As you may have determined by now, we are BIG fans of Film Noir. So this week we’re going to forego our usual Quiz and discuss a few of our favorite films and stars of that genre.
In discussing our favorites, we often casually drop a reference to this unique genre of movies without necessarily considering that this general designation might leave some of our readers scratching their heads.
What exactly is “film noir” and why is it so called?
To put it succinctly and perhaps oversimplifying, we can say that ‘film noir’ refers to the lengthy string of post World War II Hollywood movies — generally low to medium-budget police procedurals and crime thrillers designed to fill out bottom of the bills at the sprawling theatrical holdings of the studios.
Plots frequently turn on deadly violence or sexual obsession, whose cataloque of characters includes numbers of down-and-out private eyes, desperate women and petty criminals, write Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward, co-editors of Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (THE OVERLOOK PRESS, Woodstock, New York), an indispensable and comprehensive guide.
Turner Classic Movies TV host and author Eddie Muller puts it more poetically in his excellent 1998 volume, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.
Film Noirs were distress flares launched into America’s movie screens by artists working the night shift at the Dream Factory…(They were) gritty, bitter dramas that slapped our romantic illusions in the face and put the boot to the throat the smug bourgeoisie. Still, plenty of us took it — and liked it.
All this suited the depressingly grim postwar mood in Europe, particularly in France, where American movies largely overlooked in the U.S. — most notably by the folks who give out the Oscars each year — were hailed and extolled by French critics. Silver and Ward note that the actual term ‘film noir” was coined in 1946 by a French scribe by the name of Nino Frank. It” literally means “black” or “dark” film — you get the idea.
The darkness not only refers to the subject matter, but also what you actually see onscreen. Influences by European expressionism, Hollywood cinematographers devised extraordinary mood pieces reflecting subject matter by the interplay of light and stygian darkness. Often done on shoestring budgets.
Another inviting (to us) aspect of film noir is the strength of its female characters, its gritty urban settings and the frequently forceful performances drawn from its usually uncelebrated actors and actresses. Some of Hollywood best character performers did their best work in ‘film noir.’
The movies came in protean shapes. 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, say, has an entirely different feel from 1948’s T-Men, with Dennis O’Keefe and Wallace Ford (being murderously parboiled in a steam room).
1941’s Maltese Falcon — the ‘noir’ gold standard — with Humphrey Bogart typifies the hard-to-fully-follow plots of the occasional noir but like most remains immensely enjoyable no matter how times seen. In the same category is another must-see, 1944’s Murder, My Sweet
with Dick Powell and, certainly, the 1947 classic, Out Of The Past
with Robert Mitchum. Also added to the confused plot list with the international twist is Orson Welles’ 1955 thriller Mr. Arkadin
.
Obviously we are only skimming the surface here. In ensuing blogs we’ll discuss some of our lesser known noir favorites. And, we’ll sing the praises of key actors and actresses we especially like. Stay tuned.
FILM NOIR – Darkness & Light…
It’s probably the main HOLLYWOOD topic that gets all the film scholar artsy/fartsy critic crowd all excited and philosophical about. And yet, from the people I’ve met who worked on these very movies, they would tell you… They were a genre that really was all about very tight budgets, tight schedules, great character actors and great writers, who were either blacklisted, greylisted, being punished by their studios or simply great writers who were down on their luck.
The boys mention 1948’s T-MEN as a good example of film noir…
Well, it was photographed by veteran cinematographer John Alton. The same man that gave you the magnificent color of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, which astoundingly was his FIRST color movie; was even more at home with simple, basic Black & White.
Here is his most famous quote-
“It’s not what you light – it’s what you DON’T light.”
And that is the very essence of FILM NOIR. A genre that exists in the shadows. A genre of big city crime, of double crosses and double timing dames. A genre of killers and manhunts, of guys trying to go straight but can’t.
These are the great heist pictures like THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, THE KILLERS and WHITE HEAT. And they’re also KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and ARMORED CAR ROBBERY, but I’m sure you’ll hear about all those and more this week.
So many so-called ‘B’ movie film noir’s, went on to become classic ‘A’ pictures in their own right. As movie audiences went on to see them so many times on TV, even they started to appreciate their greatness, seeing them in a new light you might say.
These were movies that people could easily relate to… Veterans returning from WWII trying to find a decent job, rising prices and urban crime.
In a sense, it was the tight budgets that led to directors being more creative and innovative, developing a documentary-like style that gave us movies like THE NAKED CITY, a film shot on actual city streets and locales with real people, that required hiding the camera and shooting from high angles and low.
You can check out so many of these films for free on YouTube, and many have been re-mastered in HD digital. And when you see them NOW -you can really appreciate the work of John Alton and so many others, that made the darkness and light take on a new dimension that color could never attain.