Film Noir - The List

Film Noir is undefineable and addictive. This list isn't a complete or a reliable way to spot the true Film Noir classics. Chances are though, if you're watching a movie with two or more of the following features, then you're watching Film Noir.

* One of the characters is a Private Detective.
* The main character narrates part or all of the movie.
* Jazz or blues makes up a large proportion of the soundtrack.
* Most of the action is set in city streets, hotel rooms or bars.
* Most of the action occurs at night or in dark settings.
* Smoking and smoky bars are used stylistically and in abundance.
* The movie features a 'femme fatale' character.
* There is an effort to make the set designs or costume designs mimic the style of the 1930s/1940s.
* A deliberate use of black and white cinematography (in the colour period of films).

Other less easily defineable features (which occur in so many films which aren't Film Noir that they're hardly worth mentioning) include:

* Characters, especially the main character, are tough or 'hard-bitten'.
* The main character is often poor or world weary.
* The main character is morally ambiguous or appears so.
* Alcohol is drunk at a shady bar by the main character or lead female at least once in the movie.
* Crime plays a large part in the movie.

These features (on both lists) can also be viewed as Film Noir cliches which modern directors might seek to avoid when making new, fresh Film Noir... consequently there are bound to be films which avoid all these features and yet are still defined as Film Noir by director and audience, just because of the 'feel' of the movie, the style of the script or dialogue or some other hard-to-define element. The definition of Film Noir is incredibly vague and yet most film fans such as myself have such a very clear view of what they consider noir and not noir that it seems bizarre that a definition cannot be written down.

Wikipedia opens its article on Film Noir like so:

'Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.'

However, even within this opening paragraph there are definitions which do not apply to a large proportion of Film Noir films. 'Metropolis' (2001 - as in the anime version directed by Rintaro) is animated in rich colour, not black and white. Similarly 'Dark City' (1998) is filmed in colour, though it gives the impression of being more monochromatic than it is. 'Blade Runner' is also in colour - though it's interesting to note that all three of these movies are what I am currently naming 'Sci Fi Noir' (more on that later...).

The crime fiction element of Film Noir also causes problems when you try to put a line between Film Noir crime films and Gangster Films. Many famous examples of Film Noir involve the Mob (particularly in the original 1940s films when prohibition meant that gangsters had a much stronger hold on America, a hold which was then reflected back into the film industry, which was also largely controlled by the Mob or Mob money). The difference, perhaps, between Noir and Gangster movies is that Gangster movies often have gangsters (or police moles disguised as gangsters) as the main characters and the entire plot revolves around the rise and fall of the gangsters in the movie. Film Noir leads are generally not gangsters. They are often much more powerless than gangsters, politicians or the police; the three main groups of characters seen in Gangster movies. The plots may involve gangsters but they do not revolve around them - often the plots revolve (directly or indirectly) around the females in the movie, though again this is not true for every Film Noir. Also, female leads are generally more deadly in Film Noir and more powerless in Gangster movies... though as with all these features there are examples which go against this.

The Wikipedia article goes onto quote the French critics Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton:

"We'd be oversimplifying things in calling film noir oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel...."

Yet again a series of very true but very vague definitions. Many films strive to be strange, dream-like and erotic and yet are not classed as Film Noir however the genre as a whole is seen to embody these elements. It's a constant battle ground of definitions and exceptions to these definitions.

A note before I move on...
I realise that these lists are not as detailed or exhaustive as professional film critics and writers would make them. They are simplistic and a little crude. However, this journal is not about providing students with exhaustive and precise studies into every detail of film-making, it's about passing across my views on certain segments of certain genres and films. I hope I don't talk too much rubbish whilst I'm doing that and I certainly don't aim to mislead readers or students with my views. My lists are there to be improved through comments and in every re-edit that I do so hopefullly they'll get better as time passes on. At the moment they're just a starting point for future debate.

More to come...