Product Review

In the beginning, they weren't called 'Film Noir'. That term didn't originate until 1946 when a Frenchman coined the phrase as a convenient catchall reference for American low budget hard-boiled crime and detective B-movies shot during the austere '40s and early '50s. It was the look of Film Noir movies as much as their down beat storylines, which made for compulsive viewing. Shot in black and white, these films were dark and claustrophobic and relied upon deep shadows, shards of light and surreal angle shots to establish the appropriate mood. Other much used devices included conspiratorial voiceover narrators and dream-like flashbacks.