What is film noir as a genre? What features/qualities of a film warrant its inclusion in the genre? Make use of any of the films we have seen this term, in part or whole, and any others you have seen that strike you as relevant.

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Retrospective essay

8 pages

What is film noir as a genre? What features/qualities of a film warrant its inclusion in the genre? Make use of any of the films we have seen this term, in part or whole, and any others you have seen that strike you as relevant.

Choose from the following:

  • The Maltese Falcon (dir. John Huston, 1941; U.S.)
  • Cat People (dir. Jacques Tourneur, 1942; U.S.)
  • Casablanca (dir., Michael Curtiz, 1943; U.S.)
  • Leave Her to Heaven (dir. John M. Stahl, 1945; U.S.)
  • The Big Sleep (dir. Howard Hawks, 1946; U.S.)
  • The Killers (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1946; U.S.)
  • Notorious (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1946; U.S.)
  • Panique/Panic (dir. Julien Duvivier, 1946; France)
  • The Stranger (dir. Orson Welles, 1946; U.S.)
  • Body and Soul (dir. Robert Rossen, 1947; U.S.)
  • The T-Men (dir. Anthony Mann, 1947; U.S.)
  • Force of Evil (dir. Abraham Polonsky, 1948; U.S.)