Film Noir Examples

Here are some examples of Film Noir. Can you spot all the stereotypes?

Short film — Stranger:

“Stranger” embodies Film Noir in with its fast-paced relationhip but unlike most black films, this one has a somewhat happy ending.

Scene of the Crime — 1949

A trailer for a Film Noir movie that came out in 1949. This film features a detective as the “anti-hero.”

Why is Film Noir important?

Despite the fact that film has progressed to a point that a female protagonist does not need to be thrust into a box, Hollywood’s resistance to new roles, especially regarding female characters in film noir, meant that film didn’t bother diversifying its actors for decades, and the low standard for female roles discouraged many potential actors from participating in the art. In order to appreciate diversity among film now, we have to understand how far the visual narrative has come in the last decade alone.