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FILM HISTORY #1: the Film Noir - April 11, 2011
There is a great timeline of the Film Noir here at Film Noir studies. [] The Noir film is one of the great places to start looking at Film History. Partly that’s because of the sociocultural influences on post-World War 2 film, which make the rise of the Noir film so easy for our students to understand, but it’s also a great choice because it’s development is so clearly tied to other great traditions and genres. The visual style of the Noir is highly influenced by German Expressionism, a tradition that arose from the fine arts and influenced the Theatre before it was adopted by film-makers. [] Many Film traditions originally sprang from Theatre practice, especially in the early days of Film, and what a great starting point for the discussion of the evolution of film language and film practice. More than that, most students are fascinated by Expressionist films like THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) [] NOSFERATU (1922) [] METROPOLIS (1927) [] The cultural connections between the Expressionist films and the Noir films are directly related to World War 2 (of course another fascinating connection is the relationship of World War 1 to the Expressionist movement and particularly to films like CALIGARI and NOSFERATU.) As the Nazis rose to power, film-makers like Fritz Lang, Karl Freund, and many others who had worked in Germany fled to America to escape the Nazis. The traditions of the Expressionist Film found new expression in the horror films of Universal Studios, where cameraman and director (of THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff) Karl Freund was passing his knowledge of lighting, shadow, and the dark psychological vistas of the Expressionist Film to film-makers like Edgar G. Ulmer, who would quickly move on to the horror film to the Noir. James Whale was profoundly influenced by CALIGARI when he made the classic FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), but Edgar Ulmer’s THE BLACK CAT in 1934 is probably the Universal film that most nearly paves the way for the lighting, mood and atmosphere of the later Noir Films. (Of course, Ulmer’s most famous Film Noir is probably the classic DETOUR (1945). [] Fritz Lang never directed a horror movie exactly, but his early films M (1931) and THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933) include many Noir elements of lighting, camerawork and plot as the police try to solve the baffling mystery of a child murderer in the former film and a criminal genius in DR. MABUSE. M (1931) [] THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE [] Lang’s films straddle practically the entire history of the classic Film Noir, and he directed the great Film Noirs SCARLET STREET (1945), THE SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1948), RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952), THE BLUE GARDENIA (1953), THE BIG HEAT (1953), and BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956). He’s the most direct connection between the German Expressionist movement and the Noir Film, and his early silent film METROPOLIS would also profoundly influence a later Science Fiction Film that would see the Film Noir voyage to the future, BLADERUNNER (1982) directed by Ridley Scott. There’s a good short biography of Lang at Senses of Cinema: [| http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/lang/] We’ll look more at the Film Noir in future blogs – but in the meantime, here are some great films to check out. THE BLACK CAT (1934) [] SCARLET STREET (1945) [] THE SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1948) [] RANCHO NOTORIUOUS (1952) [] THE BLUE GARDENIA (1952) [] THE BIG HEAT (1953) [] BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (1956) []