MovieChat Forums > The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Discussion > Do you consider this a Film Noir?

Do you consider this a Film Noir?


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No.

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No, it's got very little to do with film noir.

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Not in the slightest.

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The OP knows nothing about Film Noir. Silly question that must be some kind of joke.

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[deleted]

Ahem... you know nothing about film noir.
read about it, for pete's sake.

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The film ended (not counting the "happy ending" slapped on) with George and Fanny living in a sort of nightmarish world...but otherwise, no.

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Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas. The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Film noirs embrace a variety of genres, from the gangster film to the police procedural to the gothic romance to the social problem picture—any example of which from the 1940s and 1950s, now seen as noir's classic era, was likely to be described as a "melodrama" at the time. While many critics refer to film noir as a genre itself, others argue that it can be no such thing. While noir is often associated with an urban setting, many classic noirs take place in small towns, suburbia, rural areas, or on the open road; so setting cannot be its genre determinant, as with the Western. Similarly, while the private eye and the femme fatale are character types conventionally identified with noir, the majority of film noirs feature neither; so there is no character basis for genre designation as with the gangster film. Nor does film noir rely on anything as evident as the monstrous or supernatural elements of the horror film, the speculative leaps of the science fiction film, or the song-and-dance routines of the musical.

Mildred Pierce about a woman and her pie business (!) is noir.
Johnny Belinda about a deaf mute in the countryside who is sexually asaulted is noir.

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No, this is not Noir.

If you keep insisting, I can only say you must be imbibing the fermented essence of "onepotato2" a little too much.







"This bar of likker is now a bar of justice!"

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I don't consider it a film noir because there is no element of sinister evil. Ya gotta have sinister evil. Simple.

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Huh? This, noir?

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http://mulhollandcinelog.wordpress.com/

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Of course it is... with cynical "private eye" George on a mission to establish the truth about the relationship between Eugene and Isabel and the effects of the burgeoning car industry on his home town, aided and abetted by femme fatales Lucy and Aunt Fanny.

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No. Not that period/costume pieces can't be made in the same style as the classic film noirs, but this film simply wasn't. Certainly Welles made some great noir films (The Stranger, The Lady from Shanghai, and Touch of Evil), but The Magnificent Ambersons simply wasn't one.

It doesn't have an overly-complicated or contrived story with crime or mystery elements. It doesn't have a 'femme fatale.' It doesn't have the style and look of a film noir, with shadows and close-ups. It simply is not an example of film noir.

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No way, it's a period drama to me.

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No, it's not film noir in the way I understand the genre. By definition, there have to be certain specific elements for it to be considered a true 'film noir' movie. One element is crime and another is sex; neither really applies to this movie.

I suppose one could argue it in a literal sense. It is a film and, for most of the movie, both in look and feel, it is pretty dark (noir). Yes, it's a stretch but there are people who may never have heard the term 'film noir' as it applies to movies but if they’ve had a basic intro to French, they may misunderstand the term to mean a movie that’s not very well lit; anything’s possible.

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I'd call it more "Film Snore" ...

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