Film Noir History and Conventions Part 2

As well as German expressionism film noir as we now know it has it origins in the pulp crime fiction novels of various authors including Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett and Cornell Woolrich all of whom began by contributing to the crime pulp magazine Black Mask that consisted of urban crime fiction in a hard-boiled style inspired by the state of corruption and rampant urban expansion in America at the time. These writers would go on to write many of the pulp novels that would spawn many film adaptations.


These novels would influence the stories and style of film noir in many ways the heroes/antiheroes, villains and corrupt officials along with the private eyes, gangsters and killers were all the source of entertainment in the novels and would go on to be the same in the films. The dark decaying underworld they occupied and the disillusionment and cynicism of the characters therein can also be traced back to the pulp fiction of the time and the mood in general in America at the time.


Film noir story are frequently complex and often non-linear and made use of flashbacks. The films stood out for their use of language especially the hard-boiled slang of the novels. Much of this language was used to be more sexual and offensive than the critics at the time would allow, so innuendo and euphemism was used to get the films past the tight broadcasting standards of the time. An apparent obsession with legs and feet also comes across from several film noir films perhaps again due to the strict broadcasting standards which would not allow anything racier.


Voice-over narration is used often in film noir and the voice over is not necessarily always to be trusted. A good example of narration in film noir is that of Sunset Boulevard where in the film is narrated by the main character who is shown dead at the beginning of the film.



References

Printed References

Black Mask Magazine (1920). USA. Popular Publications.

Filmography

Sunset Boulevard (1950). Directed by Billy Wilder. USA. Paramount

Double Indemnity (1944) Directed by Billy Wilder. USA. Paramount Pictures.