Film Noir of the Week Archive

A unique approach to acting, writing, and directing often effectively comes together to craft the conventions of the film noir. The cinematography and lighting that present the stylistic black-and-white imagery create the dark world film noir embraces. Bright lights...
  Long before Bogart could capture audiences’ attention in the cinema, his image on a poster was necessary to inform crowds of an upcoming release. Film noir posters — ironically — must be noir-like while avoiding the essential element...
A shot from Roman Polanski's Chinatown
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” There are places that have a character of their own, and the Chinatown of the 1930s in Los Angeles definitely fits the bill. Up to 1910, this was a booming part of town, with...
In hindsight, debating the merits of the film noir canon will inevitably shape the way we see both the works that defined it and those that, perhaps indirectly, influenced its ambiance and unique visual flair. For all intents and...
A shot from the 1947 film noir Odd Man Out
It’s very sobering and equally humbling to see how often ahead of the curve noir films were at their artistic height in the 1940s, despite having been produced in days of great social upheaval and turmoil. Or perhaps because...