Author: Simulacrum  <nub>    99.67.112.42 Use this link if you want to link to this message and its entire thread of discussion. Post a Msg
Date: 4/19/2021 7:42:09 AM
Subject: Identifying film noir

Necro's and my recent exchanges about film noir have prompted me to think about a definition. I like things to be orderly and manageable, so it is in my nature to have at hand a tidy, all-encompassing answer for those moments when crowds come up to me and ask, "Sim, what is film noir?" This doesn't seem so difficult. It's a term applied to films made predominantly in America from the late 1930s through the 1950s, most of which involved hard-boiled characters engaged in -- or affected by - criminal activities. The films were usually made in black and white with stark lighting, and the action mostly took place at night in cityscapes. Frequently, the hero was a private detective or police detective (or a private citizen trying to figure out a mystery or clear himself of suspected wrong-doing), and the plot was set into motion by a woman of ambiguous or dangerous character.

So-called film scholars have a lot of trouble with something so reductive. They can name dozens of movies that don't have these elements and yet clearly would not escape the noir label. They have a point. I can think of some myself -- Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) has an air of noir, but it takes place in a whistle-stop hamlet somewhere in the southwest, and most of the action happens in daylight. And it's in color. And people wear bluejeans. And it has Anne Francis.

Technically, it's a noir for two reasons: (1) Spencer Tracy is a tough, cynical guy trying to solve a mystery, and (2) he is surrounded by tough, cynical people who try to stop him.

But don't westerns and mysteries do this? Why is this one a noir?

I left out a third reason: (3) It has a "wrong feel" There's something about the whole setup that seems aslant and dark. There are no Aunt Bees or Floyd the Barbers in this place. Everyone has something to hide. Danger lurks around every corner. Things feel insupportable and jagged; there's nothing friendly here.

Cut to: The Third Man (1949). (1) Joseph Cotten is a cynical failed author trying to solve a mystery, and (2) he is surrounded by tough, cynical people who try to stop him. It is basically the same movie as Bad Day at Black Rock, only it takes place in post-war Vienna. It has the very same queasy, infected "feel."

Cut to: Casablanca (1942). The reason Casablanca is not a noir, in spite of its dark, exotic cityscape, gunplay, etc., is that any noirish elements are overshadowed by romance and a very moving patriotism. The problem is that Rick, although the most cynical of cynical heroes, is surrounded by people who are anything but cynical. Ilsa is an angel from heaven. Viktor is a saint. Inspired by these amazing people, what can men like Rick and Louis do but cast aside their cynical egoism and fight for the cause? The "feel" is not there.

Out of the Past = noir

The Asphalt Jungle = noir

Blackboard Jungle = not noir

The Big Sleep = noir

The Maltese Falcon = noir

Anything by Hitchcock = not noir

The Jungle Book = not noir

Anything with Robert Mitchum = noir

Anything with Doris Day = not noir

Gilda = definite noir

Some things with Gary Cooper = noir

Nothing with Don Johnson = noir (though attempts have been made)

Anything with Jamie Foxx = pointless (except Collateral because of Michael Mann)

There is more to say, but I need rest. I plan to develop this. Do not imagine that this flailing is my finished work.