'Detour' - traditional film noirDirector: Edgar. G. Ulmar
Year: First made in 1945
Studio: PRC Studios made the film a success
Storyline: The main character is called Al Roberts. He suddenly looses his temper over a song played in a cafe, and he claims that it reminds him of his girlfriend who has left for Hollywood. Roberts decides to hitch-hike to Hollywood to find her again. He manages to hitch a ride with a man called Haskell, but whilst they are driving, he dies in his sleep. Roberts assumes he will be blamed for Haskell’s death by the police, so he hides the dead body and takes on the identity of Haskell as he continues his journey to find his girlfriend. He hitches another lift with a woman called Vera, but what Roberts doesn’t know is that Vera was a friend of Haskell. Vera becomes suspicious of Roberts and she reckons that Roberts has killed Haskell purposefully. Vera thinks she could be in with a chance of gaining inheritance over Haskell’s death, so she demands the truth from Roberts. Whilst in a hotel, Roberts accidentally strangles Vera with a telephone cord. After realising what he has done, he leaves the city in a hurry, and begins to return to the same destination that the film started off at. Roberts believes he will get caught by the police someday, once they have discovered what he has done, and at that point, the Highway Police turn up at his side and arrest him.
Analysis: This is a typical film noir as it contains all the right criteria. There are flashbacks to Vera and at the beginning when Roberts is thinking of his girlfriend. The lighting throughout the film is very low, and this gives the characters a shadowy appearance. The storyline is full of mystery, romance and guilt. The film was made on a very low budget, but was still a great success with its audience.
'The Maltese Falcon' - traditional film noirDirector: John Huston
Year: 1941. It was based on the novel by Dashiell Hammet
Storyline: The main characters are Sam Spade and Miles Archer. They are both detective partners, and they’re working on a case about a giant golden statue of a Maltese falcon bird. There are lots of people who are after this particular statue as it is also supposed to contain various valuable jewels. Miss Wanderley is the female fatale in this film. The moment she walks into Spade and Archer’s office she begins to cause trouble. The next night, Spade finds Archer murdered and the police suspect Spade had something to do with it. Miss Wanderley is in a lot of danger because two men, Joel Cairo and Kasper Gutman, will do anything to claim the golden falcon statue. Spade must protect Miss Wanderley, keep the falcon statue safe, and discover the murder of his work colleague, Miles Archer.
Analysis: This film is one of the top film noirs ever created, and is recognised by all noir critics because of it typical noir characteristics. The film contains a broad mixture of lies, betrayal, murder and a dangerous quest for the special Maltese falcon statue. The film contains darkness, quick action scenes and flash-forwards. It was also nominated to win 3 Oscar awards.
'The Big Sleep' - traditional film noir
Director: Howard Hanks
Year: 1946 and then remade in 1977 by Michael Winner. The film adapted from the novel by Raymond Chandler (1939)
Storyline: Philip Marlowe is the name of the main character. He is a detective and is hired by a wealthy man called General Sternwood. He is asked to investigate a man called Geiger. Marlowe enters a shop and finds Geiger dead, along with Sternwood’s daughter called Carmen. To find out more about the murders, Marlowe meets up with a man called Eddie Mars. Mars captures Marlowe and knocks him out. A woman named Vivian rescues Marlowe from further violence, but then she gets blackmailed after she inherits money from her father’s death. Marlowe decides to meet Mars at Geiger’s house to sort everything out. Marlowe arrives before Mars, and he fires his gun. This triggers Mars’ back-up team who then accidentally kill Mars himself, after mistaking him for Marlowe.
Analysis: This film comes under the film noir category and is probably the most well known of them all. There is lots of sneaking about, blackmail, lies and murders, however, film critics have realised that the film doesn’t really consist of many of the original noir aspects. The lighting is low and the cinematography consists of many slow and smooth shots between characters, but overall, it isn’t a very noir film.
'Brick' - neo film noirDirector: Rian Johnson
Year: Released into the cinemas in 2006
Storyline: The main character in this film is a lonely teenager called Brendan. He realises his ex-girlfriend, Emily, has disappeared over night. He finds her dead body in the opening of a dark tunnel. Brendan decides to hide her body and goes in search of her killer. He uses the help of his intelligent, geeky friend, Brain, and together they meet up with a drug dealing gang. Slowly Brendan begins to piece together who killed Emily and why it all happened. Over time, he meets up with the gang leader, Pin. Once Brendan discovers who killed his ex-girlfriend, he plots revenge.
Analysis: This film uses all the traditional film noir techniques, but it has been updated and purposefully designed so that it appeals to a young audience. The film is in colour (not black and white like most classic noir films are) but the director has still managed to create a dark atmosphere by using special lighting effects and the latest technology available at that time. The story plot is cleverly written as it involves events that are more common today e.g. the violence is shown in the form of a school fight. This allows the film to attract a wide audience.
'Lost Highway' - neo film noirDirector: David Lynch
Year: Made in 1997
Storyline: The main character is saxophone player Fred Madison. He is accused of murdering his own wife, Renee, and is blackmailed and framed for the murder. Fred Madison discovers a series of tapes containing footage of him murdering Renee, even though he is innocent. Once the police get hold of the mysterious footage, Fred Madison is arrested and sent to prison. Whilst in prison, the audience see him morph into a young mechanic called Pete Dayton. Once Fred Madison is released from prison, he continues the life of the engineer he has morphed into, Pete Dayton, and eventually, his path crosses with his old self. He then has the chance to piece together what has been happening all along, and how his wife, Renee really died.
Analysis: This noir film has a very complicated plot and it wasn’t made on a B-grade movie budget, but aspects such as a female fatale, dark scenes, murderous sequences and a ‘who-done-it’ mystery, mean it can be classed as a neo-noir film.
'Sin City' - neo film noirDirector: This film had 2 directors. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez formed a partnership and both directed the film together.
Year: Released in 2005
Storyline: This film contains 4 different short stories. Number 1 is called ‘The Customer Is Always Right’. This film mainly contains demanding women who are contemplating suicide. It is based around a depressed society. Number 2 is called ‘That Yellow Bastard’ and is basically about a policeman who is attempting to protect a young girl from a criminal rapist. He ends up getting himself into more trouble than he anticipated, and he results in unravelling a mystery with a big risk. Number 3 is called ‘The Hard Goodbye’. This story contains revenge and aimless murdering in the attempt to gain lots of money in return. Of course, the plan backfires, but a lot of people suffer in the process. Number 4 is called ‘The Big Fat Kill’ and contains a man who kills a policeman and then has to deal with the trouble of keeping the body hidden from people who want to see him locked away. Each story is set in the same location, Sin City.
Analysis: The film has won a total of 14 awards and, each story in its own way contains aspects of film noir. Even though each story plot if quite short, there is a vast amount of detail gone into each one, and the overall image portrays a city full of various crimes, murders, secrets and lies. The sound effects and clever cinematography modernise the film and allow the audience to understand what is going on in each story. The use of close-up shots play a key role in this film as it is a simple way of defining a character’s emotions. It also lets the audience recognise who is who, and which characters are parts of which story.
By looking at both the traditional and neo-noir films, I have noticed that the neo ones are designed to appeal to a younger audience, and the traditional ones to appeal to an older or middle-aged audience. I have also noticed that the special effects and cinematography used in the neo-noirs is more advanced compared to the traditional ones, though they both use the same lighting techniques and character roles.
To help me with my research, I used the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com
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