Happy Noirvember to those who celebrate. We are using this made-up holiday to talk about one of the most fun genres in cinema history: Film Noir. Our guest blogger is Ron Williams, a Bethlehem-based filmmaker who loves to talk about movies (and also food). Check out Ron’s introduction to the topic and his recommendations — all of which you can watch for free on Kanopy with your BAPL library card. 
Ron Williams on Film Noir:
What is Film Noir? Is it fedoras, trench coats, and high-contrast black and white film? Is it seedy bars filled with chain smoking private eyes and ex-cons looking for a big score? Is it star-crossed lovers with an inconvenient husband who needs to disappear? Yes, it is. Film Noir is all of that and much more.
The term “Film Noir” was first used in post-war France by cineastes in Paris who were just catching up on the Hollywood pictures they had missed during the war. The French critic, Nino Frank, is credited with coining the term ‘film noir’ to describe the bleak crime pictures of the time. Hollywood hadn’t recognized this new genre while they were making these films, but Frank and other critics picked up on the dark themes of insecurity, nihilism, and existentialism at the heart of many of the films, as well as the expressionist inspired, low-key, black and white cinematography which defined most noir films during its classic period in the 1940s and 1950s.
While the cinematic style of film noir has changed over the years, the term is still used to describe crime films with characters who blur the lines between hero and villain. Here are a handful of Film Noirs which perfectly encapsulate the genre. You can find them on Kanopy!
The Classic Period:
- Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Directed by: Phil Karlson
Written by: George Bruce and Harry Essex
Produced by: Edward Small
Fans of Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) will see clear inspiration for those films here. This classic caper features an intricately planned heist which is to be pulled off by a crew of cons who are strangers to each other. No one knows each other, so no one can betray each other…but they can’t trust each other, either. - Detour (1945)
Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer
Written by: Martin Goldsmith
Produced by: Leon Fromkess
Things go from bad to worse to catastrophic for a down-on-his-luck piano player hitchhiking from New York to Los Angeles. Detour is one of the most widely-known noir films of all time and perfectly embodies the bleak fatalism of the genre. - Too Late For Tears (1949)
Directed by: Byron Haskin
Written by: Roy Huggins
Produced by: Hunt Stromberg
What would you do if a big bag of money fell into your lap? Would you keep it or turn it over to the police? That’s the quandary at the heart of Too Late For Tears. If you’re not familiar with the works of the actor Dan Duryea, get ready to meet one of cinema’s greatest heels.
French Noir:
- Symphony for a Massacre (1963)
Directed by: Jacques Deray
Written by: Alain Reynaud-Fourton, José Giovanni, Claude Sautet, Jacques Deray
Produced by: Julien Derode
Inspired by The Asphalt Jungle, this French noir classic is full of backstabbers, two-timers, schemers, and total degenerates…a perfect noir cocktail, especially in the hands of a skilled filmmaker like Jacques Deray. Deray became so famous for making noirs, thrillers, crime films, and spy movies the Jacques Deray Prize was created in 2006 to honor him. It is awarded annually to the best French crime-thriller film of the year. - Le Samouraï (1967)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville
Written by: Jean-Pierre Melville and Georges Pellegrin
Produced by: Raymond Borderie and Eugène Lépicier
Alain Delon plays a methodical, perfectionist assassin who hits an unexpected snag on a job and must elude both the authorities and the people who hired him in Jean-Pierre Melville’s stylish neo-noir. This is one of the coolest films of all time. I challenge anyone to watch this and not feel compelled to buy a trenchcoat.
Neo Noir:
- The Long Goodbye (1973)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Written by: Leigh Brackett
Produced by: Jerry Bick
Elliot Gould made some great films with Robert Altman over the years, and I would put this one towards the top of the list. Here he perfectly embodies Raymond Chandler’s legendary private detective, Phillip Marlowe. Gould made a career playing moral men who are constantly butting heads with a world that seems to be turning more cynical and selfish all the time. In The Long Goodbye, his principles are tested by the weirdos, gangsters, and sleazebags of seventies Los Angeles. - Point Blank (1967)
Directed by: John Boorman
Written by: Alexander Jacobs, David Newhouse, and Rafe Newhouse
Produced by: Judd Bernard and Robert Chartoff
Based on the Robert Stark novel, The Hunter, this 1967 neo-noir is your prototypical revenge film. There are no “good guys” here. Lee Marvin plays a crook who was double-crossed and now he’s looking to bury the people who did him dirty.
