Why are films called noir? (2023)

Why are films called noir?

The actual words come from French and mean "black cinema." It was in France during the post-war years that the term was used to describe a certain set of Hollywood films that were saturated with a darkness and cynicism that was not seen before.

French critics coined the term film noir in reference to the low-keyed lighting used to enhance these dramas stylistically—although the term would not become commonplace in international critical circles until the publication of the book Panorama du film noir americain (1955) by Raymond Borde and Étienne Chaumeton.

What does film noir mean? Dark film.

According to Paul Schrader, Film noir is not a genre It is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. It is a film "noir, " as opposed to the possible variants of film gray or film off-white.

Noir (or noire) is the French word for black.

: crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings. an example of classic noir. : film noir. a comedy dressed in the trappings of an edgy noir.

The History of Film Noir

In truth, movies in the so-called film noir genre had been prominent for six years before the word was created by French film critic Nino Frank in 1946. Frank used the phrase to refer to low-budget “dark picture” crime thrillers produced by Hollywood studios.

The term film noir, French for 'black film' (literal) or 'dark film' (closer meaning), was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era.

Ultimate lost, surviving day-to-day, desperation and paranoia are leading themes in noir stories. Cinematography has a trend of having a deep-focus, bewildering visual patterns, skewed camera angles, single-source lighting that give scenes a dark, confined and cloudy appearance.

The noirs were inspired both by literature and previous film history along with the sociohistory of the period it grew out of. In America in the thirties there was a literary tradition called hard-boiled novels. These were crime novels and so called pulp fiction, and very popular.

What makes a noir story?

“There are two essential ingredients that separate noir fiction from the rest of the mystery-crime genre: a protagonist lacking a moral center and an unhappy ending. It's definitely an acquired taste,” says Dick Lochte, award-winning author and president of the Private Eye Writers of America.

The Writing: OK this one's obvious but the stories in Noir are so well done and so suspenseful that they still hold weight for today's audience. This is because of a few things, the plot points and narrative devices are all raw and carnal. It's the simplicity and the themes that never grow old and make them timeless.

Film noir is a genre of film that emerged in the 1940s. It was heavily influenced by German Expressionism and often includes moral ambiguity, sexual perversion, urban crime, and violence. Film noir is characterized by low-key lighting and deep shadows, with an emphasis on people who feel trapped in their lives.

The classic film noir period is considered as being from the early 1940's until the late 1950's. The films that qualify as film noir cinema feature low-key, black and white photography inspired by the chiaroscuro lighting of renaissance art and German Expressionism.

The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.

Consider this definition provided by WorldCat Genres: “Taken from the French word meaning 'darkness' or 'of the night,' noir is a category of modern crime fiction.

adjective French. black; noting the black numbers in roulette.

Of or relating to a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings.

Noir photography is characterized by moody, dark, and dramatic images that look straight out of a crime scene filmed in the 60s. The images are emotive, and have a highly specific look to them in both lighting, contrast, and composition.

How many film noir are there?

Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era 1940-1959 - IMDb.

While the film that is widely considered to be the first Hollywood noir—John Huston's The Maltese Falcon—was set in San Francisco, many of the earliest and greatest film noirs took place in Los Angeles. Those that have earned high marks are listed below.

Touch of Evil marks the end of classic Film Noir in the genre's classic era (from the early 1940s until the late 1950s). It certainly marked the end of Welles' Hollywood directing career. Some of the fundamentals are long rooted with its tradition firmly planted in the very origins of cinema.

Color film noirs were movies that followed the "film noir" style (crime themes, fatalistic outlook, etc.) during the noir "Classical Period" (1940-1959) but, instead of using B&W film stock they were shot in color, often Technicolor. Color noir films after 1959 became known as neo-noirs.

Fritz Lang in Hollywood; Wien: Europaverlag, 1986; ISBN 3-203-50953-9 (in German).

Film noir is a stylized genre of film marked by pessimism, fatalism, and cynicism. The term was originally used in France after WWII, to describe American thriller or detective films in the 1940s and 50s.

The visual style of noir is the hard/undiffused look of the tabloid newspaper with cluttered/claustrophobic/dark interiors framed or restricted by the camera frame, many night scenes, off-angle and deep focus camera shots, stark chiarascuro, low-key lighting, bleak/fatalistic overtones of dispair and madness, " ...

While noir stories almost always involve crime and underworlds (of both the social and psychological kinds), not all crime stories are noir.

Film noir can be seen as both a screen style, and a perspective on human existence and society. Its narrative structures incorporate a dark world view that is the result of a confrontation with nihilism. The cause of nihilism, in short, appears when peoples ideals are shattered.

In terms of perhaps its most familiar deployment (in film noir), film scholar Jim Kitses has written that “like fog and mist, rain is symbolic weather that represents an intensification of noir's darkness (its 'murk'), the shadow world rendered not only mysterious and dangerous but destabilising, turbulent, hostile”.

Is The Batman a noir film?

The Batman is the perfect film for fans of both comic books and the noir genre, bringing Batman back to his roots in a well-realised Gotham, complete with familiar yet unique cast of characters.

Black Noir

He doesn't talk, he wears all black, and he is an amazing hand-to-hand fighter, beating people up in the dark. Black Noir is obviously a darker and more violent take on DC's Batman. However, Marvel has its own character that is extremely similar, the Squadron Supreme version of Nighthawk.

During Payback's fight against Soldier Boy, Black Noir received catastrophic brain injuries that left him both unable to verbally communicate and saddled with bizarre hallucinations of cartoon animals.

Film noir pieces also took use of dramatic camera work to convey a story. Using low-angle shots to make the audience perceive the subject as more powerful was quite common. Directors also employed techniques such as Dutch angles and wide angles to distort reality.

Film noir is a stylized genre of film marked by pessimism, fatalism, and cynicism. The term was originally used in France after WWII, to describe American thriller or detective films in the 1940s and 50s. Though, Hollywood's film noir stretches back to the 1920s.

The term “film noir” is typically credited to French critic Nino Frank, who apparently coined it in a 1946 essay published in the magazine L'Écran français to describe four American crime films: John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, Otto Preminger's Laura, and Edward Dmytryk's Murder, My ...

The classic film noir period is considered as being from the early 1940's until the late 1950's. The films that qualify as film noir cinema feature low-key, black and white photography inspired by the chiaroscuro lighting of renaissance art and German Expressionism.

The Writing: OK this one's obvious but the stories in Noir are so well done and so suspenseful that they still hold weight for today's audience. This is because of a few things, the plot points and narrative devices are all raw and carnal. It's the simplicity and the themes that never grow old and make them timeless.

Noir themes and moods include despair, paranoia, and nihilism; an atmosphere of claustrophobic entrapment; a nightmarish sense of loneliness and alienation; a purposelessness fostered in part by feelings of estrangement from one's own past even as one seems to driven to a compulsive confrontation with that past (Conard ...

Film noir is an American movie style from the 1940s and 1950s that features detective protagonists, sleazy surroundings, dim lighting, and a tragic tone. The genre developed iconic cinematic motifs and tropes that inspire filmmakers today.