Noir Blog

Noir Films were often far better received in Europe than in the U.S. Where these films were for the most part ignored in the U.S. they were often venerated in France and other European countries. The dark themes and characters appealed to Europeans perhaps because they understood them a little better. In the post war poverty and rubble people were left to wonder about the evils that had taken place, the world was not the same and a dark aura had washed everything in the wake of such unprecedented death and cruelty.

French critics especially admired Noir and even gave the genre its name; ‘noir’ is French for black. A French critic named Nino Frank is credited with coining the term in 1946. These ‘black films’ were seen as a breakthrough in Europe because they were so far from the candy coated fantasy of other Hollywood films. Noir often attempted realism, (though it was no where near the neo-realist films that began to come out in the same post war era) as well as psychological insights into characters. Europeans then as now were much more open to such topics in film.

It wasn’t long before European’s began making Noir films with their own distinctive styles. It is the French Noirs that are most often remembered but it is interesting to note that Britain and other countries made some good ones to. Hammer Studio’s (usually thought of as a horror studio) made quite a few Noir films. But the French have made some of the best Noirs ever and really took the genre into new areas.

It was New Wave directors like François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, and Jean-Pierre Melville who gave the genre new life after it had died out in the U.S. One of the best Noirs to come out of France though was not by a New Wave director but one with a more classical background in film. Les Diaboliques (1955) was directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, it stands up to any American Noir and is darker than most. In my opinion it is one of the most suspenseful movies ever made.

Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows(1958) is another example of French Noir in less experimental form. The film is cinematic perfection, the story is terrifically intricate and contains many unforeseeable twists and turns.

In the sixties Truffaut and Godard began shaking things up, making Noir that pushed the boundaries of the genre. In 1960 Godard released Breathless (A bout de souffle) which mixed Noir themes with comedy and youthful angst. The film subverts the femme fatale archetype by trading her for a doe eyed, and earnest young woman. She is not greedy or manipulative but fatal never the less.

Godard’s Band of Outsiders (Bande a part, 1964) again took Noir themes and mixed them with comedy, youth and a certain irreverence. Personally I like this movie better than Breathless and I watch it every couple of months.

With Alphaville (1965) Godard created a Noir subgenre; the sci-fi noir. Alphaville is an undeniable precursor to Blade Runner (1982). It is sort of a detective story set in a dystopian future. This is a pretty meager description but the film is so bizarre and complex that it’s hard to synopsize.

Like Godard, Francois Truffaut mixed Noir elements with comedy and experimentation in 1960’s Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le pianiste), a film that on the surface is about a piano player on the run from gangsters. The subtext of the film in many ways is about identity.

One of the most beautifully filmed French Noirs is Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai (1967). It is an intriguing and hypnotic film about a methodical killer for hire named Jef Costello, played by Alain Delon. The film follows Costello through his meticulously planned hits and his isolated existence. Of course no matter how intricate his planning…

Of course these are just a few of my favorite French Films Noir, there are many more though no where near as many American Noirs. I thought this entry would just be nice over view and introduction to French Noir Film. I plan to write more in depth entries on each of these films in the future.

This Gun For Hire (1942) is the WWII era story of a killer for hire. The assassin in question goes by the code name Raven and is played by Alan Ladd. Playing opposite Ladd is Veronica Lake as Ellen, a nightclub performer who is spying on her crooked boss for the government and as it happens her boss hires Raven to do some killing. The story is based on a novel by Graham Greene and the film was directed by Frank Tuttle.

The narrative follows Raven as he becomes wrapped in a web of intrigue after one of his hits. When the police start chasing him after he uses some of the ‘hot’ money he was paid for a kill with, he goes on a quest of vengeance that becomes one of redemption. Redemption is a major theme in the story and it is an unusual one for a Film Noir but Raven meets the obligatory Noir fate anyway.

Unlike most Films Noir this story actually has a villain who is not one of the main characters. This Gun For Hire’s main antagonist happens to be an aged corporate mogul who is selling chemical weapons to the Axis powers. It is interesting to see such cynicism towards corporate America in a film during the time this was made. Sure people were worried about spies during the war, but rich old businessmen?  This Gun For Hire however presents us with the idea that the head of a national corporation would sell out his own country because he lives by a code of greed in the same way that Raven lives by the code of his gun. The film compares the two characters and their similarities are obvious; both hold no loyalty to anyone but themselves, both operate in illegal capacities, and both kill for money. However we see Raven as the more honest character, sure he kills but he pulls the trigger himself whereas the businessman sits behind a desk high in his skyscraper as his machinations kill his own country men.

