During the early 1940's, at the beginning of World War 2, many American films began to present a darker view of the world. The heroic characters and happy Hollywood endings of the 1930's were being replaced by a more pessimistic and cynical view of the world.
Classic film noir can be traced to 1941, with different people pointing to the first film noir as The Maltese Falcon, I Wake up Screaming or Stranger on the Third Floor.
After the War, when this style of American film reached France, a French critic, Nino Frank first used the term film noir, which meant dark or black film.
The film noir style had low key lighting. Shadows, darkness, voice-overs, mirrors, skewed camera shots and a fatalistic view of the world were used to make the audience uncomfortable as we watched the protagonist interact with a confusing new world.
In the 1960's and 1970's, with Viet Nam and Watergate influencing world views, a new style of dark movies emerged and were called Neo-noir. This web site will take a look at some of the best of the Neo-noirs.