Film Noir defined

Film Noir means dark film and has its roots in hard- boiled detective fiction stories.  These stories can involve a private detective or just be a gritty crime story.





It is hard to define these films.  However they have a dark look to them and the characters are not nice to each other.




Lamps are often overturned.



A typical story line will usually include a man and a woman caught up in circumstances from which the death of one of them is the only way to end the trouble.


                                                      




Sometimes gender roles are blurred.  In the film Scarlett Street, tough guy Edward G. Robinson is portrayed as a meek and mild man wearing a frilly apron while being lorded over by his wife.





Today’s Film Noir movies are referred to as Neo-Noir.  “Where’s Dookie Cannata?” Is a Neo-Noir classic.