Film noir is the mid 1940s to mid 1950s phase of Hollywood filmmaking in which, in lustrous black and white and shadow, tales of crime and lust were told with a cynicism and fatalism that apparently has ageless resonance. Though you can identify early noir style and content in minor pictures like Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) and major ones like The Maltese Falcon (1941), film noir emerged as a distinct form with Billy Wilder’s smoldering Double Indemnity (1944), complete with its ordinary guy who goes “bad” thanks to his gullibility to a femme fatale, its portrait of a non-Tinseltown Los Angeles, and its emphasis on sex and violence, not to mention ironic, pungent, and eminently quotable dialogue. When World War II ended, film noir came into its own, providing alternative dissonance to the post-war euphoria with downbeat, anti-heroic main characters. The fusion of pulp stories with Expressionistic visuals created a series of films that, for the Hollywood of the time, had unsettling ambiguities and uncommon pessimism. Some of these movies, such as Murder, My Sweet (1945) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), are recognized classics, while others, like Out of the Past (1947) and Gun Crazy (1949), are highly esteemed cult favorites whose popularity widens with each passing year, but other fine examples are still waiting to receive their due. Underappreciated in its heyday, film noir continues to influence American movies in today’s seemingly neverending onslaught of twisty thrillers. This chapter includes two examples of pure film noir, but also two hybrids (a docudrama noir and a period noir) and a post-noir reconfiguration of the genre’s basic elements.

excerpted from John DiLeo’s
Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery
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