; thus, noir genre is a type of genre that surrounds the idea of dark, ominous, violent, crime-centered, moody atmosphere. The genre, which is also called as noir fiction, is pioneered by an American writer named James M. Cain and originated in America. Film Noir is a practice of noir genre which plots are centered on crime dramas around 1940s and 1950s time frame, during which it was believed to be first practiced. At its peak, film noir polished many…

Ebert states, “One difference between Film Noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines.” The Movie Psycho which was made in 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock definitely has the plot twist element of Film Noir . The film, being the Film Noir genre, uses lots of different Film Noir elements to complete the feeling. Throughout the movie the viewer sees the traits of classic Film Noir, in the movie Psycho. One…

is a 1945 film, produced and directed by Fritz Lang. The film, Scarlet Street, clearly represents the idea of film noir. Fritz Lang took the initiative to remake the 1931 film La Chienne. During this time the production code was being heavily implemented and this lead to the banning of Scarlet Street from hitting the theaters because it was a story about love and murder which went against the production code (New York Times). This film was released through Universal Pictures. Film noir was a…

There are many ways to classify film noir, but in order to condense it for the purposes of writing the EE, I have chosen specific aspects to asses. Roger Ebert, noted film critic and former writer for the Chicago-Sun Times classifies film noir using 10 distinct aspects (some important ones are listed below) (RogerEbert.com): o At no point does the film trick the viewer into thinking there will be a happy resolution, there is always a sense of a bleak outlook o Love and death are highly…

Film Noir and Neo-Film Noir: The Revival of the Film Genre From the 1940s through the 1950s, Film Noir became incredibly popular and people thought that this genre of film would never end. Unfortunately, as the present became the past, people had a change in taste resulting in the demise of Film Noir. At the turn of the millennium, a revival of Film Noir started to take place called Neo-Film Noir. Even though Film Noir movies, including “Illegal,” and Neo-Film Noir movies, including “Bat-Man:…

Film in the 1940’s focused on lying, crime, and mystery. This particular style of film is now known as Film Noir, which focused on the dark side of humanity. Certain elements are needed to properly display a true film noir film. Double Indemnity (1944) is a film that focuses on insurance agent Walter Neff. Due to the dark events that take place throughout the film, several elements of film noir were used in the filming of this movie. Double Indemnity utilized film noir by setting a dark mood,…

activity. As a result, post-WWII films, typically in the style of film noir, became extremely popular. These film noirs based their plots around the anxieties of the 1940s time period; its translation into French literally means, “black film”. Other genres became popular as film grew and expanded, but the bleak style of the film noir still was accepted- the modern adaptation of which is called neo-noir. According to the dictionary, a neo-noir film is defined as “[a film] set in contemporary…

Back in Lesson Two, we discussed how film noir evolved from the Romance genre, and focused on obsessive love and femme fatales. The term “film noir”, however, is considered a cinematic term to encompass a whole genre of Hollywood crime dramas. There has been debate over the years about whether film noir is it’s own genre, or whether it’s simply a “style” of film, but I personally prefer to think of it as it’s own genre. The main reason for this is that there are so many different types of…

Double Indemnity, a film based on fraud and betrayal in regards to insurance money, carried out by Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson. This film is a perfect classic example of film noir, as the film has various aspects of depicting characters in an ambiguous manner with the addition of dark shadows, moody aesthetics, intense music and mis-en-scene to express the shots well. In particular, the opening scene of Walter entering his apartment building to his room is divided into five simultaneous…

Social and technological factors have caused Film Noir to develop and change in a plethora of ways to keep up with a constantly changing audience’s takes and expectations. During the 1940-50’s Film le Noir emerged and created an artistic movement within the movie community and created a contemporary style of movies that were often described at cynical crime melodramas. These films used lighting effects, flashbacks, cynical heroes and were mostly present in post-World War II, in which the…