History Of Film Noir:



Film Noir literally means “black film” in French, it’s a type of style of a film but also some people would class it as a genre but it’s more to do with the mood, style, point of view and tone of the films. It described American thrillers or a detective film and some psychological thrillers in 1920’s-1940’s as this is when Film Noir began. Film Noir was developed during and after the World War II, because of these events going on its come across that it was influence from the German Expressionism and the World War II.  Therefore it has lead Film Noirs to using dark, violent crime and deaths to the storylines in the Film Noirs being produced.

Stylish Hollywood crime dramas would most likely be classed and described as Film Noirs like for example “Suspicion” (1941) a film involving a husband trying to kill his wife and “Scarlet Street” (1945) involves a lady’s fiancé who forces her to con a man which causes drama and crime. The themes to Film Noir’s are more negative then positive which normally ends in a bad situation or someone dying, also with an overall dark and shadowy out looking. Film noirs are normally filmed in black and white using visual style.

 

 

 

 

Many of the typical/classical stories and the attitude in the Film Noirs are mainly created from the Hardboiled School of criminal fiction. Crime fiction is a genre that deals with crime, criminals and the law that happens in the US. Many of Film Noir films started of with the storyline that involved crime, gangster and detectives. But in the 1940’s Noir Films become more modern and thriller like.  It combined with other genres like Western Noir, The films High Noon” (1952) and “Laura” (1944) are a good example of showing you how Film Noir’s become more modern.