Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

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start, alternating, within the fluid movement of this single long take, between full shots, medium close-ups and close-ups. Globally, Welles expresses a consistently extreme aesthetics through the cinematography. He basically uses three main technical features, which are the violent contrasts, disorienting angles and the use of wide-angle lenses. The majority of the film takes place at night, not only on the streets of Los Robles, but also in the interiors, where potent lighting enhances the shadows cast by the set and by the actors. This nocturnal view of the city is a crucial aspect of the film, since it allowed Welles and Metty to fill it with all the necessary filmic equipment to cast the shadows that give its walls sinister life and to light its tall arcades whose geometrical shapes created a visual metaphor of a decomposing maze. The visual objectifications that I described in the previous chapter are again specified in Welles’s films, especially in The Lady from Shanghai for using the mirrors and their reflections as obvious symbols of the protagonists’ duality. These noir productions and his unique form of film noir show the stages of Welles’s development as a filmmaker and as an experimenter in his working methods according to the aesthetic results he wanted to achieve. Renowned for his innate aesthetic sensibilities and for his innovative approach with the camera, Welles is also often viewed as the director who used the “first person singular” technique or the “one-man band” approach due to his ability to undertake all the roles in the filmmaking process (from art director and screenwriter, to costume designer and even musical arranger). Perhaps because of that, Welles adopted an ambivalent view of the medium, making many polemical statements that ranged from assigning the art of filmmaking to a single individual to attacking the cult of the director. Indeed, somewhat against the auteur theory, Welles concludes his meditation about his own creative art with the meandering investigation of authorship and authenticity in F for Fake (initially released in 1974). In it, he condemns the cult of the director and mentions the work of thousands whose names were never recorded, concluding that “Maybe a man’s name doesn’t matter that much after all”. 244
2.1.3 Otto Preminger Austrian film director Otto Preminger moved from the theatre to Hollywood, and his noir debut took place when he directed the 20 th Century-Fox film version of Vera Caspary’s mystery novel Laura, in 1944. In fact, the way Preminger develops the topic of obsession in Laura is particularly powerful, dividing the compulsion between three different characters, three men whose interrelationships develops in mysterious ways, building a melodrama of unusual cadence. Dana Andrews, in the role of shrewd Lt. Mark McPherson; Clifton Webb, as egocentric and caustic columnist Waldo Lydecker; and Vincent Price, as gold-digging, two-timer Shelby Carpenter, Laura’s fiancé, all come to be haunted by the spell of the memory of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), an elegant publicist who has been killed by a shotgun blast. As a noir narrative, the story is told in Figure 60. Laura 245
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Joaquim da Silva Universidade de Av
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To Antonio, who made this possible.
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Acknowledgements This long journey
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Finally, I owe a huge debt of grati
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keywords abstract Film Noir, genre,
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2 Social and Political Influences o
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2.4 Joseph H. Lewis................
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Figure 42. Force of Evil ..........
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I. Introduction: Paving the Way for
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term that the film industry itself
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about which films themselves consti
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also, in the films’ fundamental n
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American films after the Nazi occup
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we also find a disruption of the wo
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oth in these French productions of
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Hollywood feature films but it did
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throughout this work); and c) to di
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odies, or as killers and crooks, bu
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these films was to confer on them a
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writer, director, producer, and art
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cinema does not have the power of
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Before working on The Dark Mirror,
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y taking it “from the outside.”
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and many, if not most, films would
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1.1.1 Dashiell Hammett In 1929, Das
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tough appearance, by their occupati
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Apart from “The Continental Op”
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unsettling when for example shootin
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1.1.2 Raymond Chandler Raymond Chan
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Figure 4. The Big Sleep the chaotic
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eleased to the big screen by MGM wi
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most fastidious visions of London i
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hometowns and move into bigger citi
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Double Indemnity started the trend
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has happened, but, as if hypnotized
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destructive, or used by stronger wo
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Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) into a noir
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Home (1937) - were two living proof
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which collapses the distinction bet
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Figure 10. Deadline at Dawn Alex’
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1.1.6 William Riley Burnett Another
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Figure 11. High Sierra The Asphalt
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1.1.7 Conclusions What made the det
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fiction managed to provide for a de
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escalation in illegal drinking plac
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Ben Hecht story and despite being p
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Mercy! Is this the end of Rico?”
