Defining The Film Noir Movie Genre
The Film Noir is an unusual movie 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, particularly those who confine the entire genre to twenty years, 1940-60, and a certain country, the United States.
The term was coined by French critics, first by Nino Frank, who in the immediate post war years noticed a darkening of mood in the Hollywood crime film. The term Noir by itself is used to describe films that contain specific elements and techniques, both technical and literary. Movies within this category are often gangster films, police procedural, or detective films, or films that deal with social problems of the day.
This movie genre is probably the most popular of the genres that sell on disc. Its films come in mostly well-priced and attractive boxes in bright colors and fun typefaces, they seem to epitomize classic Hollywood, which is interesting because at the time that the movies comprising the genre were made, the term film noir was unknown.
Most critics agree that the first film of this genre was Stranger on the Third Floor, which starred relatively unknown Hungarian actor Peter Lorre in his first major lead role. The Production Codes of the day forbade any character from literally getting away with murder, and forbade any characters who were not husband and wife from being filmed sharing a bed with one another.
This did not stop writers and directors from coming up with some risque plot lines however. One of the most famous movies of the Film Noir genre, Double Indemnity, starring Barbara Stanwyck, revolved around an insurance salesman who becomes infatuated by Stanwycks character and agrees to help her murder her husband so that she can collect the money from the insurance policy in her husbands name.
Other notable films of the genre include The Maltese Falcons, Shadow of a Doubt, Mildred Pierce, Detour, The Big Sleep, Out of the Past, Force of Evil, The Naked City, White Heat, Gun Crazy, Sunset Boulevard, In a Lonely Place, The Night of the Hunter, Sweet Smell of Success, and Touch of Evil.
The evidence of film noir can still be seen today in the popularity of detective films, mysteries, psychological thrillers, and other crime related dramas.
About the Author
Find new movie reviews and interesting posts about actors, upcoming movies and movie trivia. Members can share their thoughts about new movies and watch new movie trailers each day.
|
|
13 Rue Madeleine by unknown 17.00X11.00 Framed with Black Metal Frame $110.77 13 Rue Madeleine, framed black metal, white matte. Beautiful Highest Quality Frame, Solid Finish, LOW SHIPPING!!! Price includes price of print Poster. Framing includes dry mounting, acrylic glazing. Comes ready to hang. and is a better quality then your local framing store Guaranteed…. |
|
|
13 Rue Madeleine by unknown 17.00X11.00 Framed with Black Wood Frame $128.77 13 Rue Madeleine, framed black wood, white matte. Beautiful Highest Quality Frame, Solid Finish, LOW SHIPPING!!! Price includes price of print Poster. Framing includes dry mounting, acrylic glazing. Comes ready to hang. and is a better quality then your local framing store Guaranteed…. |
|
|
13 Rue Madeleine by unknown. Size 16.81 X 10.89 $29.00 13 Rue Madeleine by unknown.Total Size : 17.00 inches width by 11.00 inches height.This is the Highest Quality Art Print Reproduction of the Original Work. Fully Authorized by the Artist. OnlineWall is the worlds best quality art print, poster and framing store with over 25 years custom framing experience our quality of art prints cannot be beat …. |
|
|
Waterloo Bridge (1940) [VHS] $19.98 Mervyn LeRoy’s 1940 remake of Waterloo Bridge, based on the play by Robert E. Sherwood, stars Robert Taylor as Scotsman Roy Conin, a middle-aged officer in the British army who reflects–on the eve of Britain’s entry into World War II–on lost love during the last Great War. Told in flashback, Roy’s ill-fated romance begins in a chance meeting with ballerina Myra Deauville (Vivien Leigh) during a … |
|
|
The White Cliffs of Dover $25.50 Susan Ashwood (Irene Dunne) lost her husband to one war. Will she lose her son to another? Radiating elegance and warmth, Dunne gives “one of her finest performances” (The Movie Guide) in this heartfelt romantic drama as an American who becomes the bride of a handsome British aristocrat (Alan Marshal), only to see him march off to the Great War and never return. Years later, England plunges into W… |
|
|
The Women Of WWII: Classic & Sexist World War Two Films About The Contributions of Women To The War Including Nursing, Manufacturing, & Fund Raising. Also Deals With Gender Roles During The 1940s. $12.99 Women played such an important role in WWII, as these great historic films show – including maintaining the economic workload at home while most of the men were abroad fighting. Sexism abounds in many of these old films. This is priceless aesthetic documentation of gender roles in WWII. Table Of Contents: (1) The Army Nurse (1945) – This is a rundown of all the activities of an army nurse, includi… |
|
|
Classic US Air Force Films (5) Five DVD Collection: Old 1940s – 1960s WWII & Vietnam War USAAF Aviation, Aircraft, Fighter Planes History Pictures Films With Vintage 16mm Projector Films $29.99 The rich history of the US Air Force is brought back to the screen in this collection of (4) four DVD’s. Spanning from WWI to Vietnam this collection is packed with vintage aerial footage from America’s last three major wars. Featured in this collection are some amazing flight videos including parachute drops, bomb drops, and a variety of jets and helicopters in flight from the B-17 to the F-105 T… |
|
|
Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s (History of the American Cinema) $25.61 Boom and Bust traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. It discusses changes in the structure of the studio systemincluding the shift to independent productionand the dominant stars, genres, and production trends through the period…. |
|
|
Hollywood Party: How Communism Seduced the American Film Industry in the 1930s and 1940s $5.78 Here’s what most people know about the clash between Washington, D.C., and Hollywood involving Communist influence over the film industry: the House Committee on Un-American Activities led an organized witch hunt against writers and actors with left-wing sympathies, creating an environment that led to a blacklist destroying many talented people’s careers. But some insist this isn’t the whole … |
|
|
Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s $5.19 Backstory 2, the second volume of interviews with Hollywood’s legendary screenwriters, covers those who thrived in the 1940s and ’50s. It was a tumultuous period for the film industry, a time often referred to as Hollywood’s golden age, even though it was also the era of the blacklist. Scenarists were hit particularly hard by McCarthyism: eight of the famous “Hollywood Ten” were writers. The… |
1940s VD Training Film – US War Department (WWII)