FS205-American Film Noir and its European Connections
Blocks I & II: Richard Koc, FS205, American Film Noir and its European
Connections
The focus of this course is on a particular style of Hollywood film in the
1940s and 50s which was created by both American and European emigré
directors. We will begin by investigating the visual and thematic roots of
film noir in Expressionism and in early German cinema. Then we will examine
films by Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G.
Ulmer, Jacques Tourneur, John Huston, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nicholas
Ray, Orson Welles, Ida Lupino, Boris Ingster, Edward Dmytryk, Tay Garnett,
and Joseph H. Lewis. We will examine the films not only according to technical
and aesthetic criteria, but also with an eye to the socio-historic and economic
background of their production.
The films’ themes range from standard detective stories (with their hard-boiled investigators working for femme fatale clients) to psychological thrillers, to exposés of social injustice and international political intrigue. In contrast to the optimism of much Hollywood fare during this era, film noir presents a darker, more critical view of America. We will note that it was the French who first observed and defined this trend in American cinema. For purposes of comparison I hope to screen at least one French film from this era, as well as one from the Italian neo-realist tradition.
The screenplays of the films covered in this course were often
adaptations of literary works by authors such as Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway,
James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Maxwell Anderson, Patricia
Highsmith, et al. With the two-block format we will have time to read one
or two of the original novels, as well as the scripts which were developed
from them. This will provide a basis for discussing the different media of
film and literature (as vehicles for story-telling, etc.). I also want to
touch on other secondary areas, such as sci-fi-noir, noir parodies, neo-noir,
noir-in-color, perhaps even Shakespeare-noir. And we will inquire into the
reasons for the lasting popularity of film noir and its resonance with cinema
goers.
As an initial very accessible introduction to film noir, I will have the students
read Foster Hirsch’s Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen. As we delve
deeper into the aesthetics and sociology of the genre, we will read selections
from the Film Noir Reader (edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini), as well
as from James Naremore’s More Than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts,
Edward Dimendberg’s Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity, and Sheri
Chinen Biesen’s Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir.
Central objectives of the course are to develop critical film-viewing,
reading and thinking skills, and to practice the oral and written articulation
of one’s ideas. Students will be required to write a fair amount in
the course, at first shorter critical responses to the films and the readings,
and later in the course a research paper. There will also be a public speaking
component to the course in the form of oral class presentations, and in learning
to participate in and to lead a group discussion.
A set of linked one-block courses that must be taken together, with one instructor
in each block; separate grades will be given for each block.