Film-Noir

Film Noir: By Taylah Green Film Noir is a French phrase that literally means “black film.” It arose in the 1940’s, after World War II, taking advantage of society’s anxiety and suspicion. The classic era of Film Noir is usually dated from the 1940’s to the 1950’s where it began to die down. However not completely, as aspects of Film Noir were seen in films after that period called Neo-Noir, which will be discussed later. It is said that “Film Noir is not a genre, but rather the mood, style, point of view or tone of a film.” This makes sense as they were coming out of World War II when Film Noir started so most of the Noir film makers were expressing their own moods or point of view of the times through their films. To fully understand Film Noir, expressionism needs to be understood. Expressionism was a cultural movement that originated in Germany, starting with poetry and paintings. It would usually be ‘radically distorted’ to evoke moods or ideas. The expressionist movement in film is commonly known as German Expressionism. The most popular example of German Expressionism is Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). The term ‘expressionism’ sometimes refers to stylistic devices that resemble the German Expressionism movement, like Film Noir. The two main characters in Film Noir are usually, the hard-boiled detective and the femme fatale. The hard-boiled detective can be recognised by his cynical, flawed nature and his cool and calm sort of attitude. This Protagonist was often morally-ambiguous from the dark underworld of violence and crime and would usually end up losing in the end. He is usually seduced by the female femme fatale who is beautiful but also promiscuous and double crossing as well. She would usually use her sexuality to make the hard-boiled detective fall for her. After her double-crossings she is usually destroyed, often at the cost of the hero’s life. Storylines in Film Noir films were often non-linear and twisting, with their narratives being complex and typically told with background music, flashbacks, witty, sharp dialogue and often a first person voice over narration. The films usually showed the dark and inhumane side to human nature and emphasised the brutal, unhealthy and sadistic side of human experience. The protagonists in Film Noir were usually driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat past mistakes. The visuals in Film Noir films were marked by expressionistic lighting, deep-focused camera work, disorienting visual schemes, ominous shadows and circling cigarette smoke. These visuals were usually used in correspondence to the settings, which were often interiors with low lighting, venetian-blinded windows and dark, claustrophobic appearances. Exteriors were often night scenes with deep shadows, dark alleyways or mean streets. All these film techniques collaborated to make films such as John Huston’s, The Maltese Falcon (1941), Orsen Well’s, A Touch of Evil and Michael Curtiz’ s, Casablanca (1942). The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston in 1941, was sort of the landmark for all Film Noir films. It introduced the hard-boiled detective, the femme fatale and the disturbed environment for which it’s set. The hard-boiled detective in The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade, was the somewhat disreputable private eye, who solved crime as a profession, not a hobby and chased criminals through the dark, rainy streets of American cities. This new image of a detective was a bit shocking for Hollywood as their image of a detective meant Sherlock Holmes or Nick Charles. So this new image of a detective meant that The Maltese Falcon established images that would be central to Film Noir. Sam Spade fits the image of the noir protagonist (or the hard-boiled detective) as he is a tarnished hero not bound by the rules of morality. He is unashamedly greedy, which can be seen early in the film by the look on his face when his client, Miss Wonderly, opens her purse to reveal a wad of a hundred dollar bills. He also has a reputation for being corrupt and he is also having an affair with his partner’s wife. When his partner, Miles Archer, has been murdered he showed no sign of shock or sadness and his initial response is to have Archer’s name removed from the office doors. However, Sam Spade is not a true Film Noir hero, as he is able to control himself, his destiny and his obsessions. This is seen in the middle of the film when he loses his temper at the crook, Casper Gutman only to walk out of the room with a mischievous smile on his face. He will not let himself be destroyed by his obsession with the femme fatale, although Spade does fall in love with her, Brigid O’Shaunessy, but is immune to her spell. The Maltese Falcon’s, Brigid O’Shaunessy provides a model for the femme fatale of Film Noir but in the end with her inability to control Sam Spade and the manner of her defeat separates her from the classic seductive femme fatale. Brigid is defeated in such a way that her power is neutralized and order is restored. Therefore the femme fatale in The Maltese Falcon meets a less violent fate which also makes her stand aside to the classic femme fatale. The ending of the film is seamless and the story is told in linear time without flashbacks or voice-over narrations that often create a sense of doom in Film Noir. The film does however end with an ironic twist when the Falcon turns out to be a fake. While The Maltese Falcon prefers the conventional visual style, Touch of Evil overwhelms the viewer with the dark, disorienting visual techniques of classic Film Noir and force the audience to be conscious of the camera from the very first frame. After the Film Noir period came Neo Noir films. The term Neo Noir is a mix of Greek and French, with ‘neo’ meaning new and ‘noir’ meaning black. It is often seen with elements of Film Noir but with updated themes, context, style, visual elements or media that were absent in Film Noir films. Neo Noir was not recognised until the 1970’s as a separate genre. Neo Noir films were aware of modern circumstances and technologies, which were absented from the plot of the classic Film Noir films. The unconventional camera movements and plot progression of Neo Noir films reminded the audience that they were watching the film not partaking in the story, like Film Noir film did. Films like Taxi Driver (1976), Chinatown (1974), Blade Runner (1982) and Pulp Fiction (1994) are all classic examples of Neo Noir films.