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film noir |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.02 sec. |
film noir(French; “dark film”) Film genre that offers dark or fatalistic interpretations of reality. The term is applied to U.S. films of the late 1940s and early '50s that often portrayed a seamy or criminal underworld and cynical characters. The films were noted for their use of stark, expressionistic lighting and stylized camera work, often employed in urban settings. The genre includes films such as John Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941), Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past (1947), Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), and Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). The trend was on the wane by the mid-1950s, but the influence of these films is evident in many subsequent ones, including classics such as Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974) and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982). More recent examples include L.A. Confidential (1997) and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Out of the Past (1947): Gangster (Kirk Douglas) hires private eye (Robert Mitchum) to find his mistress in Jacques Tourneur's brilliant film noir. As with the film noir of the '40s that The Spirit resembles, unique craftsmanship--even in so "low" a field as comics or B movies--will not only attract new audiences; it will often be embraced, eventually, by cultural gatekeepers. The sleek, heavily outlined art, with its pleasing mix of saturated colors and film noir lighting, follows the family as the contagious bad mood runs its course. |
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