Film Noir An American Film Genre with a French Name Film Noir - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

http://blog.ctnews.com/meyers/files/2010/07/noir4.jpg Film Noir An American Film Genre with a French Name

Film Noir  Literal translation=“black film” (Barsam 86)  American genre named by French critic  Named for its dark tone and look http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/f/film_noir.asp

History of Film Noir  Emerged out of the era of WWII and post- war era in which no one felt safe (Barsam 87)  Sense of suspicion of Cold War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

History of Film Noir http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/f/film_noir.asp

History of Film Noir  Contrast with the uplifting propaganda war films and cheery musicals of the time http://woodyhaut.blogspot.com/2010/08/film-noir-encyclopedia- edited-by-silver_21.html http://screencrave.com/2010-04-25/tcm-film-festival-singin-in-the-rain /

Film Noir basic story formula  Mystery/intrigue (a detective story)  Convoluted narrative that leaves the audience feeling disoriented (Barsam 88)  Character goals shift  Victims are revealed as corrupt  Allies reveal themselves to be enemies and seeming enemies can become allies-all done to keep the mood of suspicion

Film Noir Setting  Often uses night scenes (Barsam 87)  Large urban areas such as LA, NY, San Francisco, Chicago to add a grittiness  Often to be considered more about mood set rather than the exact location http://sensei-lmno.deviantart.com/art/Film-Noir-Dark-Alley-103588227

Example: The Maltese Falcon

Example-The Maltese Falcon (John Huston 1941) Premise  Sam Spade is a private detective in S.F.  Partner Miles Archer is killed shortly after a woman hires the detectives to follow a man  Man who Archer was tailing also ends up dead the same night  Sam-not too shaken up over the death of his partner, but he aims to solve the crime after being considered a suspect  He starts back with the woman who had hired them and gets caught up in her lies  She is caught up in a scheme connected to the valuable statuette of a bird (the Maltese Falcon) as are two other men (Gutman, the fat man, and Joel Cairo) who have been searching for the bird  The story shifts from focusing on the murders to trying to find the falcon and make a profitable exchange

Film Noir Character Types

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/f/film_noir.asp

Protagonist  Anti-hero with unclear morality  Outsider  Often private detective (between law and criminals with associates on both sides)  Aging  “world - weary”  Self-destructive  Sometimes misogynistic  (Barsam 87) Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon

Film Noir femme fatal  Literal translation=“deadly woman” (Barsam 87)  Often the antagonist  Deceptive female  Seduces men and uses them for their own means  Gets the protagonist caught up in the scheme (“Film Noir”)  Often meets with tragedy in the end Mary Astor as Brigid O’Shaunessy in The Maltese Falcon

Character types: Private detective and femme fatal  #2 “Sweet new client”  #5 “Grieving widow”  #6 “Dangerous lady?”

Film Noir Themes

Film Noir Themes  Cynicism (Barsam 87)  Suspicion: Can’t trust anyone  Everyone is corrupt and moral lines are blurred  Love is doomed (“Film Noir)  Despair, lack of innocence, mistrust, paranoia

Sam, the detective and the femme fatale http://www.djmick.co.uk/movies/15-film-noir-femmes-fatales/ http://www.cclapcenter.com/2008/01/movies_for_grownups_the_maltes.html

Themes and plot conventions  #8 “Losing a shadow”  #9 “A little trust” (paranoia)  #16 “Falcon lore” (enemy or ally)  #19 “We’re all here” (convoluted plot, can’t tell who to trust)  #20 “Fall - guy candidates” (don’t trust anyone)  #25 “Taking the fall”

Film Noir Form

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Film Noir Form  Lighting emphasizes strong contrast (Barsam 87)  Importance of shadows to show contrast  Use of shadow lines for tension  Sometimes uses first person narration

Form  Opening credits  #3 “Killed in action” (darkness)

Contrast in lighting and dark shadows http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1941/the-maltese-falcon/

Shadow lines to create tension Notice the diagonal shadow lines across the door in the background http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1151178752/tt0033870

Modern Film Noir examples While the form emerged most strongly in the 1940s, the components of film noir are still influential in today’s films  Fargo (Joel Coen 1996)  Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjaerg 1997)  Insomnia (Christopher Nolan 2002)  Memento (Christopher Nolan 2000) Even Batman Begins ( Christopher Nolan) incorporates elements of film noir. Watch for these dark elements in your future film viewing.

Works Cited Barsam, Richard and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies, 3 rd Ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2010. “Film Noir.” Film Site . American Movie Classics Company LLC. http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html 2010.