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Film Noir, or "Black Film" as translated in French, flourished between 1940 to 1959. It emerged by combining the gangster, detective, and mystery films. Many say that it came from German Expressionism, pulp fictions, "shadow-drenched silent thrillers," and the French poetic realism. Writers such as James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett influenced the noir's narrative screenplays. Expressionism was an art movement mostly popular in Germany. It was expressed in the fine arts and in writing. Artists like Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, and Georges Rouault had very dramatic paintings and drawings which were achieved by their use of shading, allowing little highlights on their subjects. Writers, on the other hand, wrote mystery and detective films, which were probably influenced by WW II that was going on at this era.
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Hammett who was one of
the most influential writers wrote more than 20 stories with puzzle
plots. His stories usually had a detective or a private eye solving
a mystery by following clues through anonymous letters and phone
calls. Also, famous in his stories is the threat the protagonist
tries to intervene. There were also the stories that required the
detective to find the woman is has been kidnapped or had gone
missing. One of his famous novels was turned into the movie The
Maltese Falcon.
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Chandler, one of
Hammett's contemporaries, also wrote several detective stories, many of
which were published in pulp magazines. His novels influenced many
movies like The Lady in the Lake and The Big Sleep. He
also co-wrote movies like Double Indemnity, And Now Tomorrow, and Blue
Dahlia.
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| Many films that emerged after the noir "Golden Age" are
referred to as "neo-noir" films. Films like LA
Confidential, Scarface (1983), Blade Runner, and Pulp
Fiction, have qualities that can make them into film noirs, BUT they
are all in color. Film noir was a great movement in film because it
influenced many of the films we have
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