The discussion of fascism and film noir is a part of a larger area of interest which is film noir and politics, the politics of Europe and of America in the 1930s and 1940s, and trends in film noir as a whole.
It is said by the wise that the political tendencies within film noir might be said to express a left wing view in the 1940s and a right wing view on the 1950s. To break this down and strengthen the possibilities that there may be something in this expression we can consider what follows.
For example, communism was held in the 1920s and 1930s to be the natural opponent of fascism, and so the idea that communist thought, as it began to infiltrate the fantasies and ideals of Americana became naturally noir in the 1940s and naturally antipathetic when the communist hunts began to occur as the 40s concluded and the CIA came into being.
What the 1950s proved is that whereas there was to be no communism permitted in the new American century and what that reich entails, out and out capitalism was not to be expected and corporatism was to be embraced. Which brings us full circle, because we must then see what fascism's doctrinaire creator and champion Benito Mussolini had to say on the subject. It describes the CIA and corporate state:
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
and then:
"All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state."
It is no mistake that film noir as it evolved in the later 1930s was infused with the freedoms of expression gained from escaping European Nazism with one's life, and the huge and eminent amount of émigré directors and others working in film noir is testament to this.
The look of film noir and the mood was without doubt European and that eu-ness is and was on that day steeped in the battle with, the conversation about, the fidelity of and the personality of fascism. There may be a place where all these thousands of names are stored, from Bertolt Brecht to Theodore Adorno, to Arnold Schoenberg and Marlene Dietrich,
Even a famous noir cinematographer with the American-sounding name of John Alton turns out to have been born in Hungary.
Paul Cantor at cantor.prof
The French film Carrefour (1938), a melodrama of the style of the day has a plot centred around a businessman with amnesia whose criminal past resurfaces, challenging his current life. The film’s theme of a split personality is linked to German expressionist cinema and American film noir.
The production of Carrefour (1938) is notable for its team of German-speaking Jewish exiles, including producer Eugene Tuscherer, director Kurt Bernhardt, and others who had fled Nazi Germany. This leads to a broader discussion on German exile cinema, which emerged after the Nazis blacklisted Jewish filmmakers, forcing them to work abroad. These films, while made outside Germany and often in the language of the host country, reflect the themes and aesthetics of exile, identity loss, and moral ambiguity.
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| M (1951) — the debt to Weimar |
German exile cinema is not however viewed as a mere extension of the host country’s national cinema but as an integral part of Hollywood cinema history, representing the other Germany and its anti-fascist culture. It highlights the challenges of defining and integrating German exile cinema into film history, noting the reluctance of some historians to recognize the contributions of exiled filmmakers.
What it means for the ages is that the foundations of the propagandised grip the medium and message of Hollywood represents, was land-grabbed via the suppression of film noir, between 1940 and 1960.
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| Marc Lawrence in Nazi Agent (1942) |
German exile cinema is a testament to the resilience of German cultural life and democratic principles, continuing the legacy of Weimar cinema and influencing future generations, such as the New German Cinema movement. It stands as a piece of anti-fascist culture, produced by exiled Germans who maintained their cinematic craft despite political adversity.
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| Conrad Veidt in Nazi Agent (1942) |
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| Nazi Agent (1942) |
Viewed as a medium replete with message film noir is a nuanced examination of the concept of exile cinema, distinguishing it from the broader category of filmmakers in exile. Film noir in its political dialogues, which range between true leftist populist exploration of workers' rights, all the way from They Drive By Night to On The Waterfront, argues that exile cinema was a necessary reality only as long as there was no free German cinema, particularly during the Third Reich and shortly after its fall.
The incipient signs of what is being called right wing cinema maybe found in subject matters of the era, and outside of film noir in the huge amount of westerns presented across the time. The evolution of the right wing noir might for example be evidenced and exampled in films in which revenge is considered a good enough motive to be the defining action of the entire experience, including mis en scene, script, character motivation and audience satisfaction. These might be best seen in the films of Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino whose bodies of work effectively capture revenge as subject and motive across the entire body of their creativity.
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| Nazi parade in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) |
For many German filmmakers, exile was a permanent state of affairs, lasting much longer than the Nazi regime, and for some, a lifetime.
The narrative recounts the early days of the Nazi regime’s influence on the German film industry, highlighting a speech by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to the Association of German Film Producers, which signalled the beginning of anti-Semitic policies in the industry. The establishment of the Film Guild under the Reich’s Kulturkammer required proof of Aryan descent for membership, leading to a boycott of Jewish filmmakers and the cessation of new film production in Germany in the summer of 1933.
A brief period of terror and flight in Europe created too many upheavals to focus on. German filmmakers did at one stage leave for Austria and Hungary, where they initially found opportunities due to the common language and less restrictive environments.
However, the Austrian film industry’s dependence on the German market and subsequent anti-Semitic legislation dramatically reduced the production of German exile films. In Hungary, a more welcoming atmosphere allowed for the production of German and Hungarian language films until anti-Semitic laws were also enacted there.
