The s and s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key , black-and-white visual style that has roots in German expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression , known as noir fiction. The term film noir , French for "black film" literal or "dark film" closer meaning , [ 2 ] was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in , but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era.
Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. Before the notion was widely adopted in the s, many of the classic films noir [a] were referred to as " melodramas ". Whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre or whether it should be considered a filmmaking style is a matter of ongoing and heavy debate among film scholars. Film noir encompasses a range of plots; common archetypical protagonists include a private investigator The Big Sleep , a plainclothes police officer The Big Heat , an aging boxer The Set-Up , a hapless grifter Night and the City , a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime Gun Crazy , a femme fatale Gilda or simply a victim of circumstance D.
Although film noir was originally associated with American productions, the term has been used to describe films from around the world. Many films released from the s onward share attributes with films noir of the classical period, and often treat its conventions self-referentially.
Latter-day works are typically referred to as neo-noir. The question of what defines film noir and what sort of category it is, provokes continuing debate. Though film noir is often identified with a visual style that emphasizes low-key lighting and unbalanced compositions , [ 9 ] films commonly identified as noir evidence a variety of visual approaches, including ones that fit comfortably within the Hollywood mainstream.
It is night, always. The hero enters a labyrinth on a quest. He is alone and off balance. He may be desperate, in flight, or coldly calculating, imagining he is the pursuer rather than the pursued.
