Film noir is a movie that conveys a mood of pessimism, fatalism, menace and cynical characters. French critics used it to describe American thriller or detective films in the 1940s. The term literally means ‘Black Film’ and features extremely negative themes. Fedora hats, trench coats and nighttime make up some of the distinguishing features of film noir. Film Noir of this era is associated with low-key black and white visual styles that have roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.
One the main influences for Film Noir was German Expressionism. It refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s. These developments in Germany were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central European culture in fields such as architecture, painting and cinema. Germany and society at the time of the popularity of film noir had just recovered from the consequences of World War I. German expressionist filmmakers felt disillusioned with reality and the world around them. As a result they made films that looked warped and distorted and were extremely surreal. German expressionist directors then toke their disillusionment one step further by having heavy and stark shadows, depressed, dark stories, and corruptible and un-trustable characters. As many Germans had felt betrayed by their government when World War I had concluded many German Expressionist directors projected authority figures as villains to convey a sense of how no one could be trusted in the world they were living in.
The conventions of film noir highlight society of the time. Corrupt cops, alienated protagonist, misogynistic men and femme fatales were all used as a