”The characteristic film noir moods of claustrophobia, paranoia, despair and nihilism constitute a world view that is expressed not through the film’s terse, elliptical dialogue, nor through their confusing, often insoluble plots, but ultimately through their remarkable style” (Janey Place and Lowell Peterson, 1974)

Film Noir literally means black film a term originally used by French film critics about American detective films made after the war. Noir used black and white film even though by the early 1940’s it was possible to shoot in colour. The use of black and white was to give the films a more realistic feel to them as if they were more of a documentary or a news-reel; it also gave noir the grittiness associated with them.

The darkness of Film Noir can be seen in the style of the films and most obviously in the lighting used. Noir lighting is “low-key” wh

“The world of the film is thus made a closed universe, with each character seen as just another facet of an unheeding environment that will exist unchanged long after his death; and the interaction between man and the forces represented by that noir environment is always clearly visible.” (Place and Peterson, 1974)

The mise-en-scene in the noir films was used to make the audience feel disconcerted and uneasy in order that they would be able to empathise with the unsettled and confused lives of the main characters and therefore be pulled further into the narrative of the film. The setting for many of the films was in a dark and depressing, polluted city where the rain always seemed to pour unrelentingly down.

In the film Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) we are introduced to the femme fatale Phyllis, as she slowly walks down the stairs in her house. The main male lead, Walter, is waiting for her in her lounge. He is shrouded in darkness with shadows created by the closed Venetian blinds cutting across his face giving him a tortured look possibly echoing his personal life. As Phyllis walks down the stairs the camera focuses on a chain that she has on her ankle this is implying that she is a wild woman. Instead of the camera coming to the foot of the stairs to capture Phyllis walking down them it is positioned from Walter’s point of view in the lounge, this means that the camera captures her behind the banister of the stairs. The banister is constructed of vertical posts giving rise to thoughts that Phyllis is behind bars; her home is like a prison.

Some topics in this essay:
Scott Henderson, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Film Noir, Johnny Kitty, , Humphrey Bogart’s, Kitty Marsh, Robert Siodmak, film noir, Fritz Lang, fill light, wide-angle lenses, peterson 1974, light moved character, portrait kitty, positioned lights, femme fatale, black white, key light, walks stairs,