Ladd’s Raven definitely carries the film, there are some other good players but Ladd really inhabits the character and makes us feel for this hardboiled hitman. Raven is a strange character who doesn’t mind killing for money but at the same time doesn’t seem to get much out of it. For one thing he lives in small dumpy apartment where he awaits the details of his next hit. He is totally isolated; his only friend is a cat. Raven admires cats and relates to them because they “don’t need anybody.” Even if being a hitman doesn’t pay well you’d think perhaps he get’s a sadistic thrill from killing but he does not seem to.

This is an unusual Film Noir simply because there is really a message here outside of “Life sucks and we’re all going to die.” Raven is a character who has become warped with killing but also finds redemption through violence in the end. In the film Raven must operate outside of the law in order see that justice is served. Today such a plot seems like a total cliché but in the early forties it would have been a pretty subversive idea. It is not spelled out in the movie but it could be easily speculated that without Raven’s vigilantism the old business man would have simply bought his way out of his treachery or gotten away with his dasterdly plot. I don’t think the film advocates vigilantism per se but it does present us with the idea that the wealthy can insulate themselves to a significant degree and operate outside the normal laws. Interestingly the film compares the similarities between the underworld of criminals and gangsters to the world of wealth and privilege where ethical and moral boundaries are crossed in order to make money.

I usually try not to complain too much about the acting in most Noir films simply because these were more often than not fairly low budget B type pictures without big name stars (usually). However Veronica Lake’s somnambulistic performance in This Gun For Hire irks me. OK to be fair she is essentially eye candy in the film but the fact that she is playing opposite Ladd who is so dynamic and gives his role all he’s got just makes her seem really dull. Movies are movies and there no changing them and it’s no use to complain about what’s forever encased in celluloid, however I think another actress could have really brought a lot more substance to the role.

This Gun For Hire takes us from the depths of the underworld to the heights of city skyscrapers.  It’s a fast paced and suspenseful Film Noir that doesn’t let up until its violent conclusion.

Born To Kill is a pretty hardcore piece of Noir, it is unrelentingly dark and features no characters of much redeeming value to speak of. It is the portrait of a skid row sociopath and his unlikely rise into high society. It is also the story of one woman’s obsession with him. Born To Kill features a rare character archetype in Film Noir; the Homme Fatale. As with the femme fatale the homme fatale is an object of sexual obsession and also the reason everything bad happens in the story.

Noir icon Laurence Tierney plays the homme fatale in this case, Sam Wild. Tierney is best known for two roles; the first is as the definitive film version of John Dillinger in the aptly titled Dillinger. The second is as Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs. Early in the film Wild is affectionately described by his enamored girlfriend as “the quiet sort, and yet you get a feeling that if you stepped outta line he’d kick your teeth down your throat.” SPOILER ALERT: This proves a fairly apt description as by ten minutes into the film he has brutally murdered both her and a rival suitor “for making a monkey out of me.”

The female lead in the film is Helen played by Clair Trevor. Helen may not have Sam’s violent streak but she’s nearly as cold and smart enough to get what she wants without getting her hands dirty. Clair Trevor found her way in to a few other Noir’s too including Key Largo and Murder, My Sweet.

The basic set up of the film is as follows; after Sam commits the afore mentioned murders he and Helen meet by chance while waiting for a train at the Reno depot. Helen is returning to her home in San Francisco and Sam is skipping town per the advice of his roommate Marty played by Elisha Cook Jr. Sam and Helen begin a flirtatious relationship which leads to Sam showing up on the doorstep of Helen’s family mansion where she lives with her step sister. Meanwhile the landlady of the woman Sam killed earlier has hired a detective to find the murderer. Back in San Francisco Sam has met Helen’s sister and fiancé. Seeing his chances narrow with the one he wants Sam seduces Helen’s sister into marrying him (it’s an unlikely turn of events I know but I believe it is supposed to show that Sam’s sexual prowess could induce any woman to marry him.) The plot twists and turns from then on to its inevitable end with a rising body count.