There was a further migration of German-Jewish filmmakers to France in 1933, where they found a relatively favourable production environment in the French film industry. This period saw the establishment of independent film companies by notable Weimar Republic producers, leading to the creation of significant exile films. But of course there were challenges faced by stateless Germans in obtaining legal work permits.
In England, émigré film producers influenced the employment of German emigres in the film industry, producing historical dramas for the international market. The Dutch film industry also saw a boom due to the influence of German emigres and Dutch-Jewish filmmakers, although the domestic market limitations kept Dutch productions relatively unknown.
Noir might also express via that squeezing of the fascist nightmare, the precarious and wandering nature of all émigré life, with filmmakers often moving between countries to find work, facing the constant threat of deportation, and arriving in foreign countries penniless due to Nazi confiscation policies. Many eventually made their way to Hollywood, which offered a more stable environment and the largest functioning film industry in the world.
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| House on 92nd Street (1945) |
In Hollywood, German-speaking film emigres found work in the American film and television industry, although the market was dominated by major studios, limiting opportunities for independent producers. Nonetheless, many emigres continued their careers, contributing to the American film industry and creating notable exile films.
Bertolt Brecht, in his Fluchtlingsgesprachen, highlighted the adaptability and dialectical skills of emigres, shaped by their state of constant change and homelessness. Many emigres hoped to return to Germany post-fascism, but the Holocaust’s devastation and the altered landscape of the German film industry, now led by those who rose to prominence during the Nazi era, made such a return complex and fraught.
Bien sur, of course everybody, let us not get dismayed by the over classification of our classified animals, and insist that exile cinema cannot be categorized as a single genre due to its diverse conceptual and stylistic features.
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| Lili Palmer in Cloak and Dagger (1946) |
Instead, it is a cinema of genres, influenced by the political and economic conditions of its production. Emigre filmmakers, already experienced in various genres, selected those that were less common in their host countries to showcase their talents. The breakdown of genres in German exile film productions is as follows: comedies (23%), musicals (20%), melodramas (16%), costume dramas (14%), crime dramas (8%), literary adaptations (6%), and fantasy films (5%).
Anti-Nazi films accounted for 8% of German exile cinema. The filmmakers were not disinterested in using film as propaganda against the Nazi regime, but political censorship in countries like France and England, which pursued appeasement policies with Nazi Germany, limited such efforts. The first anti-Nazi film, Borzy/Kampfer (1935), was produced in the Soviet Union, reflecting the anti-fascist stance prevalent there until the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939.
The film Kampfer focused on the Communist resistance to German Fascism, including the Reichstag fire and the ensuing show trial against Georgi Dimitroff. The production involved many emigres and was coordinated by the Communist Party in exile.
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| Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) |
Despite its success and international acclaim, the film was not widely recognized by German emigres in the Soviet Union, and following the dissolution of the Communist International (Comintern) in 1935, there was no significant market for such films among German emigres who were not party members.
So this page asks you to reflect on the challenges and contributions of German-Jewish filmmakers in exile, their impact on various national cinemas, and the complex interplay between politics, culture, and the arts during a tumultuous historical period. It underscores the resilience of these filmmakers and their enduring influence on cinema history. It manifests in their genius, in the very best films of the 1940s which are without any doubt, classifiable as films noirs. Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) is also terribly good and has so much to commend it to any historian or noirstorian or film and media interested party
Certainly, the landscape of German exile cinema was multifaceted, shaped by the diverse experiences and motivations of émigré filmmakers. While some sought asylum in the Soviet Union, others found their way to Hollywood, each with distinct goals and perspectives.
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| Hangmen Also Die (1943) |
One notable film, Hangmen Also Die (1943), directed by Fritz Lang, delves into the anti-Nazi underground movement in occupied Czechoslovakia. The film portrays the assassination of Reichsprotector Reinhard Heydrich, the Czech resistance, collaboration attempts, and the complexities faced by individual figures. Despite the challenges, the film successfully communicates historical events and anti-Fascist themes. Interestingly, the roles of Czech characters were played by American actors, guided by the filmmakers’ intention to shape audience sympathies.
The 1930s French film Mayerling stands out as a quintessential costume melodrama, depicting the tragic romance of an Austrian crown prince. Set against the nostalgic backdrop of the fin de siècle, the film portrays the double suicide of Herzog Rudolf and Baroness Vetsera at the Mayerling hunting lodge near Vienna in 1887, a consequence of the Emperor’s refusal to sanction their marriage. While hinting at political allegory, Mayerling focuses on the melodrama of love cut short by tragedy, with history serving merely as a setting.
The film’s success propelled its director Anatole Litvak, producer Seymour Nebenzahl, and stars Danielle Darrieux and Charles Boyer into Hollywood’s community of exiles. The screenplay, co-written by Litvak and Carl Zuckmayer, reflects their experiences at UFA before their expulsion. German exile cinema often favored the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and Imperial Russia as subjects, perhaps due to the melancholic aura of these fallen empires, which resonated more with the émigré experience than the aggressive militarism of Prussia. This preference also appealed to international audiences, who found the Viennese charm more palatable than the sternness of Prussia, avoiding associations with World War I.
