Analysis of a classic film noir
Detour starts a man who is hitchhiking his way to California to be with his fiancé. Along the way he gets picked up buy a kind man and while in the car Al discovers that the man has died in his sleep. Fearing police will think it was him that killed him Al dumps the body and drives off with his car later on he meets a femme fetale who knew the man and she blackmails him in to impersonating the man to collect a large amount of money or she will tell the police what he has done as the film goes on things go from bad to worse especially towards the end where they both get drunk and Vera grabs the phone runs in to the next room locks the door and threatens to call the police while she lays on the bed the phone cable wraps around her neck, Al starts pulling on the chord trying to break the phone and ends up strangling her. After this the camera pans around the room it is mostly blurry but focuses on a couple of items in between this is quite effective and makes us see things from how he is now seeing it. Al’s life is now completely ruined he did not mean to do any of this but that’s what fate does. He then starts hitchhiking again until eventually the police catch him.
So Al was a happy man with a normal life until suddenly fate kicked in and turned things upside down with a big help from the femme fetale, a characteristic of a film noir.
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Thursday 22 January 2009
3 Classic film noirs synopsis
The third man
Director- Carol Reed
Release date- writer Graham Reece£ September 1949
An American coming to Vienna named Holly Martins, who has come to accept a job from an old friend.
Holly martins)Joseph Cotton) he goes of brain and is surprised when his friend Harry lime isn’t there to meet him, so he goes to limes flat but the building broker tells him limes dead and says he was killed by a truck that hit him right in front of the building.
Holly then decides to stick around to look into Harry’s death and accepts the job to lecture at Crabbins book society in a few days. Holly then goes investigating asking people about Harry and ends up talking to a pretty woman named Anna Schmidt and starts to realise something suspicious is going on.
He then continues investigating Harry’s death until one night he sees Harry, then he speaks to Harry realising all the bad things his done then he tells the police were Harry is and they all go looking for him and in the end holly ends up shooting Harry
M
Director- Fritz Lang
Writer- Fritz Lang
Release date- 31 August 1931
In the past year eight have been murdered on the way home from school there are signs on the street saying “who is the murderer?”
Police have been searching everywhere they have covered every spot on the street, they have been looking so hard there underworld boss is getting worried. So the underworld boss Schranker (Gustaf Grudgens) has come to the conclusion the child killer must be found before the police ruin the business.
So all the underworld bosses get together and decide to disguise someone as a beggar on every street so they can catch the killer. While police trace a postcard they investigate released criminals and mental patients who fit the description of the killer and finally come to Han’s Beckets apartment where they find all the evidence that matches the clues.
Beckert realises he has been caught so he runs into the office building then the beggars contact Schranker who sends a group of gangsters to get him, the police also are alerted but the gangsters get him just before the police arrive.
In the end the police find Beckert and take him away.
Detour
Director- Edgar G Ulmer
Writer- Martin Goldsmith
Release date- 30 November 1945
Detour starts in the middle of nowhere at a diner where we see Al Roberts (Tom Neal) talking in a voiceover about his life and what lead him to end up in a diner in the middle of nowhere. He argues with the waitress at the diner, the diner manager and a trucker who drops a nickel in a juke box and plays the song that Al and his girlfriend called their song.
Then theres a flashback were Al tells us about his relationship with his singer girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake) as he accompanied her on piano in a New York club. When she leaves for fame and fortune in Los Angeles Al is lonely and decides to hitch hike to the coast to be with her. He accepts a ride from good-time-Charlie Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald).
During their drive Haskell tells Al a little about himself, relating a story about deep scratches he has on his hand that he received when he picked up a woman who shunned his advances. When Haskell suffers an attack and dies, Roberts, fearing that he will be accused of the death takes on the man's identification and begins driving the car himself. At a gas station Al picks up Vera (Ann Savage), who blurts out, "What did you do with the body?" It turns out that Vera had accepted a ride from Haskell earlier and she is the one who has given him the scratches on his hand. Threatening to summon the police Vera forces Al to pose as Haskell in order to collect an inheritance from the man's millionaire father.