One of the best things about Born to Kill is its supporting cast of bizarre characters. First there’s Mrs. Kraft played by Ester Howard who hires a detective to find her ex-tenant/friends killer. Mrs. Kraft I an aged alcoholic, boisterously loud and unapologetic, she is also the only character in the story who seems to have anything like a redemptive quality. Still her search for the killer is one of vengeance rather than justice. She wants to find the killer because he robbed her of all the “good times” she used to have with the murdered girl.

 The detective Mrs. Kraft hires is called Arnett, who wheedles as much money as he can from Mrs. Kraft and later tries to blackmail Helen. This is not the more dashing sort of P.I. like Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe, Arnett is charmingly sleazy and enjoys quoting Bible verses.

Then of course there’s Marty, Sam’s crony, who follows Sam to San Francisco and moves into the mansion once Sam marries Helen’s stepsister. Marty is sort of like Sam’s wrangler in many respects, he attempts to calm him when he becomes erratic and has to guide the course of action after the murders Sam commits.

 Finally there’s Helen’s sister Georgia and fiancé Fred, both vacuous socialites who are pretty much cardboard cut outs. It’s funny that the only two characters in the story who would be considered normal and respectable are also ridiculously bland.

Robert Wise directed the film; he was a terrific director whose other credits include such diverse movies as The Haunting (1963), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and The Sound Of Music (1965).

Contemporary audiences might find some events in this film a little hard to swallow and it can be bit melodramatic. To me that’s part of the fun of Born to Kill though; it’s a pulp soap opera. It’s hard to imagine what audiences must have thought of this movie back in 1947, it’s a tale of murder and greed but without the usual more or less relatable characters like say Walter Neff from Double Indemnity. What keeps us watching the film has nothing to do with whether or not we like the characters though; it has to do with seeing this strange and sordid tale play itself out.

Picking up from where part 1 left off so Spoiler Alert still applies

At the beginning of the movie we witness Bart as a kid smashing a shop window to steal a revolver.  Bart is sent to a juvenile detention center for the crime and joins the army after his sentence. In many ways this background serves to show us not only the roots of Bart’s obsession but also the reason he is so easily seduced and manipulated by Laurie. He’s always been told what to do and when the orders come from a beautiful woman his unreliable moral compass gets stuck to a magnet.

When he sees Laurie come out to do her show with guns blazing and a suggestive smile spread across her face he is unwittingly doomed to a life of violence.  We don’t blame Bart though; he is a person who seems to have little to live for, except guns. After winning a shooting contest against Laurie her sleazy manager gives Bart a job in the carnival. This brings us to the very prevalent element of sex in the story. Most Film’s Noir contain sex (though certainly not in the graphic capacity seen today) but Gun Crazy really seems to push some boundaries for its time. When Bart joins the carnival we find out that Laurie has a sexual relationship with her con man manager. Later while posing as a hitchhiker Laurie is picked up by a traveling business man who tells her about his family then suggests they make a disreputable transaction.

It’s the relationship between Bart and Laurie that the film hinges on though. Their relationship definitely begins as one of lust and they have a good time as long as there is money. They really seem to enjoy being together though. The guns are always there though as a dynamic in their relationship. Would the two like each other as much if they weren’t both gun experts?

 In one scene we find Bart in a cheap hotel room fondling his collection of guns. A moment later Laurie emerges from the bathroom fresh from a shower wearing only a robe, she sits on the bed and puts on a pair of stockings. The two briefly discuss how to get more money and Laurie makes it clear that robbery is the way to go and if Bart won’t go along with it she will leave him. At the end of the scene Bart is torn and wants to leave but Laurie is lying seductively on the bed. The two embrace and kiss as the scene goes milkily out of focus. The scene establishes Laurie’s domination in the relationship and Bart’s weakness. For all her guile though Laurie does seem to love Bart and returns his feelings of sexual attraction.

In one scene Laurie goes against her own plan to “split up for a while” and at the last minute decides to remain with Bart despite the danger and the two embrace passionately as though they’d been apart forever. Later Bart and she argue again about the lifestyle they have chosen. Eventually they vow to stay together till the end and embrace, only the audience sees Laurie’s almost orgasmic expressions at this moment.

