“Film Noir is not a genre…”

Said screenwriter Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) (Raging Bull) in his famed 1972 essay, “Notes on Film Noir." Highly recommend the Arts Documentary called American Cinema Film Noir, hosted by John Lithgow, published by and originally produced PBS in 1995. This one-hour episode obviously examines film noir. This from lighting techniques to directors and actors, and the genre’s roots in German expressionism, the program is an excellent survey of the genre. All the great noirs are featured. Particularly fascinating are contemporary interviews with noir luminaries Edward Dmytryk, Joseph H. Lewis, A.I. Bezzerides, and Marie Windsor. The ever brilliant Richard Widmark supplies a nuanced voice-over for some scenes. Richard Widmark supplies a nuanced voice-over for some scenes. Martin Scorsese (excerpt) is really the main focus here as he talks about Force of Evil in great detail and talks about what an important film it was in his life and career. Scorsese even called the film a seminal influence on his own gangster dramas (Mean Streets, 1973, Goodfellas, 1990). Especially impacting Scorsese’s own movie antiheroes was Force of Evil’s star John Garfield, as corrupt lawyer Joe Morse, a man whose face is "a landscape of moral conflict… filmsnoir – tcm – noiroftheweek – top 10 Neo Noir: The Modern Day Film Noir Also recommend Matthew Sweet’s 2009 BBC The Rules of Film Noir, Watch here.…..One-to-watch  WHAT IS FILM NOIR?