sp 471 american film history week 7 - film noir

8/14/2019 SP 471 American Film History Week 7 - Film Noir

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Film Noir

Literally Black Film

Evolved in the 1940s althoughthe roots can be traced throughGerman Expressionism, French

films of the 1930s and the starkAmerican gangster/crime filmsof the 1930s

Answer to the optimistic andpatriotic escapist fare

Reflected change in attitudeafter WWII

1941-1958


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Film Noir

Literally Black Film

Evolved in the 1940s althoughthe roots can be traced throughGerman Expressionism,

French films of the 1930s andthe stark Americangangster/crime films of the1930s

Answer to the optimistic and

patriotic escapist fare Reflected change in attitude

after WWII

1941-1958

M, 1931

The Public Enemy, 1931

Pepe le Moko, 1937


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Film Noir

Literary tradition

Pulp Fiction

Writer-driven genre Raymond Chandler

Dashiell Hammett

James M. Cain


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Film Noir

The Look

Stark black & white

chiaroscuro (Italian forlight-dark) Physical effects of light

on surfaces

Dark and light with littlegray

Excessive shadows Low key

High Contrast

Out of the Past, 1947

T-Men, 1947


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Film Noir

The Look

Disorienting visual

schemes

T-Men, 1947

He Walked by Night, 1948


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Film Noir

The Look

Ominous shadows

The Third Man, 1949

T-Men, 1947


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Film Noir

The Look

Skewed camera

angles

The Third Man, 1949

Pickup on South Street, 1953


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Film Noir

The Look

Night in the city

Wet Dark

Murky

The Big Combo, 1955


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Film Noir

The Look

Claustrophobic

interiors Cheap hotels Abandoned

warehouses

Low rent apartments

Detour, 1945

The Big Combo, 1955


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Film Noir

The Heroes or anti-heroes

Cannot escape their past or

human nature

Conflicted

Morally ambiguous

Protagonist often doomed

to repeat past mistakes or

pay for recently made

mistakes

The Big Sleep, 1946


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Film Noir

Female archetypes The Good Girl

Trustworthy

Loving Reliable

The Femme Fatale Duplicitous

Predatory

Tough Gorgeous

Independent

Out of the Past, 1947


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Film Noir

The Stories

Elliptical and twisting

Cynical

Doomed love

Dark side of humanexistence

Nobody emerges to triumph

Often told in the past tenseor flashback

Voice-over narration -subjective, flawed narrator

Scarlet Street, 1945

Sunset Boulevard, 1950


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Film Noir

Modern Film Noir


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Film Noir

The Big Heat(1953)

Directed by Fritz Lang

Starring Glenn Ford, GloriaGrahame and Lee Marvin

Inverts the classic femme

fatale who ruins

everyones life

sp 471 american film history week 7 - film noir

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