Author and Noir expert Glenn Erickson points out that the film is fairly subversive for it’s era. The unholy marriage of sexual gratification and a life of crime was not something looked at as fantasy or simple entertainment at the time. America was trying to establish its post-war prosperity and memories of the depression’s aching bellies still lingered. Gun Crazy shows us an America though that is not so different from the depression. While the gun toting couple is out living it up on the lamb the only other main female character besides Laurie is back home. This is Bart’s sister who lives in a dilapidated house with her perpetually absent husband and their three kids. Her life of endless drudgery is in sharp contrast to the life of crime Laurie and Bart live. There are no good times here just endless struggle. As an audience this is the alternative we are shown; poor people remain poor and miserable while the criminals enjoy life, at least for a while.

Gun Crazy is very fast paced and full of action, violence and sex (within the constraints of the Hays Code) If you are just getting into Noir movies it might be a good place to start simply because its sensibilities are a little more contemporary than other films from the same era.

Since I mentioned the Hays Code I’ll give a little background on it.

The Hays code was a U.S. production code for all legitimate motion pictures between 1930 and 1968. The code dictated what could not be shown in films, mostly sex, nudity, violence, drug use and swear words. The code was replaced with the ratings system we have today (MPAA) in 1968. Of course some major films were released without code approval, probably most famously Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959).

Gun Crazy is an highly influential Film Noir but it is also a good example from a sub genre; the ‘Lovers the Lam’ picture. Okay that’s a pretty generic name for a sub-genre but if there is a formal one let me know. Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is probably the most famous of these but there are a lot of movies about couple’s on crime sprees or on the run together. One of my favorites from this sub-genre is Terrence Malick’s Badlands (1973.) Just for fun I’ve included something I wrote on Badlands. It’s an part of a paper on the use of sound in film and I was using Badlands as an example. Click on the link to read it Badlands

 Thrill crazy…kill crazy…Gun Crazy. That is the tag line to Joseph H. Lewis’ Gun Crazy (1950). It’s a pretty sensational title even for Film Noir and it’s a pretty sensational movie in a lot of ways. I don’t mean that Gun Crazy is just a good movie (it is) but compared to most other Noir’s it is pretty over the top. Gun Crazy trades the typical Noir attempt at realism for a story that borders on myth. It keeps the usual Noir themes of sex, violence, and a guy who is in over his head because of a woman. The film is for the most part highly stylized and even expressionistic, the exceptions are the robbery scenes which take on a definite realism.

Interestingly the film is alternately titled Deadly is the Female. The female in this case is Laurie Starr, played by Peggy Cummings. Laurie is an unusual Femme Fatale; she is not some peroxide blonde glamour queen, she is more like the girl-next-door gone wrong. She is manipulative but not icy or detached, she is passionate and sensual. She uses sex to get what she wants but it is more than commodity to her, unlike most femme fatales she seems to want sex as bad as her male counterpart.

 In many ways Laurie could be looked at as the stories anti-hero, though that is not the filmmaker’s apparent intention. The people all around her (especially the men) are so comparatively stupid and plodding that in some ways we relate better to her. Laurie does turn violent though and loses control at times; this is another difference between her and the stereotypical femme fatale, she not as deliberate or calculating as she could be. At one point in the movie she pretty much sums up the entire Noir ethos saying “I’ve been kicked around all my life and from now on I’m gonna start kicking back.” She is, after all, trapped in a male dominated society and her opportunities narrow down to housewife or secretary. She rebels against this world though and thrashes violently against it. Ok you get it, I like Laurie, but not because she is simply likeable or pretty, I think she has a lot more depth than other femme fatales and I think that depth isn’t immediately apparent. To be fair Laurie does have a few unforgivable moments one is especially disturbing as Laurie suggests she and her counterpart kidnap a baby to discourage pursuers from shooting at them. 

Spoiler Alert (from here on): When we meet Laurie in the film she is traveling with a carnival performing shooting tricks in a cowgirl getup. Laurie is beautiful and wild which spells trouble for the likeable yet somewhat dopey Bart Tare, played by John Dall (he also starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope in 1949). Bart is a regular sort of guy but he has a fetishistic obsession with guns. He loves and collects guns like other men love their cars or collect sports memorabilia. Bart also has an odd foible for a gun lover; he can’t kill, not people or animals because of a childhood incident. The idea of a gunman unable to shoot anything living is an interesting twist in the story. In some ways this foreshadows Clyde’s sexual problems in Bonnie and Clyde.

