Film Noir In The Dark Knight And The Third Man

The film industry has gone through many different eras and genres, but one of the most significant in all of the industry’s history was film noir. Film noir is not necessarily a type of genre but rather a tone that branched off from the crime/gangster sags of the 1930’s. It has certain elements such as crime, sex, greed, and violence that are supposed to represent the same type of evils found in society. As any noir film, Double Indemnity also contains a moral conflict at the base of its plot. Film noir is generally defined as a dark, suspenseful thriller with a plot-line revolving around crime or mystery. Film noir gained more recognition after World War II. Particularly because Hollywood thrillers were been watched in French cinemas. The idea of film noir

The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan plays around the theme heroism in which the characters take roles of being the hero in their own distinct ways. Some continue to play the hero because of their morals and good character. Others become deemed to evil due to the horrible experiences they face. In the film The Dark Night, Batman takes the primary role of the hero because he continuously strives to achieve the well being of the city, while the joker chooses to cause havoc among the people of Arkham city.

Film Noir was extremely trendy during the 1940’s. People were captivated by the way it expresses a mood of disillusionment and indistinctness between good and evil. Film Noir have key elements; crime, mystery, an anti-hero, femme fatale, and chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles. The Maltese Falcon is an example of film noir because of the usage of camera angles, lighting and ominous settings, as well as sinister characters as Samuel Spade, the anti-hero on a quest for meaning, who encounters the death of his partner but does not show any signs of remorse but instead for his greed for riches.

The two movies that I have chosen to write about, are two movies that are very special to me. I grew up watching these movies countless times, and still to this day enjoy giving them a watch. The movies I chose were The Dark Knight (2008) and No Country for Old Men (2007). Both of these movies are very unique, especially for going against what most movies belonging to this genre do. Both of these are Dramatic Action Crime films. It’s quite a mouthful, but those are all of my favorite genres in one. Now, on the surface, these two movies would seem vastly different, but surprisingly enough, they are quite similar. For example, you have the menacing villain, who’s a ruthless killer. In the case of The Dark Knight, you have the Joker, who relies on fear and madness to

Together Huston and cinematographer Author Edeson, an expert in visionary conception, robust camera angles, and low key lighting set the overall moodiness for the film as observed by Hirsch, “the quiet chiaroscuro and occasional oblique angles of The Maltese Falcon” (Hirsch, 11). Even though Edeson had to work under the strict confines of the studio’s “Hays Codes” of the 1930s, these constraints were enforced for nearly 40 years, had little influence on future film noir productions that would push the boundaries of the code. Huston’s The Maltese Falcon was the third version of film based on Hammett’s book, Huston’s style makes his version outstanding compared to the previous films, and Hirsch agrees, “directed by John Huston in a sedate manner, with only occasional low angles and theatrical lighting to call attention to the oddness of the characters (Hirsch, 11.)

The city in Gotham is in chaos. They no longer know what they stand for and are starting to wonder if fighting evil is, in fact, creating more evil. One man who stands strong even when the public is second-guessing is Harvey Dent played by Aaron Eckhart. He is the new district attorney and is respected by the entire city for stopping corruption all over the town. He is a clean-shaven man with blonde hair and blue eyes who presents himself as a very proper man. This mise en scene proves that this man is a good man. If he were unshaven, had dark eyes, and dark hair it would be hard to consider him a truly good man. The director realizes this may not be true with everyone but it is a typical stereotype in our society today. As the movie goes on the enemy, who is forcing him to second-guess his values, tests him time and time again. Being an honest man is no longer putting criminals away; they are always one step ahead. By the end of the film, the Joker crushes Harvey’s values and blinds him from what his true goals were in life. His two-sided face shows this visually after being burned in the explosion. Also, Harvey has a coin with a head printed on both sides. This coin never can land on tails but Harvey

Harvey kills corrupt officers and mobsters and kidnaps the commissioner’s son while the Joker kidnaps people in a hospital and blows it up and force the batman to come out and find him, which lead to the big fight we all been waiting for starting the Batman vs the Joker where he explains he plans for all of this to happen and the police to catch Dent, and let the people riot, which ends in the batman tying him up with a rope and leaving him for the police while he going after Two-face where he kills him and takes the blames for his murders some the people will still have hope in this great city. Bale performance as the Batman was legendary with a great supporting

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (n.d) defines noir as “crime fiction featuring hard-boiled[,] cynical characters and bleak[,] sleazy settings.” However, it could be asserted that “claustrophobic” would be a better descriptor, in place of “sleazy.” Noir comes from “film noir,” which means “black cinema,” and was a term coined in France in reference to a particular subset of Hollywood films that were permeated with previously unseen levels of cynicism or disillusionment (Hoerneman, n.d.), this cynicism is generally attributed to post-war dynamics, after the end of World War II. Noir tends to refer to the claustrophobic, gritty atmosphere and intense shadows of the 40s film noir classics as much as it refers to the cynicism and almost inherent heaviness of the storylines that those classics

