(Kerr 1986) A traditional genre will tend to just stick to the limits of its own boundaries, such as Gene Kelly's Singing In The Rain', which is nothing but a typical musical. Schrader bluntly dismisses that film noir can be defined by genre stating that Film noir is not a genre': it is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict,but rather by the most subtle qualities of tone and mood. (Schrader 1972) .
Critics such as Durgnat and Schrader avoid the problem of defining film noir according to genre by suggesting that the term film noir' can be best described as films, which share certain stylistic elements. J.A. Place and L.S. Peterson agree saying that visual style' is the only consistent thread that unites the very diverse films that together comprise this phenomenon' (Place and Peterson 1974) Hagopian suggests The visual style echoes German expressionism, painting shafts of light that temporally illuminate small chunks of an ominous and overbearing universe that limits a persons chances to slim to none. (Hagopian 2001) Giving an example of this style in the internet magazine In Focus' Dark rooms with light slicing through venetian blinds, alleys cluttered with garbage, abandoned warehouses where dust hangs in the air, rain slickened streets with water still running in the gutters, dark detective offices overlooking busy streets' (Hagopian 2001) The actor Nick Nolte agrees asserting that film noir is putting a style over a story. Brian Neve in his book Film and Politics in America' states that the style of film noir, Drenches the world in shadows'. (Neve 1992) .
Alain Silver remarks that the film noir is defined according to the unity of its stylistic elements. Full range of the noir vision depends on its narratives, its characterisations, and its visual style. In fact, that style is a translation of both character emotions and narrative emotions and narrative concepts into a pattern of visual usage.