When Billy Wilder made the film version of Double Indemnity (1944) he created an indisputable movie classic and the film Noir by which all others would be judged. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by James M. Cain and it is a fairly faithful adaptation with a screenplay by the great Raymond Chandler. Double Indemnity is one of those rare book to  film adaptations that is as good as the material it is based upon. To me it is an example of the perfect film, one that you can watch over and over and never get sick of.

Billy Wilder was an amazingly versatile director who made some of the greatest films ever. He made terrific comedies like Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, as well as dramas and darker movies like Sunset Blvd. and Double Indemnity. Wilder was originally from Austria but found his way into the German film industry as a writer in the 1920’s and 30’s. Wilder was Jewish though and escaped to the U.S. after Hitler came into power (in fact he shared an apartment in Hollywood with actor Peter Lorre, who was also a Jewish émigré from Germany.) 

Double Indemnity exemplifies Noir so well because it contains all of the elements that define the genre. It contains an anti-hero: Walter Neff is a likable character, in his everyman sort of way, but in the end he is driven to murder because of his greed and lust. It has a femme fatal: the beautiful and sexual Phyllis uses Walter to get what she wants and in the end he is just her patsy. The over all themes of the film are greed, lust, and essentially seeing how far people will go to satisfy their most wanton urges. Even compared to Noirs that would come later it is pretty dark and infused with a caustic cynicism. The two main characters really have no redeeming qualities unless you count being enjoyable to watch.

Below is an excerpt from an essay I wrote on Double Indemnity for a cinema class.

SPOILER ALERT

Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity features all the themes that make Film Noir so intriguing: greed, lust, violence and a certain moral ambiguity. In the Noir canon this film is unique because it doesn’t take place in some underworld of mobsters and criminals but in mundane offices, suburban households and even a grocery store; places of the “straight laced” normally law-abiding citizen. The main character, Walter Neff played by Fred Mac Murray, too is an average sort of guy not a jaded private eye or a gangster, just a working stiff who becomes seduced by greed and lust. The object of his obsession and catalyst of his avarice is sultry blonde housewife Phyllis, played by Barbara Stanwyck, a beautiful sociopath who thinks nothing of manipulating those around her to get what she wants. Neither character seems too worried about the moral questions raised concerning their joint murder of Phyllis’ husband.

The black and white cinematography of the film serves to enhance and exaggerate the shadows that saturate nearly every scene. It also helps convey the overall feel of the movie, dark and mysterious with secrets lurking in the shadows and suddenly pushed into the light. The darkness is especially dominant and oppressive in scenes where the characters are plotting murder or preparing to murder one another. There is hardly a shot in this entire film that is not dominated by shadows. In fact at times the darkness so pervades that the characters become mere figures, shadows that we barely recognize.

Just when you think things might work out for the murderers in the film, everything falls apart. After the initial murder is committed in the film events begin to twist and turn out of control. Secrets come to light and in one of the more perverse twists Neff begins to court the teenage daughter of the man he murdered. Though greed and murder are two of the bigger themes at play, the entire movie seethes with a strong undercurrent of sexuality.

Perhaps the most unforeseeable twist of Double Indemnity is how it makes us feel. We watch these very appealing characters do terrible things and in some corner of our mind we want things to work out for them. In the end the film is like some slight of hand, had we been simply told the story we would say Walter and Phyllis deserved what they got, they were two rotten people who deserved rotten ends. But because the story is told through film, and is thereby rendered relatable, we almost want their murderous plans to succeed.

There are two important archetypes in the noir world; the anti-hero and the femme fatale. The anti-hero is by no means a Noir invention, literature is full of male protagonists who indulge in less than honorable behavior from Odysseus to Hamlet to Tom Sawyer. Heck even Sherlock Holmes had a drug problem. Even before Noir in its most recognizable form began to show murderers, thieves, and crooked cops as relatable characters there were plenty of crime and gangster movies.

