The History of Film Noir.

The 1940’s and 1950’s are usually known to be the classic period for American film noirs, most film noirs were low modestly budgeted features without major stars. Film noirs are usually shot in greys or black and whites this emphasized the brutal, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience. The protagonists in film noir were usually driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes.

Films noirs began in the 1940’s with films such as ‘ The Maltese Falcon’, this indicated a new and darker view on characters and the fiction. Film Noirs also usually refer to a historical period of time. Film Noir was coined by French film critics (first by Nino Frank in 1946) who recognized how 'dark' and black the themes were of many American crime and detective films viewed in French theatres following the war, Including The Maltese Falcon 1941, Murder My Sweet (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Laura (1944). A variety of films reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time period, and counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are the key success to a film noir, reflecting the Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was present. When men went to war, and left the women that’s how the women become dominant this led to the term ‘ femme fatale’. 'Stranger on the third floor' was the first full featured film noir. The popular noir couple were brought together in George Marshall's post-war crime thriller The Blue Dahlia (1946), with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Raymond Chandler (the only work he ever wrote directly for the screen). Alan Ladd portrayed returning war veteran Johnny Morrison who discovered that his wife Helen (Doris Dowling) was unfaithful during his absence. When she turned up dead and he became the prime suspect, he was aided in the case by the mysterious Joyce Harwood (Lake) - the seductive ex-wife of his wife's former lover.

Opening Scene Analysis of ' The Blue Dahlia'

The Blue Dahlia was released in 1946. It is an American film noir directed by George Marshall and written by Raymond Chandler. A navy officer returns home to Hollywood after being put on an inactive list from the fighting in the south Pacific to an unfaithful wife, who is later murdered, this already indicates a typical noir character due to the ‘ femme fatale’ and the jelous husband. Halfway through the script, Chandler became unable to write, as he become a alcoholic, he'd become a teetotaler for health reasons but he decided that the only way he could get inspiration to finish the script was being drunk. For several weeks, he drank heavily, and at the end of that time, presented the finished script. His friends George and Buzz to memory lapses and headaches, and is often short tempered, all likely due to his head wound. Johnny finds his wife Helen living and partying in a hotel bungalow, he then spots her kissing her boyfriend Eddie Harwood the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub, he punches Eddie. Johnny is willing to try to mend their troubled marriage, but Helen is not. She then confesses to him that their son did not die of diphteria as she had said, but it was due to the fact that she got drunk at a party and crashed her car. Johnny pulls a gun on her, but decides she is not worth it. He drops the pistol and walks out, taking a photograph of their son. In a Noir film, this leads to the wife dying; and the husband being blamed for her murder, or at least give the circumstances. Johnny knows he has to prove his innocence or possibly face the consequences.

The opening sequence begins with a deep focus shot of the top of the bus titled ' Hollywood', the navy officer and two of his friends then step off and enter a daily bar, all three men are dressed appropriately in smart suits and hats drinking and smoking, this is a typical 'mise en scene' in a film noir, traditional old happy music can be heard throughout the opening scene, followed by a cut scene to another navy officer stood dancing by a duke box in his uniform beginning to cause trouble with the ex navy officer. As the sound of music increases, the camera then appears closer to the ex-officer, and focuses on the anger and tension building up in his face, which then results into a confrontation shot of the two officers arguing, which is then revealed he has a plate in his head from fighting in the South Pacific. This is is also a medium shot to represent equal authoirty and importance.

The Blue Dahlia

Mind map

Initial idea

I am working in a group with Amy Adair, Alex Mcmorris and Sam - Amy Kidson. We are creating an opening scene of a Film Noir, we are challenging a ' Film Noir' by having a female detective, as usually in a Film Noir detectives were always male.