Characteristics of film noir.

Story-lines and narratives

The story lines tended to be very twisting and elliptical. The narrative was usually very complex, hard to understand. It made you think and concentrate on the words. The story usually has underlying eerie background music and accompanied by a series of flashbacks. The dialogue between characters seemed to be very witty. The men tend to have sharp tongues, and when they talk to women the conversation always turns to innuendo. The 'hero' of the movie always tends to make cynical remarks to his life.

Kathie: Remember the mountains? Higher then these, with always snow on them…We should have stayed there.

Jeff: I’m trying to remember something else.

Kathie: I never told you I was anything but what I am. You just wanted to imagine I was. That's why I left you. Now we're back to stay.

Jeff: And I have nothing to say about it.

Kathie: Have you? Whit’s dead, bundle of papers will do you no good, if Joe was around you could use him but Joe’s dead too. So what are you going to do about Eels and Fisher, that matter what are you going to do about this? Someone has to take the blame, nothing on me but I’d make a fine witness for the prosecution. Don't you see you've only me to make deals with now?

Jeff: Build my gallows high, baby.

brief example from 'out of the past'

There is hardly any lighting in film noir. In fact a pure lack of it. They usually use one dim table lamp or moonlight through some venetian blinds. Anything that causes some shadow in the framing. The ambiguous shadows causes the scene to seem more eerie. The locations were usually dark, dreary places. Like a dim bar or a detectives office.