The difference between the anti-heroes in those movies and those of Noir is that the Noir protagonist is often a victim or pawn being manipulated by the “system,” the situation they are caught in or a woman. The male Noir protagonist is a man out of control, who finds himself in situations he cannot control though he may try. He is doomed from the start, condemned to prison or death before all is said and done.

Another Noir archetype is the all important femme fatale. The femme fatale is another archetype that has been around forever, think Sampson and Delilah. To put it simply she is the reason the male character does whatever terrible things that he does and she is the reason he dies or goes to jail or goes insane or whatever. There are some fairly iconic Femme fatales in the Noir canon but the most famous is probably Barbra Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.

These two archetypes stray far from the usual Hollywood male and female leads. They are like a cracked mirror held up to the seemingly flawless. The shadow drenched cities and tainted suburbs they inhabit are in stark contrast to the candy coated glamour and song and dance spectacle of the usual Hollywood movie.

The normal rules of Hollywood do not apply here; there are no happy endings, no happy couples living happily forever. A good example of how the normal rules of Hollywood are subverted in Film Noir can be found in Robert Wise’s The Set-Up (1949). SPOILER ALERT: In the film Robert Ryan plays a washed up middle-aged boxer named Stoker who hasn’t won a match in years. His manager is so confident that Stoker will lose that he promises a racketeer he will take a dive without even telling him. In the ring though Stoker unexpectedly begins to turn the tables on his younger and quicker adversary. Near the end of the match he is told that he is supposed to lose and that there will be serious consequences if he does not. The boxer, seeing that he can take his opponent, decides not to take a dive and wins the match. He stands victorious but his glory is short lived, leaving the stadium he is confronted with the racketeer and some of his thugs. They are naturally upset and make sure he will never box again.  The boxer does what he feels is right and grasps his dream but he is punished for it. In the end this is one of the main philosophies of Noir; things usually don’t work out for the best.

The history of Film Noir begins in Germany with German Expressionism. Expressionism and expressionist directors used film in a very atmospheric way.  The idea behind expressionism was not only to use actors to tell a story but background, lighting and camera angles as well. There was a huge focus on style but not necessarily style for styles’ sake.

A terrific example of German expressionism is that of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene in 1921. The film uses odd angles and bizarre sets to emphasize the mental state of the characters. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari also has a strong psychological focus, which would also become a staple of Film Noir. 

Film Noir uses a lot of the same techniques as German Expressionism though usually in a more realistic way. In fact many Noir directors (Fritz Lang being the most famous) emigrated to the U.S. from Germany when the Nazis came into power.

Fritz Lang’s M (1931) is a later expressionist film and stylistically very close to American Noir but much more frightening and dark than anything that could have come from the U.S. at the time. M is starkly realistic and has no hero. SPOILER ALERT: The main character in the film, played by the great Peter Lorre, is a child murderer pursued by both the police and denizens of the underworld.

The idea of a movie with no hero or an anti-hero is often attempted in American Noir. Usually the main characters in Noir are not people of outstanding moral character. As in M realism is a definite attribute of American Noirs.

Film Noir is an unusual genre in the movie world because it is so hard to define. It is not like comedy, sci-fi, western or romance, which have obvious and definable characteristics.  Some might say that the boundaries of noir are very tight comparatively speaking, some even confine the entire genre to twenty years; 1940-60 and a certain country; the United States. Some would constrict this definition even further saying that films shot in color like say Vertigo or Blood Simple could not be considered “true” Noir.

Personally I have fairly loose criteria for what is or is not Film Noir. To me Noir is a genre where the line between the good guy and bad guy is blurred. A good example of this can be found in On Dangerous Ground. The stories protagonist, played by Robert Ryan, is a tough cop from the city with a violent streak. He is sent on an investigation upstate after severely beating a couple of hoods. The character has an unmitigated contempt for the people who populate the nighttime city he inhabits as a cop. The character is a great example of the Noir ‘hero;’ he is a person who has observed the dark side of humanity so much he is in constant threat of going there himself.

