nternational friends and enemies. This also explains why the style became so pervasive, since it was speaking to the national psyche that existed at the time, and that psyche did not kick in only for one genre of film but was "in the air," as it were. Most of the films utilizing this style were crime-oriented films depicting the social disintegration represented by crime. These films are not usually mysteries in the sense of the "whodunit" but instead treat crime as a psychological aberration, an expression of social dysfunction, and often a challenge to social norms. The classic film noir features an obsessive hero whose psychological makeup draws him to the dark side and who is somehow out of synch with the society in which he lives. There is a deliberate sense of alienation in these films, and this means not only alienated heroes but editing and storytelling that breaks the usually accepted norms of time to alienate the viewer as well.
Laura is a film that begins with a conventional s
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