In the 1930's, comedies and musicals released by Hollywood were immensely popular with the public. They provided a release from the economic and social pressures of the Great Depression. But as the 1940's came along and World War II shook up the world, a series of movies began to appear in American cinema that were decidedly less optimistic. These movies, known as film noir, looked at the darker side of human nature and were marked by a distrustful, fatalistic view of the world. Despite their darkness, or probably because of it, they were fascinating and hugely entertaining, providing catharsis and acknowledging the ambiguity of an uncertain world. In the postwar boom years, the cynicism ran much deeper; we had been though a horrible war and won it, our enemies were vanquished, order was being restored. However, it was as if the foundation of our society had been permanently shaken by the conflict; no one could be trusted and no one was secure. America, in short, had lost whatever delusions of innocence it had ever had. Life was rough, and the classic film noirs reflected this. And in a way, it comforted Americans to know that they weren't alone.
The primary moods of classic film noir are typically melancholy, alienation, disillusionment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, desperation and paranoia. .
Film noir typically revolves around fear and paranoia within the storyline to create suspense, mystery, and eventual misfortune to end the inevitable conflict. A wide array of films including Double Indemnity (1944), and Murder, My Sweet (1944), Out of the Past (1947), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), reflect the tensions and insecurities within film noir, and counter-balance the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. It was the style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s that became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1960 which was marked by Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958), described as the "last" film of the classic film noir era.
