The history and conventions of Film Noir

The film noir period was one of the most influential movements in film history, and they are still the blue-print for almost all of today’s thrillers. Its classic period lasted from approximately 1941 to 1958, and, although today recognised as hugely influential, they were derided by critics of the time. The term ‘film noir’ was coined by French critics of the 1950’s and early 60’s and American appreciation for the genre only caught up with the French’s in the late 1960’s, but even then this was limited to the new generation of film enthusiasts. The roots of film noir are widely accepted to be deep and diverse. On the artistic side, German expressionism, with its chiaroscuro lighting, distorted camera angles and symbolic designs, was probably the single most important influence on the stylistic aspects of film noir. The silent films that followed (such as The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari (1919)) and the works of directors Fritz Lang (Metropolis (1927)) and F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu (1922)) were greatly admired by American critics and by the American film industry as a whole. Furthermore, many of the most prominent directors of the film noir period were émigrés from countries (e.g. Germany and France) where expressionism and poetic realism had been the dominant artistic movement over the past decade. These directors include: Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, Edgar G. Ulmer, Max Ophüls, Jacques Tourneur and Jean Renoir. French poetic realist films of the 1930’s are also seen as something of a starting point to the period. These films combined romantic crime thrillers with fatalism in low-life, fog-shrouded settings, such as La Chienne (1931) directed by Jean Renoir, which was even remade by Fritz Lang in America as Scarlet Street (1945). A further heavy contributor was the works of authors of hard-boiled pulp fiction, such as those of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammet, Cornell Woolrich and David Goodis, whilst the writings of naturalist authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Emile Zola were also influential. It is no surprise, then, that the works of these authors were among the first to be adapted, starting with Hammet’s The Maltese Falcon (1941), Woolrich’s Phantom Lady (1944), Cain’s Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely (as Murder, My Sweet (1944)) and The Big Sleep (1946), Hemingway’s The Killers (1946) and Goodis’ Dark Passage (1947). These are all famous examples of film noirs, especially The Maltese Falcon, as it was one of the very first of its kind, and Double indemnity, which, for many people, is the quintessential noir, as it addresses nearly all of the key themes of the genre. Further examples, and in fact the top ten rated film noirs according to http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Film-Noir/average-vote are shown below:

Rank
Title
1
Sunset Blvd. (1950) 8.7/10 (42073 votes)
2
M (1931) 8.5/10 (31333 votes)
3
Double Indemnity (1944) 8.5/10 (28628 votes)
4
Third Man, The (1949) 8.5/10 (41197 votes)
5
Maltese Falcon, The (1941) 8.4/10 (42174 votes)
6
Touch of Evil (1958) 8.4/10 (26069 votes)
7
Strangers on a Train (1951) 8.3/10 (26616 votes)
8
Notorious (1946) 8.3/10 (24902 votes)
9
Big Sleep, The (1946) 8.3/10 (23327 votes)
10
Ace in the Hole (1951) 8.2/10 (5509 votes)

However, not any film of the 1940’s or 50’s can just be called a film noir, so let’s look at what makes a film noir. The term ‘noir’ was coined for the reason that the films revolved around and were rooted in illegal and immoral events and circumstances. Crime and corruption, therefore, are key themes in noirs. Betrayal, deception and revenge are also common ingredients to the plot of a noir. Further conventional plot lines are ‘The Haunted Past’ and ‘The Fatalistic Nightmare’. These concepts draw heavily from circumstances of the time in which they were made, i.e. America had recently been hit by economic depression and then by The Second World War. ‘The Perfect Crime’, or rather not so, is another important conventional plot-line. Examples of these themes can be found in any noir, Double Indemnity, for example, includes several of these (the perfect crime, deception, betrayal and the fatalistic nightmare are all present), hence its success. Double Indemnity, incidentally, also includes two of the most archetypal characters: The Truth Seeker and The Femme Fatale. The Truth Seeker, contrary to the popular conception, is not primarily a private investigator in the mould of Chandler’s Philip Marlowe or Hammet’s Sam Spade, and could be either an officer of the law (Charlton Heston’s Ramon Miguel Vargas in Touch of Evil) or a criminal (Fred MacMurray’s Walter Neff in Double Indemnity). The femme fatale (also present in Double Indemnity: Barbara Stanwyck’s Pyllis Dietrichson) is the most notorious character in noirs. These are women that are prone to lie, cheat, deceive, betray and kill. Often they aren’t who they say they are (e.g. Mary Astor’s Brigid O’shaugnessy in The Maltese Falcon) and, from the male perspective, are destructive and more often than not lead to the downfall of the protagonist. However, according post-feminist critics, characters such as the ones mentioned were merely strong women trapped in a male-dominated universe and were willing to use any weapon, including their sexuality, to level the playing field. There is also the hunted protagonist. In many noirs, the protagonist is hunted from the beginning to the end, and often finds himself drawn to rebellious criminal acts. Characters such as these are often present in films which also include the theme of the haunted past, as it is something from the past which is ‘hunting’ them. However, this theme is often not literal and has been twisted into paranoia and isolation. A further archetypal character in the private eye; witty and cocky. Prime examples of these are those created by Chandler (Philip Marlowe) and Hammet (Sam Spade). Finally, there is the corrupt official; this could be a policeman (Orson Welles’ Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil) or any man with a high importance. Examples of all of these characters can be found in modern thrillers also, such was the influence of this noir period, such as Jack Nicholson’s J. J. Gittes in Chinatown (1974) as the private eye, Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) or Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974) as the hunted and John Huston’s Noah Cross in Chinatown. All three of these films, incidentally, have been dubbed as ‘neo-noirs’ by critics – going back to the massive influence that the noir period had on cinema. However, the noir period has also hugely influenced the mise-en-scene of films like these, as noirs have a very distinctive mise-en-scene and style as a whole.

Barbara Stanwyck (left) and Fred McMurray in double indemnity

Orson Welles in Touch of Evil

Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon

One of the most recognisable features of noir mise-en-scene is that it is nearly always night, and even if it’s inside, or inside during the day, it is still dark and in a poorly-lit room. The consistent presence of night and constant darkness is a reflection of the theme the fatalistic nightmare, as is another generic signifier that is wet and shiny pavements or rain-lashed streets, as these latter points especially give the films another-worldly feel; that of a nightmare – which is what the world of noir really is, a nightmarish world in which unfortunate coincidences add up to, more often than not, the eventual death or downfall of the protagonist. Coming hand-in-hand with constant darkness, however, comes another of noir’s most distinctive mise-en-scene features: chiaroscuro lighting. This is hard, bright white light clashing, often at diagonal angles, with the darkness. This effect makes for incredibly dynamic and stylish shots, and has also been taken to extreme lengths in some of today’s films such as Sin City (2005) and The Spirit (2008). This use of bright light contrasting with darkness leads to brilliant effects using shadows, as demonstrated perfectly in The Third Man. Chiaroscuro lighting is often achieved via the use of venetian blinds, with the bright lights shining through the slits. Venetian blinds, then, are also a generic signifier, and uses of it can be found in countless noirs, as well as in neo-noirs. They too can be used to reflect the themes of noir, corruption and immorality in particular, as it suggests that the events in the room are hidden away and hushed-up. A further generic signifier is the use of tilted and low angle shots. The latter was used by cinematographers in order to make the characters seem like their rising from the ground in an almost expressionistic manner, giving them dramatic girth and symbolic overtones. A prime example of this effect being used successfully can be found in the shots of Sydney Greenstreet’s Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon. Furthermore, low angled shots allow the viewer to see the ceilings of the interior settings, thus increasing the sense of claustrophobia and paranoia. High angles could also be used to create such emotions, such as in shots peering down a stairwell over a flimsy railing. Examples of fantastically shot tilted camera angles can be found in abundance in The Third man. The urban landscape is also a generic signifier, whilst the use of moving camera and long tracking shots are also common.

Orson Welles in The Third Man

Shadows, tilted angles and wet pavements in The Third Man

In conclusion, then, it is clear that there are many signifiers and conventions of the noir period, whilst it is undoubted that its influence to cinema was, and still is, beyond measure.