The History of Film Noir

Defined in the 1940s, film noir (French for “black film”) was an extremely popular, though dark, style of film. In the ‘30s, films such as Satan Met a Lady started the idea for these grim movies that would be such hits. Since the early ‘30s, It was films such as Double Indemnity that started fruition of such popularity in culture, 10 years later in the mid 1940s. Crime and murder were key themes in most film noirs as well as sexual innuendos, women, and of course, dark, shadows and obscure lighting.

The term “film noir” was invented by a French film critic named Nino Frank in 1946 due to the dark, woeful nature of the films both in content and mise-en-scene (lighting and colour in particular).

Film noir was at it’s prime during/after WW2 and fully took advantage of people’s states of hopelessness, pessimism and emotion during this time. Due to the war, Hollywood saw a wave of European directors seeking refuge and making short films that combined American story-lines and fiction with European art-cinema which was something new and intriguing to US audiences. That’s why the genre was most popular around this time (1940s to 1950s) and though the genre was widely available before this, the films weren’t penned “noir” films as this was yet to be defined.

Portrayal of women changed drastically in this era with “Femme Fatales”, seen as independent, strong and powerful. Something women were never seen to have been until the noir days. These women used their beauty, sexuality and charm to entice the men into giving them what they wanted; money, answers and more power. After the popularity of noir, women were definitely perceived as stronger, dynamic individuals.

The budget of these films varied widely, some bigger than other though many were simply b-pictures. The time played a huge part in the budget of the films, filmed in dark streets, diml-lit apartments and post-war housing, the classic effect of noirs was easily achieved on a small budget.