Film Noir

that it came to identify both the narrative-cinematic style of those films and also the historical period during which they were produced (Schatz 112).

The style would have an influence long after that historical period ended. Indeed, it continues to have an influence today, though the underlying social dynamic that produced it in the first place changed long ago. Yet, there is something in the film noir that appeals to and expresses darker aspects of the human soul and so has a resonance still. A comparison of In a Lonely Place (1947) and Blade Runner (1982) will show how the style changed and how it was used differently in the two time periods.

Film noir is more properly called a style rather than a genre:

Film noir was itself a system of visual and thematic conventions which were not associated with any specific genre or story formula, but rather with a distinctive cinematic style and a particular historical period (Schatz 112).

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woman. However, in the film noir, the woman is often a trap of some sort. Often this means that she is not to be trusted, while Ray turns this around in this film because she is unable to trust. The film noir was a style that reflected the psychological state of its central character, and this is certainly true of In a Lonely Place. Dix is a conflicted man, an artist who feels unappreciated and who wrestles with the muse in a very direct and challenging way. Schatz notes how the film noir presented characters who were questioning the verities of the American dream and who were doing so in a world where those verities no longer seemed to apply. The war had challenged ideas about American power and position, for even though America was victorious, she also remembered the attack on Pearl Harbor, her lack of preparedness, her failure to see the danger, and the horror at the end of the war at the discovery of what the Nazis had been doing in their relocation camps. Even American success was raising questions: . . . but business and widespread urban growth offered Americans increased socioeconomic opportunity but on the other, it left them with a feeling of deepening alienation (Schatz 113). Dix is an example of this al
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