Noir

If you’ve read my profile you know that I enjoy film noir. There’s just something about the haze, grittiness and mystery of the film. These are some of the elements of film noir:

urban setting

Crime (usually murder)

mystery

light/ dark contrasts

shadows

femme fatale

moral issues

twisting plot

They’re usually venetian blind shadows, wet alleys and brick walls too. The earlier movies were usually in black & white. Many of the movies of the ‘50’s that would qualify as noir were in color.

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On one of my visits to the library I came across this DVD, The Ultimate Film Noir
A five disc set of film noir. Each disc has 2 movies on it. I had my own private film noir film festival. And though the movies aren’t in color, I always enjoy the beautiful clothes the women wear. I sometimes look for the designer Edith Head in the credits.

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Some of these movies I’d seen before but a few were new to me such as: Whistle Stop, He Walked By Night, Trapped and Quicksand. I think my favorite was Quicksand with Mickey Rooney because I’d never seen him in a role as a bad guy. But I’ve got to say, he pulled it off.

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Here’s one definition I found of film noir.
"shadowy, pessimistic movie: a cinematic genre popular in the 1930's,1940s and 1950s, often filmed in urban settings with extensive use of shadows, cynical in outlook, and featuring antiheroes. French, "black film""

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I searched YouTube and found a few modern film noir done by film students. Here's the link to one of those. And this one which is a little humorous.

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Here's the link to a film noir quiz . My score was 8 out of 10. How well can you do.

Pssst ?You'll be surprised at what the venetian blinds symbolize.

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Just to add to the subject here are some pics I took of downtown Birmingham at night. If only I could remember what they are. ?????

Taken from the windshield of my car

THAT'S IT***