Week 3 in my FLM 200 class focused on film noir by watching two classic movies: M by Fritz Lang [IMC DVD 832.03 M110 1998] and The Maltese Falcon by John Huston [IMC DVD 363.289 M261 2010]. In exploring film noir, we discussed the importance of camera angles and different lighting techniques to better contextualize our understanding of the plot and characters.
The film M by Fritz Lang was made prior to the beginning of the film noir period in America, but it had a huge impact on later film noir movies. This movie is about a serial killer (Peter Lorre) who is murdering children, but in actuality, most of the film focuses on the manhunt for him. Both the police and the criminals are after him, and this is where we see the beginning of film noir: dark figures huddled together, smoking cigar after cigar. The audience begins to see that it is society itself that is the problem, when the focus is no longer on the children being killed, but on catching the killer in order to further their own schemes. Indeed, when Lorre delivers his defense speech at the end of the movie, we begin to pity him instead of condemning him. Lang makes excellent use of his camera: one sequence in particular features a montage of different shots, letting the audience know that a girl has been murdered without explicitly showing it. A wonderfully done film, it is one of the strongest precursors to film noir.
Film noir is often characterized as being made during 1944-54, but I would argue that The Maltese Falcon, even though it was made in 1941, is one of the first film noir films. While it doesn’t have the same level of pessimism as some later noir films, there is a pervasive feeling of menace as Sam Spade, private investigator, attempts to solve the mystery of the Maltese Falcon. The strategic use of lighting helps to illuminate, or darken, characters as necessary. One scene in particular is striking: when the shadows from the elevator are used to mimic prison bars at the end of the movie.
Next week I’ll be discussing Sunset Boulevard (another film noir) and Psycho (a Hitchcock thriller). Stay tuned and keep following along at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .
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