Paint It BlackIt's a dark, rainy night. Our hero hides behind a wall, a revolver in his hand. A burst of light illuminates half of his face. He's shaking nervously because he only has one bullet left. He turns the corner and a sudden gunshot hits our hero. Who shot him? None other than his partner, who is secretly in love with the same lady our hero fell for. You can consider this an example of a classic film noir ending. Film noir is a term used in cinema to describe a visual style crime drama. Where does it come from? What are the key elements of a film noir? Why did this type of cinema appear at that time? What impact did this have on the world of cinema? And finally, where is film noir today? The term film noir means "black film" and was originally coined by French critic Nino Frank in 1946. "Film Noir" author Bruce Crowther points out that "in some cases the films were based on the work of novelists and short stories such as James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. The works of these American writers and others of the tough-guy and tough-guy school were published in France… The atmosphere of pessimism and doom which prevails in these new noir novels easily translated to the cinema and prompted the creation of the term film noir.Classic film noir arose after World War II. This was the time when post-World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion were taking the world by storm. Many films released in the United States between the years 1939 and 1940 were considered propaganda films made for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s, many Germans and Europeans immigrated to the United States and aided the American film industry with powerful stories on paper. JP Telotte, author of “Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir,” says that by “basing their social commentary on factual context, aligning the narrative with current events of the time, these films also questioned the way the public saw things. their world. (Telotte 155)ReferencesNAREMORE, J. (1998). More than night film noir in its contexts. Berkeley, University of California Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=42280.PORFIRIO, R., SILVER, A. and URSINI, J. (2001). Film Noir Reader 3: Interviews with filmmakers from the classic noir period. New York, Limelight. SILVER, A. and URSINI, J. (1996). Film noir player. New York, Limelight Editions. TELOTTE, JP (1989). Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.