Film noir fans are probably already familiar with the influences on the film noir style of the 1940s. It is an understatement to say that World War II had a huge effect on American life, and Biesen reminds us of its pervasive effects on the film industry in particular. Wartime restrictions meant, for just a few examples, fewer resources, a smaller labor pool (at least initially, until women entered the workforce), and tighter restrictions on essentials like electricity and rubber. Films noir and other B films were made on wartime-friendly, tight budgets. But these restrictions often led to greater creativity in producing films in the 1940s.
Cultural factors also played a role. People fighting war on the front lines or facing deprivation on the home front wanted to see films that reflected their experiences. They were ready to accept darker themes in their entertainment because their lives were hard—and not for just a few months. The wartime generation came out of the Great Depression and landed in more hardship when war was declared.
Biesen also talks about the use of nitrate film as a factor in the beautiful, shadowy chiaroscuro of film noir. Although it was dangerous to use because it was highly flammable, nitrate film allowed for the rich contours that were necessary for shooting in black and white. Thus, film noir was not just a product of wartime fighting and restrictions; it was also a function of the technology available at the time.
Biesen takes readers into the history of noir as it evolves along with changing times and changing technologies. The expressionistic style of 1940s film noir changed to brighter, grayer shades on acetate film, which replaced nitrate film. Films could be shot on location after wartime restrictions were lifted, which also contributed to the high-key, low-contrast look of films produced in the late 1940s and 1950s. Many films noir of the 1950s were told in a semidocumentary style, which was based on realism, not the expressionistic style of the early 1940s. Competition with television pushed many filmmakers to abandon a dark, shadowy, expressionistic style. The film industry shift to the use of color film stock was one more factor that signaled the end of the 1940s black-and-white film noir style.
U.S. film noir style didn’t disappear, however. Film styles may have been changing in the United States after World War II, but the end of hostilities meant that international trade, including the export of U.S. films, could resume. Biesen reminds us of the influence that film noir had on filmmakers in other countries. Their enthusiasm for the style meant that many transnational productions influenced U.S. neo-noir in turn, a reciprocal influence that continues to this day in both domestic and international digital productions.
Biesen ends her book in the present day. She tells readers that, by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film industry had transformed once again, but it didn’t abandon the noir style. Online streaming companies continued to provide noir content in the form of original films and long-form series that subscribers embraced. Evolving cultural conditions and technological improvements did not mean the end of noir; noir adapted and often improved, and viewers can expect to see more noir content in the future. This is good news for someone like me: I should have plenty of noir to write about for some time.
I knew much of the information that Biesen writes about because I have been viewing film noir and reading and writing about it for several years. But it is very different learning snippets of information here and there compared to having it laid out decade by decade, which is the approach Biesen takes to her subject. I found it fascinating because she offers a chronology of noir and ties everything together in her book. I can recommend it for that reason alone.
Biesen discusses many films as examples to make her points, and when she discusses the modern era, she also provides some examples of neo-noir films and television shows, many of which I hadn’t heard of before. One is Babylon Berlin, a German television series that I enjoyed immensely. I have seen the first three seasons so far and wrote about it for this blog. (Click here to read my article about Babylon Berlin.)
Another example of a neo-noir television series is Perry Mason—and not the one starring Raymond Burr. This one stars Matthew Rhys as Perry Mason in a sort of a prequel, before Mason is the famous courtroom lawyer. In this new series, he is a private investigator wrestling with his own demons in a much darker version of Los Angeles than Raymond Burr encountered on television. It is supposedly much truer to the novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, which were the basis for both Burr’s and Rhys’s Perry Mason.
In addition to the insights about technology’s impact on the changes in noir over the years, readers also come away from Through a Noir Lens with a list of noir films and shows to watch. And maybe even more novels to read. It looks like I won’t have to worry any time soon about running out of noir to watch, read, and write about. Fans of noir will appreciate this feature of the book, too.
Through a Noir Lens: Adapting Film Noir Visual Style, by Sheri Chinen Biesen • New York: Columbia University Press, 2024
The image of the front cover above is from the Columbia University Press (CUP) publication.
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