... noir are normally driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes. Film noir is marked by expressionistic lighting, disorienting visual schemes and skewed camera angles, circling cigarette smoke, existential sensibilities, ... from a book by Dashiell Hammett. It was famous for Humphrey Bogart's cool, laconic private eye hero Sam Spade in pursuit of crooks greedy for a jewel-encrusted statue, and Mary Astor as the femme fatale. ... menacing, father-fixated, unstable femme fatale (Gene Tierney) who would stop at nothing (drowning murder of her husband's younger brother...

• Word Count: 1859
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate