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Film noir is a genre of film based in large part on the hard-boiled detective novels that grew out of naturalism, a movement in literature based on realism. Film noir is French for "black film", and is pronounced accordingly ("film nwahr"): the plural is films noirs. Film noir tends to feature characters trapped in situations (often not of their own making) and making choices out of desperation. Frequent themes are murder/ crime, infidelity, jealousy, corruption, betrayal, and hopeless fatalism.
Film noir is at its core pessimistic. The stories it tells are of people trapped in a situation they did not want, often a situation they did not create, striving against random uncaring fate, and usually doomed. Almost all film noir plots involve the hard-boiled, disillusioned male (often a private eye) and the dangerous femme fatale. Usually because of sexual attraction or greed, the male commits vicious acts, and in the end both he and the femme fatale are punished or even killed for their actions.
1 History
The term film noir was coined by the French film critic Nino Frank , and is derived from a series of hard-boiled fiction books entitled Série Noire. Films noirs were mainly shot in black-and-white in the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in between the early 1940sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the and the late 1950sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb.. Many were low-budget supporting features without major stars, in which 'moonlighting' writers, directors and technicians, some of them blacklistedA blacklist is a list or register of people who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, or mobility. To blacklist someone (blacklist can be either a noun or a verb) can mean to deny them work in a particular field, or, found themselves relatively free from big-picture restraints. Major studio feature films demanded a wholesome, positive message. Weak and morally ambiguous lead-characters were ruled out by the star-system, and secondary characters were seldom allowed any depth or autonomy. Flattering soft lighting, deluxe interiors and elaborately-built exterior sets were the rule. Noir turned all this on its head, creating bleak but intelligent dramas tinged with nihilism and cynicism, in real-life urban settings, and using unsettling techniques such as the confessional voice-over or hero's-eye-view camerawork. Gradually the noir style re-influenced the mainstream it had subverted. Orson WellesCarl Van Vechten, 1937 George Orson Welles ( May 6, 1915 October 10, 1985) is commonly considered one of Hollywood's greatest directors, as well as a fine actor and screenwriter. Early career Welles was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He had an unusual childh' Touch of EvilTouch of Evil ( 1958), was one of the last and one of the greatest examples of film noir ever made. It was directed by Orson Welles, who also appeared as a strangely corrupt policeman, Captain Hank Quinlan. The black-and-white film also features Charlton is often referred to as the last "classical" film noir.
In the 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23s American filmmakers like Sam PeckinpahSam Peckinpah ( February 21, 1925 December 28, 1984) was an American film director. Genealogy His great-grandfather, Rice Peckinpaugh, was a merchant and farmer in Indiana during the early- 1800s. The family decided to move to California in the 1850s to H, Arthur Penn and Robert Altman created genre films that broke the strict format of the genre's rule to convey social and political messages. In The Long Goodbye Altman's hard-boiled detective is presented as a hapless bungler who can't help but lose the "moral battle". While not a direct influence, the " Spaghetti Westerns" of Italian director Sergio Leone incorporated the moral ambiguity and gritty characterizations of film noir, reviving the moribund genre of the American Western.
The genre has been parodied (both ruthlessly and affectionately) on many occasions, the most notable examples being Steve Martin's black and white "cut and paste" homage Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, and Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam . Many of Joel and Ethan Coen's films are excellent examples of modern films influenced by the film noir genre - especially The Man Who Wasn't There, the comedy The Big Lebowski and Blood Simple, the title of which was lifted from the Dashiell Hammett story Red Harvest .
The cynical, pessimistic worldview of noirs strongly influenced the creators of the cyberpunk genre of science fiction in the early 1980s. Blade Runner is among the most popular films coming from this era. Characters in these films are derived from 1930s gangster films and, more importantly, from pulp fiction magazines such as The Shadow, Dime Mystery Detective and The Black Mask .