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The third originating gangster movi
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part of the recurrent patterns of v
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protagonist of Edgar Ulmer’s Deto
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exemplify in Part III (“Space and
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1.3 The Gothic Romance 87 And trave
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titlecard when the film opens alert
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In Rebecca the beautiful, desirable
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forties. Thematically, the represen
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To complicate this matter further,
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trampled under by war and revolutio
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he says, when Expressionism ended,
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These early Expressionist films, wi
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student, Balduin (Paul Wegener hims
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(Tragedy of the Street, 1927, aka W
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plots with calculating precision. G
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perverted and neurotic sex murderer
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1.5 French Poetic Realism Poetic Re
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(Michèle Morgan), whose godfather
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strikingly atmospheric view of the
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Jean Paulhan, editor of La Nouvelle
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Julien Duvivier’s Pépé Le Moko
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the combination of lighting effects
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peculiar expressionistic lighting a
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Figure 28. Son of Frankenstein This
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Figure 29. Murders in the Rue Morgu
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alienation mixed with nuanced perfo
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2 Social and Political Influences o
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Liberal reforms soon became a spuri
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Polonsky, Jules Dassin, and Edward
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which are themselves historical eve
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Production Code Administration. Thi
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In this particular case, one can se
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Neff: Will you be here too? Phyllis
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against any possible theft of groce
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2.3 Postwar Readjustment If the moo
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In this group of films, the bleak a
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explain, these noir heroes of the f
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(Gilda, White Heat, Scarlet Street,
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seething excitations” and adds th
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Romanticism present at the very hea
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to persist and overcome difficultie
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III. Noir Thematics 1 Essential Ele
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its modernist sensibility, enabled
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Wyatt), cooks breakfast, domestic r
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structures of constituted authority
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1.2 Space and the Noir City Film no
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other people and developing a calcu
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I am the city. Hub and heart of Ame
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1.3 Trouble With Girls: The Femme F
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intelligent and powerful, if destru
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significant discussion of film noir
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Nevertheless, the message is quite
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Another example of the evolution of
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deceiving women. Like many of their
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Either as a femme fatale or an homm
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1.5 Dazed and Confused: The Voiceov
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an impersonal “you” giving the
Page 209 and 210: of war veterans who, unfolding thei
Page 211 and 212: 1.6 Noir Atmospherics: Cinematograp
Page 213 and 214: John Alton’s highly stylised phot
Page 215 and 216: Figure 41. Stranger on the Third Fl
Page 217 and 218: indoctrination in the movie in the
Page 219 and 220: in the popular imagination. While t
Page 221 and 222: 1.7 Sounds of the City: Jazz Soundt
Page 223 and 224: music, combines with images of patr
Page 225 and 226: Figure 45. Out of the Past Non-dieg
Page 227 and 228: ealm of near-explicit sexual metaph
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Page 231 and 232: City, Paramount’s Union Station a
Page 233 and 234: In my analysis of The Big Combo in
Page 235 and 236: Consequently, in the fifties, we st
Page 237 and 238: 2 Noir and the Film Auteur 2.1 Aute
Page 239 and 240: noticeably the case, for example, w
Page 241 and 242: point out the fact that it is only
Page 243 and 244: elationship to the way a director t
Page 245 and 246: 2.1.1 Billy Wilder Billy Wilder pla
Page 247 and 248: performance is full of understated
Page 249 and 250: Figure 54. Sunset Boulevard Wilder
Page 251 and 252: Figure 55. Ace in the Hole All of B
Page 253 and 254: 2.1.2 Orson Welles He may have only
Page 255 and 256: For example, in the scene above (fi
Page 257 and 258: As Leo Braudy in The World in a Fra
Page 259: slanting compositions, and brillian
Page 263 and 264: plans, June still shows her love fo
Page 265 and 266: Figure 61. Where the Sidewalk Ends
Page 267 and 268: project my viewpoint on the audienc
Page 269 and 270: postulated as the “doctrine of si
Page 271 and 272: pouvait espérer sortir de la déno
Page 273 and 274: I am at the barber's, and a copy of
Page 275 and 276: certain community, our subjective r
Page 277 and 278: interpretant” (Stam 1992:6). Here
Page 279 and 280: The notion of “text” as a disco
Page 281 and 282: only agree that these disciplines s
Page 283 and 284: 2 The Universe of Motifs and Symbol
Page 285 and 286: Andrew Sarris once wrote that “If
Page 287 and 288: exception to this rule, his movies
Page 289 and 290: independent production companies in
Page 291 and 292: Figure 66. Double Indemnity In the
Page 293 and 294: Figure 67. Scarlet Street The symbo
Page 295 and 296: contorted Expressionistic grimace,
Page 297 and 298: Figure 70. Metropolis The clock mot
Page 299 and 300: Figure 71. Strangers on a Train The
Page 301 and 302: “When I was young I wanted to be
Page 303 and 304: themselves in the projection of inn
Page 305 and 306: woman in the portrait throughout I
Page 307 and 308: scenes as the attachment is purely
Page 309 and 310: (namely The Spiral Staircase and Ou
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Chris meets by accident, is a hellc
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2.1.1.4 Conclusion All in all, ther
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Question: Scarlet Street had the sa
