What is Film Noir? ‘The world doesn’t make any heroes any more’. The Third Man

In a darkened hotel room a man, his face in dark shadow waits. Out of the darkness 2 killers approach Winding their way up a maze-like stairway Shadows loom against the wall Bright light silhouettes them, masking their identities The man on the bed, lies prone, makes no move Death-like already

This is the opening scene of The Killers (1949) Based on a hard-boiled story by Hemmingway Unlike traditional Hollywood films with their harsh lighting schemes and no happy ending But unmistakably American Characterised as sombre in tone & cynically pessimistic in mood, labelled film noir

Tales of private eyes and crooks Reflecting a dark world Women with a past, men with no future Doomed men for whom love is replaced by sexual obsession and murder Women are predators, trapping weak-willed men

Conventions Foreboding Anxiety Guilt Violence Inevitability of death Show the dark underbelly of the American Dream Where death isn’t preceded by success, but grim failure Classic period from 1941 to 1958

Film elements Dramatic camera angles Rain-slashed streets Fog-bound roads Sharply contrasted lighting Empty, echoing buildings the sun rarely shines An urban jungle peopled with troubled souls Streets ‘dark with something more than night’

Recurring themes Protagonist is isolated from surroundings Fore-doomed, & aware of ultimate fate Story told in 1 st person Voice-over narration expressing bleak resignation Fatalism essential, due something in their past Noir anti-heroes can’t escape their past Often has values higher than societies Western culture, its social & sexual excesses reflected & distorted through a dark mirror

Hard-Boiled fiction ‘Once, I did something wrong’ Crime writers, stories for pulp magazines E.g. Black Mask Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett Took a cynical view of the American Dream Existential view of a dark world The individual living in the face of artificial social conventions & an uncaring establishment

Émigré directors ‘It was in the cards, there was no way of stopping it.’ German Expressionist cinema visually self-evident The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919), gothic art M, (1931) reflecting a pessimistic view of society ‘Always, there is this evil force inside me’, the murderer confesses A horrible but strangely sympathetic character

The look of Noir ‘I think I’m in a frame.’ Out of the Past Contrast between light and dark shadows cast by obstructions, chiaroscuro Low-key lighting Seedy & unsettling milieu Deep shadow blended with dark nature