During their time together Vera causes another problem to befall Al and in the end Al accidentally ends up strangling Vera with the Phone cable Now knowing his life has totally turned he just ends up wondering around on his own until eventually the police catch him and take him away.
The third man
Director- Carol Reed
Release date- writer Graham Reece£ September 1949
An American coming to Vienna named Holly Martins, who has come to accept a job from an old friend.
Holly martins)Joseph Cotton) he goes of brain and is surprised when his friend Harry lime isn’t there to meet him, so he goes to limes flat but the building broker tells him limes dead and says he was killed by a truck that hit him right in front of the building.
Holly then decides to stick around to look into Harry’s death and accepts the job to lecture at Crabbins book society in a few days. Holly then goes investigating asking people about Harry and ends up talking to a pretty woman named Anna Schmidt and starts to realise something suspicious is going on.
He then continues investigating Harry’s death until one night he sees Harry, then he speaks to Harry realising all the bad things his done then he tells the police were Harry is and they all go looking for him and in the end holly ends up shooting Harry
M
Director- Fritz Lang
Writer- Fritz Lang
Release date- 31 August 1931
In the past year eight have been murdered on the way home from school there are signs on the street saying “who is the murderer?”
Police have been searching everywhere they have covered every spot on the street, they have been looking so hard there underworld boss is getting worried. So the underworld boss Schranker (Gustaf Grudgens) has come to the conclusion the child killer must be found before the police ruin the business.
So all the underworld bosses get together and decide to disguise someone as a beggar on every street so they can catch the killer. While police trace a postcard they investigate released criminals and mental patients who fit the description of the killer and finally come to Han’s Beckets apartment where they find all the evidence that matches the clues.
Beckert realises he has been caught so he runs into the office building then the beggars contact Schranker who sends a group of gangsters to get him, the police also are alerted but the gangsters get him just before the police arrive.
In the end the police find Beckert and take him away.
Detour
Director- Edgar G Ulmer
Writer- Martin Goldsmith
Release date- 30 November 1945
Detour starts in the middle of nowhere at a diner where we see Al Roberts (Tom Neal) talking in a voiceover about his life and what lead him to end up in a diner in the middle of nowhere. He argues with the waitress at the diner, the diner manager and a trucker who drops a nickel in a juke box and plays the song that Al and his girlfriend called their song.
Then theres a flashback were Al tells us about his relationship with his singer girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake) as he accompanied her on piano in a New York club. When she leaves for fame and fortune in Los Angeles Al is lonely and decides to hitch hike to the coast to be with her. He accepts a ride from good-time-Charlie Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald).
During their drive Haskell tells Al a little about himself, relating a story about deep scratches he has on his hand that he received when he picked up a woman who shunned his advances. When Haskell suffers an attack and dies, Roberts, fearing that he will be accused of the death takes on the man's identification and begins driving the car himself. At a gas station Al picks up Vera (Ann Savage), who blurts out, "What did you do with the body?" It turns out that Vera had accepted a ride from Haskell earlier and she is the one who has given him the scratches on his hand. Threatening to summon the police Vera forces Al to pose as Haskell in order to collect an inheritance from the man's millionaire father.
During their time together Vera causes another problem to befall Al and in the end Al accidentally ends up strangling Vera with the Phone cable Now knowing his life has totally turned he just ends up wondering around on his own until eventually the police catch him and take him away.
3 modern film noir sypnosis
La confidential
Director- Curtis Hanson
Writer- James Ellroy
Release date- 19 September 1997
the film revolves around three LAPD officers caught up in corruption, sex, lies, and murder following a multiple murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) is a violent 6-foot-tall brute and the most feared man in the LAPD. His plainclothes partner Dick Stensland was convicted and expelled from the force due to a false testimony by Exley After these events Bud vows revenge against Exley. His ties to the Nite Owl case become personal after Stensland is found to be one of the murder victims at the Nite Owl.
Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a slick and likable Hollywood cop who moonlights as the technical advisor of Badge of honour, a popular Dragnet- esque television show. Vincennes is also connected with Sid Hudgeons of Hush-Hush magazine. Jack receives kickbacks for making celebrity arrests, often orchestrated, involving narcotics, that will attract even more readers to the magazine and more fame and profit to him.
Sergeant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD Inspector, is a brilliant officer in his own right, determined to outdo his father. Ed's intelligence, his education, his glasses, his insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor all contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He increases this resentment after volunteering to testify against other cops in an infamous police brutality case early on, insisting on a promotion to Detective Lieutenant (which he receives) against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith, who felt that Exley's honesty and his reputation as a snitch would interfere with his ability to supervise detectives. He is motivated by justice, a sense of order, and his personal ambitions.
At different intervals the three men investigate the Nite Owl and concurrent events which in turn begin to reveal deep indications of corruption all around them. Ed Exley pursues absolute justice in the Nite Owl slayings, all the while trying to live up to his family’s prestigious name. Bud White pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts which leads him to Lynn Bracken, a Veronica Lake look-a-like and call-girl with pivotal ties to the case he and Exley are independently investigating. Meanwhile, Jack Vincennes follows up on a pornography racket that leads to ties to both the Nite Owl and Bracken's handler Pierce Patchett, operator of "Fleur-De-Lis", a call-girl service that runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to look like movie stars. All three men's fate is thereby intertwined leading to a dramatic showdown with powerful and corrupt forces within the city's political leadership and the department itself.
Driver
Director- Walter Hill
Writer- Walter Hill
Release date- 10 July 1978
The Driver (O’Neal) is a professional who steals cars to drive as getaway vehicles for big-time robberies. Hot on the Driver's trail is a policeman (Dern), who has nicknamed the Driver "Cowboy" and is determined to bring him down. “I’m gonna catch the cowboy that’s never been caught,” he tells The Driver early on. The Detective becomes so obsessed with defeating the Driver, that he himself sets up a bank job in order to entice — trap, and ultimately arrest — the Driver. Yet the Detective's plan, on which he has put his reputation on the line, blows up in his face: both he and the Driver are set up and burned by an inconsequential player. The real crux of the story comes mid-film, when The Driver has a clear chance to walk away but elects to play The Cop's game - and teach him a lesson.
Brick
Director- Rian Johnson
Writer- Rian Johnson
Release date- 12 may 2006
The lonely teenager Brendan finds his former girlfriend Emily dead in the entrance of a tunnel of sewage and recalls her phone call two days ago, when she said to him that she was in trouble. Brendan, who still loved Emily, met bad elements of his high-school trying to contact her, and when he succeeded, she told him that she was OK. He hides her body in the tunnel and decides to investigate the meaning and connection of four words, including "brick" and "pin", that Emily told him to find who killed her. Using the support of his nerd friend Brain, he successively meets the small time drug dealers Kara, Dode, Brad Bramish, Laura and Tugger, to reach the teenager powerful drug dealer The Pin. Slowly, Brendan unravels the motives why Emily was killed and plots revenge.
La confidential
Director- Curtis Hanson
Writer- James Ellroy
Release date- 19 September 1997
the film revolves around three LAPD officers caught up in corruption, sex, lies, and murder following a multiple murder at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) is a violent 6-foot-tall brute and the most feared man in the LAPD. His plainclothes partner Dick Stensland was convicted and expelled from the force due to a false testimony by Exley After these events Bud vows revenge against Exley. His ties to the Nite Owl case become personal after Stensland is found to be one of the murder victims at the Nite Owl.
Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a slick and likable Hollywood cop who moonlights as the technical advisor of Badge of honour, a popular Dragnet- esque television show. Vincennes is also connected with Sid Hudgeons of Hush-Hush magazine. Jack receives kickbacks for making celebrity arrests, often orchestrated, involving narcotics, that will attract even more readers to the magazine and more fame and profit to him.
Sergeant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD Inspector, is a brilliant officer in his own right, determined to outdo his father. Ed's intelligence, his education, his glasses, his insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor all contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He increases this resentment after volunteering to testify against other cops in an infamous police brutality case early on, insisting on a promotion to Detective Lieutenant (which he receives) against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith, who felt that Exley's honesty and his reputation as a snitch would interfere with his ability to supervise detectives. He is motivated by justice, a sense of order, and his personal ambitions.
At different intervals the three men investigate the Nite Owl and concurrent events which in turn begin to reveal deep indications of corruption all around them. Ed Exley pursues absolute justice in the Nite Owl slayings, all the while trying to live up to his family’s prestigious name. Bud White pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts which leads him to Lynn Bracken, a Veronica Lake look-a-like and call-girl with pivotal ties to the case he and Exley are independently investigating. Meanwhile, Jack Vincennes follows up on a pornography racket that leads to ties to both the Nite Owl and Bracken's handler Pierce Patchett, operator of "Fleur-De-Lis", a call-girl service that runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to look like movie stars. All three men's fate is thereby intertwined leading to a dramatic showdown with powerful and corrupt forces within the city's political leadership and the department itself.
Driver
Director- Walter Hill
Writer- Walter Hill
Release date- 10 July 1978
The Driver (O’Neal) is a professional who steals cars to drive as getaway vehicles for big-time robberies. Hot on the Driver's trail is a policeman (Dern), who has nicknamed the Driver "Cowboy" and is determined to bring him down. “I’m gonna catch the cowboy that’s never been caught,” he tells The Driver early on. The Detective becomes so obsessed with defeating the Driver, that he himself sets up a bank job in order to entice — trap, and ultimately arrest — the Driver. Yet the Detective's plan, on which he has put his reputation on the line, blows up in his face: both he and the Driver are set up and burned by an inconsequential player. The real crux of the story comes mid-film, when The Driver has a clear chance to walk away but elects to play The Cop's game - and teach him a lesson.
Brick
Director- Rian Johnson
Writer- Rian Johnson
Release date- 12 may 2006
The lonely teenager Brendan finds his former girlfriend Emily dead in the entrance of a tunnel of sewage and recalls her phone call two days ago, when she said to him that she was in trouble. Brendan, who still loved Emily, met bad elements of his high-school trying to contact her, and when he succeeded, she told him that she was OK. He hides her body in the tunnel and decides to investigate the meaning and connection of four words, including "brick" and "pin", that Emily told him to find who killed her. Using the support of his nerd friend Brain, he successively meets the small time drug dealers Kara, Dode, Brad Bramish, Laura and Tugger, to reach the teenager powerful drug dealer The Pin. Slowly, Brendan unravels the motives why Emily was killed and plots revenge.
Narrative and E,C,M,S of film noirs
The main storyline of a film noir is about a male character (normally a good working class citizen) who meets a female character (normally a sexy powerful women- femme fetale) who would manipulate the fall guy, often following a murder. At the start the mans life would a peaceful happy one and then his life just goes from bad to worse as seen in ‘Detour’
Heroes, Villains, cops, gangsters, lone-wolf, killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, murderers. These are mainly the type of characters that appear in film noirs.
Mis-en-scene is used in film noirs such as the lighting e.g. there are a lot of shadows in film noirs also there is not much light it tends to be pretty dark also sometimes blinds are used because it makes it hard to see a characters face if the blinds are there because the characters have black stripes across their face coming off the blinds, this is a clever idea if trying to hide the identity of a character it also makes the audience more curious, because they really want to see the face.
Types of sounds you would hear in film noirs are probably screams, also there will be a lot of tense/ dark music which makes the audience feel uncomfortable, police sirens, door creaking, also film noirs use a lot of voiceovers when the character is thinking in the past of how they get in to the bad situation in the film.