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an accepted and well-known screenwr
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Siodmak’s next two films for Univ
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money from Dundee. A more harrowing
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2.2.1 The Spiral Staircase (1946) a
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here increased by the unsteady blac
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Figure 83. The Spiral Staircase Thi
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Warren, making either of them the p
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2.2.1.2 The “Optical Unconscious
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camera is expressive, as it informs
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ordering” - appears to match this
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eyewitness, but at the same time, a
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Figure 87. The Spiral Staircase Bas
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While Cross implicitly acknowledges
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Figure 89. Affair in Trinidad Other
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However, much of this iconography t
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long, wooden staircase while trying
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Figure 93. The Spiral Staircase Fig
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of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The B
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almost part of a game, emphasising
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2.3 Jacques Tourneur Born in Paris
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a laughing audience), and broken la
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violent mishaps could have led to h
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writers like Dashiell Hammett (who,
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Chuck Tatum, a cynical, frustrated
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on, Ann, who represents his hope fo
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This kind of temporal manipulation
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ought forward by the characters of
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found Kathie: “I was glad it was
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Figure 102. Out of the Past In this
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Figure 104. The Lady from Shanghai
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Jeff: Give him time. Kathie: You ar
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Figure 106. Out of the Past The sce
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Gun Crazy, a barrage of police gunf
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2.4 Joseph H. Lewis Considered as a
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untold storied of ordinary men and
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through windows, to provide the ind
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2.4.1 The Big Combo (1955) and the
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of most noir films including The Bi
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2.4.1.1 “First is First and Secon
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In The Big Combo the unconscious tr
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It is not only in terms of narrativ
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Although the idea is not to go into
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Figure 113. Scarlet Street Neff’s
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2.4.1.2 The Big Combo and Generic T
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and knowing they are both surrounde
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As the noir movement entered the la
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V. Conclusions: 1 Genre Revisited T
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on social aspects through a dramati
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Buscombe is right: if we take a gen
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constructions that make it difficul
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Such factors have been scrutinised
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Thematically, noir films as a group
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While enforcement of the Production
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are “as often nihilistic, cynical
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which is normally not associated wi
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morality brought about by these noi
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It is within this cinematic and cri
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____________ (1994). The Semiotic C
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____________ (1992b). Farewell, My
Page 435 and 436:
E Easthope, Antony (1993). Contempo
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Greenberg, Joel & Higham, Charles (
Page 439 and 440:
James, David E. (2005). The Most Ty
Page 441 and 442:
Malkiewicz, Kris (1986). Film Light
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N Naremore, James (1978). The Magic
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Polan, Dana (1986). Power and Paran
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____________ (2006). Ava Gardner:
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Sullivan, Ellie (1986). Jacques Lac
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Wilson, Edmund (1962). Classics and
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Appendix I: Annotated Filmography T
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Beware, My Lovely RKO 1952. Prod: C
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Christmas Holiday Univ 1944. Prod:
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Dark Corner, The Fox 1946. Prod: Fr
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Framed Col 1947. Prod: Jules Schern
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House on 92 nd Street, The Fox 1945
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Killing, The UA 1956. Prod: James B
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Mildred Pierce WB 1945. Prod: Jerry
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One Way Street Univ 1950. Prod: Leo
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Repeat Performance EL 1947. Prod: A
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Stranger, The RKO 1946. Prod: S.P.
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Unsuspected, The WB 1947. Prod: Cha
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B) Other Relevant Filmography The f
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Last Laugh, The ScreenSound 1924. P
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Appendix II The Motion Picture P
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VIII. Religion 1. No film or episod
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B. By reason of the mobility of fil
Page 487 and 488:
Reasons Underlying the Particular A
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VIII. Religion The reason why minis
Page 491 and 492:
146, 152, 186, 192, 229, 250, 298,
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high-contrast, 11, 46, 172 Highway
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350, 352, 353, 354, 356, 357, 359,
Page 497:
Walsh, Raoul, 56, 57, 66, 73, 223,
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