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

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In conclusion, Otto Preminger’s American career can be divided into two different phases: a first period during which he worked for Twentieth-Century Fox, and a second, when he became a prominent independent producer-director trying to take on the studio system in various ways. For many years, Preminger marked his position and went against institutional censorship by releasing some films without the usual Motion Picture Association seal (for instance, The Moon is Blue released in 1953). Moreover, he tackled various contentious subjects that studios might not approve of, such as criticism of the War Department in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) or homosexuality in Advise and Consent (1962). For the purposes of this chapter, I have obviously concentrated on the first period of his career which is the one that was notable for his noir productions and for his well-publicised conflicts with his studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck. The two individuals were odds on the subject of casting, and Preminger found it difficult to conform to his demands or to work without retaining overall artistic control. The first prominent claim made for Preminger as an auteur artist was published by Jacques Rivette from Cahiers du Cinéma back in 1954, during the seedbed years of the auteur theory. Rivette believed that Otto Preminger, along with film directors such as Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Fritz Lang would: (...) first believe in their themes and then build the strength of their art upon this conviction. Preminger believes first in mise en scène, the creation of a precise complex of sets and characters, a network of relationships, an architecture of connections, an animated complex that seems suspended in space. (Rivette 1985:132) In contrast to the other two directors described earlier, Preminger used a different formula in a period when American cinema appeared to be subjugated by mainstream genre works. With a penchant for a certain thematic line, his dramatic motifs showed ambitious and provocative connections. Then, his fluidity, as I have stressed here, is achieved through a visual style that is characterised by long takes, with extensive camera movements holding two or more characters in a primary, objective shot at all times, avoiding cutting down a scene into shots or counter-shots. As the Movie introduction states, “Hence the vital importance which Preminger attached to his scripts. All that he has to say or show is in the development of his narrative and the moral evolution of his characters” (Wood 1962:18) or, as Preminger once said in an interview, “I always like to 250
project my viewpoint on the audience without them knowing it” (Wood 1962:19). On the whole, Preminger’s work also remains admirable for the fact that he was able to challenge both the value of the classical Hollywood system and the auteurship possible within it, even defined by it. In this way, we get to see Preminger the auteur from the perspective of a filmmaker with the personality of a producer; a man who held an interest in institutions but who at the same time could confront institutional Hollywood. 251
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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
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of war veterans who, unfolding thei
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1.6 Noir Atmospherics: Cinematograp
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John Alton’s highly stylised phot
Page 215 and 216: Figure 41. Stranger on the Third Fl
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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
Page 229 and 230: the two, affirming that “Jazz is
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 and 260: slanting compositions, and brillian
Page 261 and 262: 2.1.3 Otto Preminger Austrian film
Page 263 and 264: plans, June still shows her love fo
Page 265: Figure 61. Where the Sidewalk Ends
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
Page 311 and 312: Chris meets by accident, is a hellc
Page 313 and 314: 2.1.1.4 Conclusion All in all, ther
Page 315 and 316: 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
Page 367 and 368:
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
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E Easthope, Antony (1993). Contempo
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Greenberg, Joel & Higham, Charles (
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James, David E. (2005). The Most Ty
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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
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Reasons Underlying the Particular A
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VIII. Religion The reason why minis
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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,
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Walsh, Raoul, 56, 57, 66, 73, 223,
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