Film noir is a cinematic mode primarily associated with Hollywood crime dramas that set their protagonists in a corrupt and unsympathetic world. Film noir's characteristic low-key black-and-white visual style has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of its prototypical stories and much of its attitude derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.
The term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most of the American filmmakers and actors while they were creating the classic film noirs. The canon of film noir was defined in retrospect by film historians and critics; many of those involved in the making of film noir later professed to be unaware at the time of having created a distinctive type of film.
Pulp Fiction :: Periods and Movements
Classic :: Genres
Mystery :: Genres
Organized Crime :: Genres

Despair Knitting Circle - Noir resources including a club that trades, swaps, buys and sells video and 16mm films.
Classic Noir Online - The Hardboiled World of Classic Film Noir includes articles, recommendations and more than 600 films.
Meta Description: [ Classicnoir.com - The Hardboiled World of Classic Film Noir includes feature articles, recommendations, more than 600 films, and a great video and book store! ]
Dark City - Film Noir and Fiction - Summaries, reviews and art work for noir films and books.
Meta Description: [ This page features selected noir works
in depth. Here you will find images, plot summaries, cast and crew
credits, and our own reviews of films noir, as well as a guide to noir
fiction. ]
Dr. Noir's Crime Posters - Authentic posters and lobby cards for sale. Provides images, details of the condition, and ordering information.
Film Noir - Descriptions of various sub-genres with synopses of example films to illustrate distinctions.
Film Noir - Overview of the development of film noir and literary noir in postwar America.
Film Noir on TV - TV-Now's full schedule of all the Film Noir playing on television this month.
Meta Description: [ Film Noir Current Month TV Schedule ]
Film Noir Reader - In-depth essays and interviews with filmmakers.
Film Noir: Classic Images - Photos from a wide variety of titles.
Meta Description: [ classic films, screwball comedy, a selected bibliography for many of the most important work on the genre. ]
Kat Black's Film Noir Freebies - Backgrounds and buttons for film noir sites.
MGM Film Noir - A look at three of the studio's films noirs: Desire Me, Keeper of the Flame and A Woman's Face.
Narrative Innovations in Film Noir - A look at one of the most important, and often overlooked, aspects of film noir: the form of the narrative.
Meta Description: [ Narrative Innovations in Film Noir, ]
Noir City - Author Eddie Muller introduces his books on film noir and the people who made the genre great.
Meta Description: [ Noir City 4, San Francisco's Film Noir Festival, Jan. 13-26, presented by the Film Noir Foundation and hosted by Eddie Muller. ]
Reel Movie Critic - Reviews of classic Noir and Neo-noir films.
Meta Description: [ No Summary ]
The Incredible World of Bowling Noir - An essay by William Preston Robertson on bowling scenes in film noir. Definitely a new twist on things.
The Noir Files - Reviews of vintage and neo-noir films.
Meta Description: [ Lawrence Russell: the Noir Files ]
Top 25 Films Noir - Eric Enders' list of top 25 Noir films.
Top Film-Noir Films - Internet Movie Database users vote for the top fifty all-time Film Noir movies.
Meta Description: [ IMDb ]
What is This Thing Called Film Noir? - Roger Westcombe discusses the dark film, post-war malaise and Noir's spiderweb of fate.
| D.O.A. (1950) - Film Noir Classic | |
| Next Video | |