Further, Noir always contains a deep seeded cynicism about the nature of the world and human being themselves. It is a world where the bad guys sometimes get away and the good guys might turn bad. It is also a world where the everyday person will find himself or herself caught up in webs of murder, greed, and lust. Walter Neff from Double Indemnity is a perfect example of this. In the film (and book) he is just a regular working stiff, content to plod along as an insurance salesman. Then he meets Phyllis, the trophy wife of a wealthy client, she is beautiful, manipulative and seethes sexuality. SPOILER ALERT: (I will try my best to always to give notice of any spoilers, especially if I happen to write about a newer film) He commits fraud and murder for her only to find out he is, in the end, just her pawn.

Noir cannot be boxed into a few decades nor is it as distinctly American as some believe (I plan to write about some of my favorite foreign Noir films in up coming entries.) It is a genre that is not as popular or thriving as others but it is a genre that continues to survive despite the fact that some would confer upon it the status of a dead language (as is evidenced by the recent success of No Country For Old Men.) Fans of Noir may disagree on any firm definition of the genre but all concede to author James Ellroy’s statement on the definition “I know it when I see it.”

Film Noir is an unusual genre in the movie world because it is so hard to define. It is not like comedy, sci-fi, western or romance, which have obvious and definable characteristics.  Some might say that the boundaries of noir are very tight comparatively speaking, some even confine the entire genre to twenty years; 1940-60 and a certain country; the United States. Some would constrict this definition even further saying that films shot in color like say Vertigo or Blood Simple could not be considered “true” Noir.

Personally I have fairly loose criteria for what is or is not Film Noir. To me Noir is a genre where the line between the good guy and bad guy is blurred. A good example of this can be found in On Dangerous Ground. The stories protagonist, played by Robert Ryan, is a tough cop from the city with a violent streak. He is sent on an investigation upstate after severely beating a couple of hoods. The character has an unmitigated contempt for the people who populate the nighttime city he inhabits as a cop. The character is a great example of the Noir ‘hero;’ he is a person who has observed the dark side of humanity so much he is in constant threat of going there himself.

Further, Noir always contains a deep seeded cynicism about the nature of the world and human being themselves. It is a world where the bad guys sometimes get away and the good guys might turn bad. It is also a world where the everyday person will find himself or herself caught up in webs of murder, greed, and lust. Walter Neff from Double Indemnity is a perfect example of this. In the film (and book) he is just a regular working stiff, content to plod along as an insurance salesman. Then he meets Phyllis, the trophy wife of a wealthy client, she is beautiful, manipulative and seethes sexuality. SPOILER ALERT: (I will try my best to always to give notice of any spoilers, especially if I happen to write about a newer film) He commits fraud and murder for her only to find out he is, in the end, just her pawn.

Noir cannot be boxed into a few decades nor is it as distinctly American as some believe (I plan to write about some of my favorite foreign Noir films in up coming entries.) It is a genre that is not as popular or thriving as others but it is a genre that continues to survive despite the fact that some would confer upon it the status of a dead language (as is evidenced by the recent success of No Country For Old Men.) Fans of Noir may disagree on any firm definition of the genre but all concede to author James Ellroy’s statement on the definition “I know it when I see it.”

In this blog I plan to explore Film Noir by writing about different films and many of the themes that pervade throughout them. In the often wish fulfillment, candy coated world of Hollywood movies Noir is a dark and gritty side of the usually glamorous and brightly lit movie standard. Perhaps this is what compels us most about Noir; it turns the idea of the Hollywood movie on its head.

 In the noir world true love is traded for fleeting lust. The chaste, docile young woman is converted to a worldly diva with a secret past and a gun tucked in her garter. The brave and selfless hero is exchanged for a morally bankrupt protagonist dead set on self preservation.

The themes featured in Film Noir often involve the most unsavory aspects of human nature; lust, greed and violence. The characters featured in these films often work on a level of moral ambiguity which leads them down disturbing paths of shadows and desperation. Perhaps this is why I am so drawn to Noir, I rarely go down shadowy paths because I have poor night vision and because of my middleclass upbringing desperation is a near foreign thing.

My interest in Noir came about through an interest in the hardboiled detective novels by authors like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain etc. Of course I began watching films connected with the authors like, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, The Thin Man, and The Maltese Falcon and learned that these movies were a part of the Noir genre. I also saw a really good documentary on PBS about Film Noir, which furthered my interest and gave me ideas for more films to watch.

So follow me down the back alleys and side streets as I explore the seedy characters and their dark doings in the world of Film Noir.