Research into Film Noir

The Film Noir genre was first introduced in the 1940s after World War Two. During this period many of the men had been at war so they were exposed to violence and darkness. The name 'Film Noir' is French for dark film but is in French as it appears more 'attractive'. As it was post-war everyone was feeling more aggressive and women had bigger roles in the country because they had to provide for the country and men at war; many people disliked it and the films were propaganda to teach the public to return to the way things were before the war.

Here are some examples of Film Noir titles. Conventionally, it will be in black and white withe the text being big, bold and white for contrast.

 The conventional contents of a Film Noir includes violence, mystery, darkness and black and white; this is because it was a very dark era and people did not want 'jolly' films.

Expected characters are:

Femme Fatal looking 'seductive' in Double Indemnity

• The everyman (anti-hero)
• The femme fatal

Other characters that are sometimes included are:

• The villain
• Henchmen
• The girl next door

below are the characters in these three films colour coded):

The Killers                                                     Double Indemnity                                                    Black Dahlia

• The everyman (anti-hero):     'Swede'              Walter Neff                                              Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert
• The Femme Fatal:                   Kitty                   Phyllis Dietrichson                                 Madeleine Linscott
• The Villain:                               Big Jim              N/A (nemesis of Walter is B. Keyes)     N/A
• Henchmen:                               Max and Al        N/A                                                           N/A
• Girl Next Door:                         N/A                    Lola Dietrichson                                       Katherine 'Kay' Lake

Generic conventions of Film Noir from mlevesley