 French
phrase meaning “black
film”
 Film Noir was identified in 1946
following World War II and the
German occupation of France
 France
received all the films
America had made during the
war
 The influence of Film Noir
emerged out of the two preexisting film movements: German
Expressionism and Italian NeoRealism

Film noir became known because it
started a non-linear movie trend starting
with its flashbacks

Because of the Hays Code, nudity,
homosexuality, suggestive acting, and
profanity were prohibited in film noir
 Typically
the 1920’s
 Old-fashioned city
 Colors: commonly black and
white
 The dark set design is used to
express psychological state of
characters
 Protagonist:
usually an average
man who is framed
 Men are usually tricked
 Women are especially important
-femme fatales- mysterious,
double-crossing, gorgeous,
unloving, manipulative, desperate
 The
women featured in Noir films
threatened the image of the
traditional role of women
because they often worked in
offices and wished to bring harm
to other characters.
 Usually
conflict between
protagonist and society
 Murder or crime is involved
 Detectives
 Typically ends unhappily; there is
no winner
 Dark
 Fixed
character types
 Predictable narrative patterns
 Serious or dramatic facial
expressions
 Twitching
lips
 Shifting eyes
 Camera closeups

Verbal wit
 Dark
 Mysterious
 Corruption
and suspicion
 Low-key
lighting
 Low angle
 Wide
angle
 Unbalanced
compositions
High-contrast photography
 Deep focus cinematography
 Camera angle and low-key lighting also
help express the psychological state of
the characters

 The
meaninglessness of life
 Futility of individual action: for
example, a murder that does not
result with the intended
conclusion
 Romance
film noir
-femme fatales
Ex.: Double Indemnity (1944), Detour
(1945)
 Documentary-style
film noir
-docu-noir
Ex.: T-men (1948), 711 Ocean Drive
(1950)
 Prison
Noir
-set in prison or jail cells
Ex.: Fury (1936), Brute Force (1947)
 Menaced-women
noir
-homme fatales
(women are manipulated instead)
Ex.: Gaslight (1944),
Laura (1944)
 Neo-noir
-updated film noir
Ex.: Chinatown (1974), Sin City
(2005)
 The

Maltese Falcon (1941)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRSCV
2qc2IY
 Flashback
(5:50)
 Hays Code (16:30) – a lot of
symbolism
 Facial expressions (1:39)
 Verbal wit http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=Gz-5wKegyOw
 Crime
 Murder
 Black
and
white
 Voice over
 Symbolism
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=v
D6wNNKreug
 http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=O
5zgg3WCiWk

 Flash-forward
(0:00-1:00)
 Low-key lighting with occasional
bright light
 Brendan is isolated
 Verbal wit
(6:55, 55:00)

Manipulative women such as Mia
Wallace (Uma Thurman) and Esmeralda
Villalobos (Angela Jones)
 World
War II
 Film industry was weak
 War films
 Office of War Information
 Thirty
Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
-starring Spencer Tracy about
Lieutenant Doolittle who carried
out the raid on Japan
 The
Story of GI Joe (1945)
-about the invasion of Italy
during World War II
 Modern
Times (1936)
 The Great Dictator (1940)
-directed by and starring
Charlie Chaplin
 Casablanca
(1942)
 To Be or Not to Be (1942)
 Lifeboat (1944)
 Towards
the end of World War II
 Dark and cynical
 “black film”
 Double
Indemnity (1944)
 The
Killers (1946)
 Kiss
of Death (1947)

Revived
High Sierra (1941)
 To Have and Have Not (1944)
 Key Largo (1948)
 White Heat (1949)


High Sierra (1941)
 To
Have and Have Not (1944)
 Key
Largo (1948)
 White
Heat (1949)
 John
Huston
(director)
-captured classics
-adapted to
modern
 Known
cartoon characters are
born such as…
 Bugs
Bunny
 Tom
and Jerry
 Woody
Woodpecker
 Mighty
Mouse
 Casper
 Walt
Disney began to produce
classic animated movies that
have been very well-known
since their releases…
 Pinocchio
(1940)
 Fantasia
(1940)
 Dumbo
(1941)
 Bambi
(1942)
 Native
Americans
 Women, disregarding the Hays
Code
 They
Died With
Their Boots On
(1942)
-Crazy Horse
 The
Outlaw (1943)
-almost canceled
due to Jane Russell’s attire
-released for a week in 1943
-rereleased in 1946, again in
1947
 Duel
in the Sun (1946)
- “Gone with the Wind”
-eight million dollars in the box office
 Escape
the horrors of the war
 Upbeat and jolly music
 End of World War II in 1945
 Successful in the box office
 Thrill
of a Romance (1945)
 Anchors
Aweigh
(1945)
-Frank Sinatra
-Gene Kelly
 The
Harvey Girls
(1945)
-Angela Lansbury
-Judy Garland
 State
Fair (1945)
 The
Dolly Sisters (1945)
 Up
in Arms (1945)
 Economy
strengthened in 1946
 Broadway to the big screen
 Television, blacklisting,
McCarthyism, unions, inflation,
anti-trust rulings
http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
 http://www.filmsite.org/40sintro.html
 http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/
Film%20Noir.html
 http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/glossary/
index.asp
 http://tviewlalabplus.blogspot.com/2007
/10/visual-styles-of-film-noiriconography.html

http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir2.html
 American Cinema American Culture –
Third Edition by John Belton