Film noir is described as being a piece of crime drama that involves the use of specific narrative elements and film elements. Through the use of these elements, countless individuals are entertained by the pure drama. Film noir, represents crime examples that many individuals in the United States could relate to; especially those that were living post war in the1950s. From French roots, the term film noir has a literal meaning of “dark film”. “Dark film” is an acceptable coined term for noir, because it represents a character that is in their darkest time and is manipulated by a femme fatale character. The noir also having a very sinister story line is also a reason for it being dark. According to the knowledgeable Richard Schickel, “despite its Frenchified name, [noir] is a truly American form”. Mainly film noir is created for the American audiences because during

The movie The Dark Knight (2008) is the genre of superhero films. Superhero films are movies that deal with vigilantes saving the city from criminals. Criminals have become more evil, heroes have become more violent and victims have become more innocent. Movies have become more graphic and the crimes have become more unjustifiable. Crime is a key component of superhero hero films and is often used to show injustice towards the state. To control crime society has to try and deter crime by adding punishment that outweigh the rewards. Some people are biologically more crime oriented than others and it constitutes natural born criminals. The Joker is seen as the main criminal in the movie challenging the notion of justice. Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman, is seen as the vigilante. The Joker becomes personal with Batman forcing him to come face to face with everything he believes and uses technology to try and stop him. Hervey Dent is considered a symbol of hope because he takes the law and uses against criminals. The Criminal Justice System is then corrupted by the Joker, which leads to the corruption of two-face. Harvey Dent is angry about Batman letting his one true love (Racheal Dawes) die and seeks revenge upon him with the help of the Joker’s corruption and becomes two face. This demonstrates that even the most innocent people can be corrupted. The Joker challenges the notion of law and justice by attempting to destroy Gotham City and all the people in it. The law deals

“Film Noir” is a term that has been up for debate for an extended time period. Film Noir is French for “Black Film”, it was used to describe a proportion of American films that reached a French audience for the first time after World War II. These American movies depicted or expressed the feelings of this time period. The world was going through a dark and gloomy time. It analyzed the social aspects and it was evident in films in various ways. The movies characterized as “Film Noir” shared themes of social failure, fatal attraction, and criminal perversity. Casablanca, Double Indemnity, and Postman Always Rings Twice are just a few films known as Classic Noir. Although Film Noir can fit into many categories of genres like: crime genre, thriller,

The dark knight is a comic book film directed by Christopher Nolan. The opening scene of the film is arguably one of the best openings in cinema history. it is massively important as it’s one of the most memorable and sets the infrastructure of the film. Christopher Nolan shows us the psychotic villain named “The Joker” who is played by the now late Heath Ledger through a bank heist. Although he's not revealed at first.

The film is full of noir mise-en-scene conventions. For example, the tilted angles to create disorientation and hint at the fatalistic nightmare theme are used brilliantly. Lighting was used beautifully. For example, the use of shadows are used to the ultimate effect in some scenes. The tilted, high and low angles are also used very effectively in many other scenes. Low angled shots to help show dominance and high angles to show vulnerable or powerless characters. The use of props and makeup is also used very well, with the men wearing suits, trench coats and top hats and the woman wearing bright lipstick and dresses. The set/location tended to be very noir conventional with sets occurring at bars, streets, apartments and

The Dark Knight was the second entry in The Dark Knight Trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. He is an English film director, screenwriter, and producer. One of the highest-grossing directors in history, and among the most acclaimed filmmakers in the 21st century. In a world where comic book movies reign supreme, Nolan’s work with Batman stands outs above the rest. He made a world where somebody was willing to put on a cape and a mask believable by

Bruce Wayne is a forthright representation of a divided identity, a man attempting to find a point of equilibrium between two conflicting ideas: His father’s belief that Gotham can be united, and his irrepressible rage for vengeance and justice to the criminals. Ultimately, Bruce willingly fractures his identity and creates the Batman personae to uphold the ‘good’ his father spoke of. Dissimilar to Borden and Angier, the Batman persona is Bruce’s veridical self, and is distanced from a pretentious disguise for stage activity. Meanwhile, the Joker is an anarchist who completely lacks identity. With no name, no fingerprints, no background, the antagonist eliminates his personal features as potential identifiers. Between the two characters lies Harvey Dent, the district attorney who first seems to be incorruptible, but who in due course chooses Joker’s amoral ideology of absolute anarchy over Batman’s moral principles of justice. Similar to Leonard and Cobb (following), his dislocated, swerved identity is a result of external influence instead of having been self-conscious