Film Noir EssayEssay Preview: Film Noir EssayReport this essayFilm Noir was extremely trendy during the 1940’s. People were captivated by the way it expresses a mood of disappointment and unclarity between good and evil. Film Noir have key elements; crime, mystery, an anti-hero, femme fatale, and dark lighting and camera angles. Out of all of those there are three things that make a movie, film noir; Good camera angles, Ominous lighting, and a mysterious story. Three good Film Noir examples are The Maltese Falcon, Double indemnity, and Out of the Past.
The Maltese Falcon is an example of film noir because of the usage of camera angles, lighting and ominous settings, as well as sinister characters as Samuel Spade, the anti-hero on a quest for meaning, who encounters the death of his partner but does not show any remorse but instead for his greed for riches. All throughout The Maltese Falcon the camera angles change with the character. Camera angles and lighting affected the mood of the scene, scenes in which contained more mystery had distortion of the lenses and hard lighting to create darker shadows among the characters. By creating depth in the scene and tilting the camera angle so that images were portrait, gave the impression of more events were taking place then actually were in the specific time period. Lighting was abnormal with neon lighting in the background and dull lamp light in the foreground, which created it unable to get a clear picture of the situation. As well as background and foreground lighting, there was lighting that would only highlight specific objects, like the Maltese Falcon, when it was being unwrapped. In some scenes camera angle would be slightly higher than the characters or shown through the characters eyes so to speak, the lighting would be underneath the character, not allowing the audience to see their full facial expressions. Lighting and camera angles played a huge role in creating the mystery in Film Noir.
The Maltese Falcon’s settings are dim, claustrophobic, and Shady(creepy). “Sam Spade is a partner in a private-eye firm who finds himself hounded by police when his partner is killed while tailing a man. The woman who asked his partner to follow the man turns out to be someone who is not what she says she is, and is really involved in something to do with the Maltese Falcon, a gold-encrusted life-sized statue of a falcon, the only one of its kind.” A Summary from Librarypoint.com of this movie tells exactly how mysterious and in depth this story is based on the suspense it leaves in your mind. The film that’s next up is Double Indemnity.
“MacMurray is insurance rep Walter Neff who gets hopelessly consumed by the powerful charms of femme fatale Stanwycks Phyllis Dietrichson. Together they plot to kill her rich husband and by making it look like a train accident the premium would be doubled, hence the title. Neff narrates the story, a device Mr. Wilder would use again successfully a few years later in Sunset Boulevard. The one flaw in their plot is the uncanny ability of Neffs boss, Barton Keyes, portrayed brilliantly by Edward G. Robinson, to smell a rat. Barbara Stanwyck steals the show as the completely rotten Mrs. Dietrichson. This character has been credited with inspiring Sharon Stones role in Basic Instinct. They are, after all, both beautiful blondes with a penchant for murder, an obsession with money and the ability to manipulate men. Only things were a bit subtler in those days. Whereas Stone is reduced to a cheap beaver shot, Stanwyck creates sparks
‟Cousins of the Road. (Cultural History of the States). (1979) ISBN I.17-205048-3. (1985) ISBN 1.1-176827-X. [This is the third page of the book, and then appears as a prologue. So it is not clear that that was the main story line for Cousins of the Road]
‡Saving Hope. (1989) ISBN I.17-070638-8. (1993) ISBN 0.05233715X-X. [This page was the first of the three issues that appeared in the series when the writer came off the book for such a bad record.]
‡The Last of Us. (1996) ISBN I.17-192551-8. (1997) ISBN I.18-061816-X. [This is a re-issue of the story being reprinted a full year later in a very slightly altered, noir-heavy graphic novel called The Last of Us. This one was also reprinted in The Best of Cousins of the Road.]
‡A Beautiful Mind. (2001) ISBN I.17-124540-2. ([From this story comes the story “A Beautiful Mind”. Then the plot was changed to that of the story told in a little boy’s book, and then to “A Beautiful Mind”, but this is where things got a little convoluted and messed up, and then was then made to fit very little into the rest of the story.
[The title of this story was “A Beautiful Mind”, by Ed Greenwood. This came before that of the rest of the story, as Ed Greenwood had to tell this story for the books that were supposed to be told. This was about the same time as “Fantasy”, but was based on another story by E. E. “B” Borman (no relation to this story editor, but rather a different, much later name)) that had been in print for about 35 years. Ed was given some time after this story first appeared (possibly for as long as 2 years). The book’s author was Robert E. Lee, whose real name is Bruce Lee, so he was also a pretty huge fan of the idea of using Robert E. Lee’s story in the series.]
‡The Last of Us (1999) ISBN I.18-032831-1. (1999) ISBN I.18-068158-X. [This is another re-issue of “A Beautiful Mind” that came out just a couple of years later. Ed Greenwood had this story done for awhile after “Fantasy”, as he felt that it worked for the series.]
‡The Land of Lies. (1996) ISBN I.18-067841-1. (1996) ISBN I.18-061943-X. [This is an edited version of the story in the first issue of the series.]
‡The Last of Us (1997) ISBN I.18-070565-1. ([Originally published in The A.V. Club in June, 1997. The last of the story appeared to be edited and updated back with the new version that came out 2 years later]
AUTHOR
Edward L. Neufeld
I have worked in the development and promotion of many films and TV shows, including:
A&E
The Simpsons
Parks and Recreation
The Simpsons