Classic Film Noir

Alienated, paranoid, damaged heroes trapped in hopelessness and despair. Glamorous women hide their true roles as femme fatales. Where we live in a Technicolor world, these characters inhabit a black and white one – chiaroscuro lighting (especially shadows of venetian blinds cutting across “doomed” characters), low or “off” angle shots. You can see the ceilings, an odd thing in low budget movies. From 1941 through 1958, some of the most compelling crime movies and melodramas made drew audiences into this downer universe. Horror movies project our nightmares onto some other entity; films noir acknowledge that we are the source of our worst fears.