MovieChat Forums > Lady in the Lake (1947) Discussion > Why is this called, 'Noir'???

Why is this called, 'Noir'???


Film noir is a genre of film in which the concepts of right or wrong become confused, NOT when who's right or wrong, or guilty or innocent, is a mystery. Otherwise all mysteries would be called "noir."

Please people, get this right.

Classic film noir darkens (obscures) the truth of right-ness or wrong-ness.

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While I agree with you, I think calling this 'noir' comes from the source material (hard-boiled detective fiction and lit-noir are closely related) as well as other Marlowe mysteries being noir and thus a confused decision to lump this in by association.



"There's a thesaurus in the library. 'Yeah' is under 'Y'. Go ahead, I'll wait."

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"Film Noir" is not a genre and there is no agreed quality that makes a movie 'Noir'.

Movies on IMDB are not overrated, you're just of the minority that doesn't bloody LIKE THEM!

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Yes, "noir" is INDEED a genre. And, yes, this is obviously one of it's prime examples.

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I am the first to criticize the overuse of "film noir," but this is obviously an example.

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I am the first to criticize the overuse of "film noir," but this is obviously an example.


*Spoilers*...

Some examples of how this is "obvious"?

There was a "dirty cop", but he apparently only broke the rules when a woman with whom he was obsessed was involved in something - there's no suggestion he or the other "Bay City" police were crooked.

The film's main villain has some pretty dark motivations, but so do many murder mystery film villains.

A film that depicts a police chief reciting "On the Night Before Christmas" to his daughter over the phone, portrays Fromsett as being upstanding after initially questioning her character and motivations, and then has a silly happy romantic ending isn't really "noir" at all.

Some of Chandler's books and stories could indeed be considered "lit noir", but this movie is a pretty loose adaptation that removes practically all noir-ish elements.

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It's a noir, so I'm not sure why you bothered with this comment. Give it a rest.

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Simply put, the ambiguous and gray morality of most private detectives is the definition of noir. Keeping information secret from the police because the private detective believes it serves his own best interest, yet he's also doing it because the police will either bungle it or because they're horrifyingly enough IN on it, is a very blurred line of right and wrong.

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''Why is this called, 'Noir'???''

Because it is a film noir, perhaps?!

Formerly KingAngantyr

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Film noir is NOT a cohesive "genre." It's a category that was made up by film critics decades later to try to put a wide variety of movies from the forties and fifties under a single umbrella based on certain thematic or visual aspects.

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