Cinematography that is used in film noirs is from the camera shots. Film noirs usually consist of dutch tilts to make the feel audience feel on edge kind of like the feeling that something’s not right. low angle shots are used to make the audience look up at the screen which makes them feel vulnerable this type of shot is mostly used on the femme fetale to show that she has power over the male character. Close-ups are used in film noirs is well mainly focused in the main character (hero).
Film noirs sometimes start at the end of the film and then through the use of flashbacks they tend to explain how they ended up in the situation they are in. Editing is used to cut shots and to attach the flashbacks on to the action. An editing transition that is used is a fade when they want to fade out from a flashback to the present.
The main storyline of a film noir is about a male character (normally a good working class citizen) who meets a female character (normally a sexy powerful women- femme fetale) who would manipulate the fall guy, often following a murder. At the start the mans life would a peaceful happy one and then his life just goes from bad to worse as seen in ‘Detour’
Heroes, Villains, cops, gangsters, lone-wolf, killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, murderers. These are mainly the type of characters that appear in film noirs.
Mis-en-scene is used in film noirs such as the lighting e.g. there are a lot of shadows in film noirs also there is not much light it tends to be pretty dark also sometimes blinds are used because it makes it hard to see a characters face if the blinds are there because the characters have black stripes across their face coming off the blinds, this is a clever idea if trying to hide the identity of a character it also makes the audience more curious, because they really want to see the face.
Types of sounds you would hear in film noirs are probably screams, also there will be a lot of tense/ dark music which makes the audience feel uncomfortable, police sirens, door creaking, also film noirs use a lot of voiceovers when the character is thinking in the past of how they get in to the bad situation in the film.
Cinematography that is used in film noirs is from the camera shots. Film noirs usually consist of dutch tilts to make the feel audience feel on edge kind of like the feeling that something’s not right. low angle shots are used to make the audience look up at the screen which makes them feel vulnerable this type of shot is mostly used on the femme fetale to show that she has power over the male character. Close-ups are used in film noirs is well mainly focused in the main character (hero).
Film noirs sometimes start at the end of the film and then through the use of flashbacks they tend to explain how they ended up in the situation they are in. Editing is used to cut shots and to attach the flashbacks on to the action. An editing transition that is used is a fade when they want to fade out from a flashback to the present.
History of film noir
Film noir first started by a French critic named Nino Frank in 1946. He was the first to apply the term film noir to Hollywood films. After the war French film critics had noticed a change in films they were no longer of the sunny optimistic type of film which they were before the war the films seemed to be darker and more pessimistic in the outlook, it was as if Hollywood had broken up to the harsh realities of the world and the horrors of the war.
Film noir basically means black film in French. The term film noir describes a film that is very dark in its outlook.
In film noirs the lighting tends to be very dark which created a lot of shadows, the characters always seemed to be set in dark, smoke filled rooms.
The most famous film noirs were made between 1940- 1950
Such as ‘Double indemnity, Detour, and the Third man’.
Film noir has never officially been classed as its own genre, but is seen as a sub-genre of crime and gangster films.
Film noir first started by a French critic named Nino Frank in 1946. He was the first to apply the term film noir to Hollywood films. After the war French film critics had noticed a change in films they were no longer of the sunny optimistic type of film which they were before the war the films seemed to be darker and more pessimistic in the outlook, it was as if Hollywood had broken up to the harsh realities of the world and the horrors of the war.
Film noir basically means black film in French. The term film noir describes a film that is very dark in its outlook.
In film noirs the lighting tends to be very dark which created a lot of shadows, the characters always seemed to be set in dark, smoke filled rooms.
The most famous film noirs were made between 1940- 1950
Such as ‘Double indemnity, Detour, and the Third man’.
Film noir has never officially been classed as its own genre, but is seen as a sub-genre of crime and gangster films.
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