Temptation—in the form of a beautiful seductress, paranoid desperation or just a need for cash—can lead apparently normal people to commit crimes that shock even themselves. When their stories are told in black-and-white movies with sharp contrast, sharper angles and a cynicism at odds with the superficial optimism demanded by Hollywood, we call them film noir.
Film noir grew out of the political and economic turmoil between the two world wars. It resulted when German film directors, influenced by the German expressionist art movement, came to America to escape Hitler and met the stripped-down fiction style of Hemingway and the cynicism of the hardboiled detective tradition.
Noir means black in French, and these movies are black—in lack of color, in lack of optimism and in a mood of fear and impending doom.
The look was dictated in part by economic necessity during the Depression. Much of the shooting was done in black-and-white, at night, on city streets, in empty warehouses and on deserted highways.
The films made money with a low initial outlay, which led to their popularity with the studios that made them as well as with audiences.
Early directors associated with film noir include Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger.
Lang, an Austrian aristocrat, directed Metropolis (1926) and M (1931) before leaving Germany. In America, he directed Fury (1936), Scarlett Street (1945) and The Big Heat (1953). His studies in art and psychology informed his films.
Wilder's background was in law and journalism. He wrote and directed films in Berlin until the rise of Hitler sent him to the U.S. where he became one of the most varied and successful of Hollywood film directors. He directed over 50 films and won six Oscars. His works include two outstanding examples of noir, Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Boulevard (1960).
Preminger, an Austrian, studied law but was more interested in acting. At age 27, he was tapped to head the State Theatre in Vienna, but turned it down because it meant becoming a Catholic. Moving to Hollywood to work for 20th Century Fox, he directed the noir classic Laura, starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews. It was so successful, he directed more noir films featuring men obsessed by seductive women.
By the beginning of the 50s, however, theater owners in the middle of the country were complaining that the dark depictions of city life were frightening away their audiences. The age of noir ended, though the elements have influenced numerous films since.
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