Genre-Film Noir

Background Information

Film Noir is a genre containing a dark subjecting matter, producing a negative portrayal of America. The main period of this kind of genre was from 1944 - 1958. The main differences between noir and pre-war films are that a large amount of films before the 40's showed America in an extremely positive light. These kind of positive films had high budgets, with rich musicals and elaborate sets.

'Detour' (1945)

Synopsis:

An innocent, ordinary piano player named Al, (Tom Neal) is informed by his girlfriend Sue, (Anne Savage) that she will be travelling to Hollywood in an attempt to be a star. Distraught, Al decides to visit her, and later on in the journey hitches a ride from a man travelling to Los Angeles himself. Although he seems a suspicous man, he dies in his sleep while Al has taken over the wheel, after stopping off at a cafe. Al then hides the body, and takes his wallet containing his money and identity info, on the way to visiting his lover.

'The Big Combo' (1955)

'The Big Combo' is a film noir film, directed by Joseph H. Lewis, with cinematography from John Alton.
I am going to be discussing several sequences from the film, and commenting on their visual effects.

Sequence 1:

In this scene, Mr. Brown is questioning Susan on who Alicia is. He grabs her face agressively, and kisses her roughly. The light is centered on her face, clearly showing her sexual satisfaction from Brown. It may also indicate that Susan feels confined, trapped in her relationship with him, as there is not a great amount of light on his face, which could insinuate that Susan feels alone. The fact that Brown's face is in dark lighting portrays him as the dark villain, representing Susan as incredibly vulnerable.

Sequence 2:

In this scene, Susan is in hospital after attempted suicide. As you can see, she is in a single spotlight right in the centre, which again could insinuate that she feels alone. The light gradually fades out, creating a sense of claustrophobia. Her neck and the sides of her cheeks are in dark lighting, drawing more attention to her facial expression. It alerts us to the fact that she is clearly worried.