NOIR History Comes from French dark film Predominant

NOIR

History: -Comes from French: “dark film” -Predominant between 1941 and 1955 -Combined German Expressionist aesthetics with American pulp fiction and crime novels -Famous Film Noir movies like The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep all were based on novels or pulp stories -Captured the seediness of post. WWII America: everything looked good on the surface, but for many life was still difficult

- Came out of German Expressionist film and the hard-boiled crime stories that were popular in the US during the Great Depression - Lots of German filmmakers left Germany for the US during the rise of Nazism

Archetypes Males -Anti-heroes -Hard-scrabble detectives/private eyes, small time criminals, down-on-their-luck boxers -“Consumed by the past and driven to repeat their mistakes, generally at the behest of a predatory femme fatale who attempts to drive them to extortion, murder, and ultimate ruin” (All. Movie) -Easily identifiable: lots of drinking, lots of cigarettes, trench coats, fedoras Females -Strong, independent, often deadly -”Femme fatale” – woman of questionable morals/motives who would as soon kill you as kiss you

Tropes and motifs -Dark atmosphere -Rain -Shadow/Light -Skewed camera angles -Unbalanced composition -Flashbacks -Voiceover narration -Fatalism

Film Clip: The Maltese Falcon

Notable Names: Notable Films: Fritz Lang – German Expressionist director who emigrated to the USA Orson Wells – Famous filmmaker Humphry Bogart – Actor famous for playing detective Philip Marlowe Lauren Becall – Actress, often paired with Bogart John Houston – Famous director, did Chinatown Raymond Chandler – Fiction writer, many of his books were turned into movies Dashiell Hammett - Fiction writer, many of his books were turned into movies Lana Turner – Actress in Film Noir movies Ava Gardner – Actress in Film Noir movies The Big Sleep Touch of Evil The Maltese Falcon Key Largo Strangers on a Train The Third Man

Film clip: What is Noir? https: //vimeo. com/thecriticalpress/whatisnoir

Neo-Noir & Post-Noir -Resurgence in 1970 s after Watergate scandal again displayed a seedy underbelly of American society (Chinatown) -Focused on instability and social anxiety/alienation (Taxi Driver) -Racial disparity (Shaft) -Corrupt cops (LA Confidential) -Even comedy (The Big Lebowski) -Sci Fi (Blade Runner)

Modern Noir: -LA Confidential -The Big Lebowski -Pulp Fiction -Reservoir Dogs -Jackie Brown -Sin City -Brick -Momento

Film Clip: Sin City

Film Clip: Brick