Film Noir is an art form unique to cinema which encompasses various ideas and philosophies that came out of the time and the social changes from which it was born.
The earliest forms can be traced back to the German Impressionist movement in the 1920's. Here film makers started to experiment creative camera angles and lighting to give a different view of the world. The first notable example being
The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (1920) from director Robert Wiene that brought German impressionism to the world. This and films like
Nosferatu (1922) set the slightly surrealistic and dark tone that then developed into Noir. What these films also had was cinematography and lighting that emphasised light and dark and shadows.
The films of Fritz Lang was also influential especially with his crime dramas like Dr Mabuse, The Gabler (1922) that was influenced by the after effects of World War 1 and the oncoming rise of fascism. It was
Metropolis that was his real Noir film and vision of the future which has become a classic though not at the time. With his film
M we start to see recognisable Film Noir as Peter Lorre stars as a child murderer that is set on the streets with real people. It also brings in the idea of the ordinary person being a criminal as well as creative camera work and the use of sound. Fritz Lang's Dr Mabusa films predicted the rise of fascism and like many others he moved to America. Initially this led to the Universal series of horror films starting with
Dracula (1931) whose cinematographer had worked on Metropolis. The Gothic horror being another influence on Film Noir as American directors (Tod Browning and James Whale) stated to use light and shadows for drama and tension.
The arrival of the gangster film in 1932 with Little Caesar was also another significant development of the Film Noir idea. These were particularly produced through the Warner Brother Studios. In America this was a time of depression and prohibition so gangsters had attraction and also repulsion. Scarface (1932) starts to introduce the street and have filming in real streets rather than the film lot giving an earthy and relatable feel to the films. They also showed a more realistic view of crime.
World War 2 interrupts the development of Film Noir but the arrival of Orson Welles changed that most notably starting with
Citizen Kane (1941). Whilst lots of the techniques he used were new to Hollywood he said he used them from Fritz Lang's earlier films from the 1920's. Whilst not a classic Film Noir it does have many of the elements that came to define Film Noir.
It is in the 1940's the tha calssic Film Noir films were made and essentially defined Film Noir. One of the theme that runs through many of these films is corruption in its many forms including the ploice and government and hence they also ran up against the censors for exposing the dark side of society. Many have a bleak view of life.
Stranger On The Third Floor (1940) is one of the films considered to be the first of this period of Film Noir. It uses the th lighting, light and shadows to create an atmosphere that is part of Film Noir that would not be created in colour film and this is a key component of of the Film Noir style. The following year
The Maltese Falcon was produced and has become one of the classics of Film Noir. In this film Humphrey Bogat is the Film Noir anti-hero, cynical, tough, womaniser, on the edge of the law.
In 1945 Edgar G Ulmer directed Detour, who had come to Hollywood via German expressionism. It was made in around 6 days on a small budget but had all the style of Film Noir.
Billy Wilder had worked with the German expresionists and in 1944 directed Double Indemnity. This has all the all the marks of what made Fim Noir. A Raymond Chandler screenplay, directed by Billy Wilder and Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale. This brings in the German expressionist style into America, it uses lighting and shadows and starts to use the close up of the actors faces. With Sunset Boulevard in 1950 Billy Wilder did manage to combine comedy and Film Noir styles. He also directed
The Lost Weekend.
Fritz Lang was also influencial in the development of Film Noir and particularly in his use of the femme fatal character including Joan Bennett in
The Woman In The Window, with
Scarlet Street is another example. The femme fatal use her sexual charms to entrap and manipulate the innocent man. They ae a key part of the Film Noir stories. They also start to create empowered women.
One of the other key characters in Film Noir is the private detective / tough guy from Humprhey Bogart as Philip Marlow to Robert Mitchum In Out Of The Past (1947). In lots of ways Humphrey Bogart sums up much of Film Noir as demonstrated in films like
The Big Sleep (1946) that was directed by
Howard Hawkes who brings in the sexual chmistry between Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
In 1946 as AMerican films starts being shown in France after World War 2, the critics there coin the phrase Film Noir.
In Britian film makers also started to produce films in this style as epitomised by films like Brighton Rock (1948) and the author Grhame Green. This adapts Film Noir for the British environment and still keeps a hard edge to it.
The Third Man follows in this style with the atmoshpere of post war Vienna and lighting and camera angles. Within British Film Noir, sits Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) which he considered one of his best films.
In many ways Film Noir is a style rather than genre of film and hence why it has flexibilty in how it is expressed.
American Film Noir is very pessimistic often featuring a lone anti-hero and showing the dark side of life and society. A lot of scenes are film at night , with rain, giving a down beat feel. A feel recreated in the later Blade Runner.
These films are very much set in the streets and cities in which the characters inhabit, as in Side Street (1950). This is notable for the car chase and the way it was filmed. These were actually filmed on real streets. The cities were often almost another character and the way they were filmed was in the expressionist style.
Night and the City was a British Film Noir from 1950 set in the under belly of London. The chase scene shows the lighting, locations, camera angles that create a feel for side of London at the time that is both unknown to most and also recognisable.
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) was onr of the last of classic period of Film Noir noted for the scene shot in Time Square.
Laura from Otto Preminger is one of the classic Film Noir films as a man falls in love with the woman whose death he is investigating.
A another trick within Film Noir is the use of the flash back that tells a back story to people but also gives an opportunity for uncertainity to come into the story as we start to be unsure as to who we can trust and who we cannot. In A Lonely Place (1950) is a good example of this where we do not know who is good or bad, or who is being truthful or lying. Out Of The Past (1947) has similar complexity and also uses the technique of narrated voice over from the lead character. This narration from one of the characters become a style used by screen writers to give the audience a specific view of what is happening but not the whole story.
The Lady In The Lake (1947) sees the story from the perspective of the detective, it is filmes from his perspective. Writers like CHandler and Hammett used the detective but this explored it further.
Fate is a theme that comes through a number of these films including D.O.A. (1949). Often FIlm Noir is more about the consequences of a crime rather than the actual commiting of the crime itself. In D.O.A you know the man will die, but will he catch the perpetrator? Another good example of the consequences of a crime came in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). The fate aspect of Film Noir means that there will be no escape from people's crime. The Ashphalt Jungle (1950) examines the downfall of the professional thief in AMrica and Rififi (1955) does this in French cinema.
The Killing (1956) an early Stanley Kubrick film was Film Noir robbery where fate intervened. Kubrick shows how a meticulously planned robbery unfolds by seemilgly trivial events.
Film Noir was coming to its end by the late 1950s thoughthere were still some good Film Noir film made at the end, but with Kiss Me Deadly (1955) from Robert Aldrich that takes it in a different direction.
Charles Laughton's only directed film, The Night Of The Hunter (1955) became one of the last of the classic style film noir films, though not commercially successul at the time. This is along with Oson Welles's Touch Of Evil (1958) was the end the classic era of Film Noir, and Orson Welles almost epitomises the best of Film Noir.
The end of the classic period of film noir really came with the much more upbeat view of the world from 1950's television and advertising that wa the opposite the view of Film Noir.
Film Noir also made use of shadows in black and white films and also the use of different camera lenses to give a different visual feel to the characters.
