Film Noir directly translates to black film in French. They are stylish Hollywood crime drama films with a very unique style that first came into being in 1940 with the release of a movie called stranger on the 3 rd floor.The term was introduced by french film critics just after World War II after they noticed a notible change in mood and concent of American Movies . Many claimed that Hollywood had woken up to the harsh realities of the world and the horrors of war. A lot of the films were no longer light hearted, optimistic and happy tales which were an extremely prevalent style before the war. The films were darker and mysterious, dealing with subjects such as murder, deceit and various other dark themes.
Film noir went through a decline in the late 1950s. The war was over, The economy was on the rise and the dark, smuldering style of noir was less stylish and popular than it was in previous years. The introduction of television affected this highly, with peoples interests swaying more towards comedy series and light hearted technicolour films and musicals.
From the seventies onwards, Film Noir came back into popularity with the rise of feminism and the scandal and controversy present in government
With many of the public feeling distrust towards the government, as well as the feeling of alienation, Film Noir embodied and reflected this situation (explaining their sudden increase in popularity).
Example: - Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver
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