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Film Noir

Tim Young, an old friend of mine, has written a comprehensive – though mercifully brief – study of film noir entitled A Black Pool Opened up at My Feet and I Dived In: Film Noir: The cinematic language of 1940s America.

Probably the modern meaning is ‘dark’.

It’s perhaps easier to define it by stating what it is not: it is not police procedural nor heist movies.

The typical protagonist is a loner, anti-authoritarian, attracted to – and by – women, and the definitive actor is Humphrey Bogart.

The genre owed its origins to German expressionism especially the ‘light and dark’ lighting.

The writer has prepared two lists of film noirs, to which I would add Night of the Hunter and The Sweet Smell of Success.

Robert Mitchum and Burt Lancaster acted in both and gave fine nuanced performances too.

Aside from its brevity but not superficiality , the work has other virtues. The author unlike many a film critic does not have ‘bees in his bonnet’ and if he is critical he is not bombastically so.

In conclusion he has written a work which will bring enjoyment to film buffs and more casual watchers.