German exile films frequently showcased pre-1918 monarchies, as seen in titles like Rakocimarsch, Unser Kaiser, and Le Mayerling à Sarajevo. The biographical film emerged as a subgenre, contrasting the democratic ideals of exile cinema with the heroic narratives of the Third Reich. Films like The Story of Louis Pasteur and Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet offered counter-narratives to Nazi biopics, emphasizing the human aspect of their subjects and the scientific process, as opposed to the Reich’s portrayal of infallible genius.
Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet features Dr. Paul Ehrlich, Robert Koch’s assistant, who developed treatments for diphtheria and syphilis and pioneered chemotherapy. Despite facing ostracism in the conservative German academic world, Ehrlich’s story is one of perseverance and the quest for scientific freedom, carrying an implicit anti-authoritarian message. The film subtly included an anti-Nazi subtext, intended by its original author.
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| Hitler's Children (1943) |
The musical and film operetta genres, related to costume dramas but lighter in tone, also thrived in exile cinema. Before 1936, over fourteen films were produced in Austria and Hungary, reviving the monarchy with Viennese charm. Additional films were produced by émigrés in France and England, featuring opera stars like Joseph Schmidt and Jarmila Novotna.
Exile cinema also explored themes of artistic struggle and the tension between personal sacrifice and creative expression. Films like New Wine depicted the life of composer Franz Schubert, blending European nostalgia with American sensibilities. Despite the challenges faced by émigré filmmakers, their works remain a testament to the resilience and adaptability of artists in exile, striving to convey their experiences and stories to a broader audience.
Another film, Voice in the Wind (1944), addresses the condition of statelessness. It follows an émigré pianist who loses his home in Prague and his great love due to Nazi persecution. The film creates a melancholic atmosphere, emphasizing nostalgia for a lost homeland. Although the theme of exile is rare in cinema, this film stands out as an exception.
In Hollywood, anti-Nazi films were crafted within the conventions of various genres. Filmmakers did go ahead and in their communistic wisdom inserted explicit details into narratives, subtly conveying information about the National Socialist state. Films like To Be or Not To Be (1942), The Cross of Lorraine (1943), and Song of Russia (1943) discussed better than any others the moral issues relevant to contemporary anti-Fascist themes.
Perhaps as much as film noir, the uncodified code-land of expression that it was, comedy emerged as the preferred genre among film émigrés, likely because it was easier to secure funding for such projects. These films were generally created for entertainment and not intended for international distribution. In the 1930s, comedies made up a quarter of German exile cinema, but production dwindled post-1939 due to the war, the Holocaust, and a shift in the American film industry’s perspective, which held that only Americans could truly make American audiences laugh.
Notable comedies from German émigrés included Du Hauten Bas (1933), Peter (1934), and A Royal Scandal (1945), Komedie om Geld (1936), a satire on the pursuit of wealth, was a standout Dutch production with a unique international flair, directed by Max Ophüls and featuring cubist art-deco designs.
Despite its ambitious storyline mirroring the ‘rags to riches to rags’ journey of many émigrés, Ophüls reportedly lost interest in the film, which became the most expensive Dutch production of the time.
Tales of Manhattan (1942) offered a different comedic approach, blending irony with melodramatic elements. The plot revolves around a cursed tailcoat that affects its various owners in contrasting ways, from a successful actor to a destitute farmer. This film, produced by Samuel Spiegel, who had previously worked for German Universal in Berlin, reflected the experiences of impoverished exiles and challenged American moral standards with its European sensibilities towards marriage and punishment.
Spiegel, who arrived in Los Angeles in 1939 as an undocumented and impoverished émigré, was granted the rights to the film script The Tailcoat, marking his first Hollywood production as an exile. This film, along with others, illustrates the adaptability and creativity of émigré filmmakers in navigating the challenges of a new cultural landscape while maintaining their artistic vision.
The period between 1933 and 1950 was marked by a significant movement of German filmmakers and artists into exile, driven by the rise of the Nazi regime. Among these émigrés were notable figures like Ferenc Molnár, Laszlo Vadnai, and Walter Reisch, who brought their expertise in melodrama to their new environments. Directors like Max Ophüls and Curtis Bernhardt, who had been accustomed to the influence of fate and the essence of daily life in their works, found a new audience for their melodramatic narratives.
The film Le Drame de Shanghai (1938) is an example of how these émigré directors used their craft to tell stories that embodied conflicting emotions and reflected Europe’s political realities. The film, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, who had spent years in exile in France, depicted a mother’s struggle to protect her daughter in a city under siege, working against the backdrop of imperialist aggression.
The crime drama, especially in the form of film noir, also gained prominence thanks to the contributions of émigré directors like Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger. These filmmakers brought a distinct European sensibility to the genre, infusing it with the complexities of modern city life and the economic challenges of the time.
Literary adaptations were another area where émigré filmmakers excelled. They were considered prestige projects by film companies, often attracting an educated audience to the cinema. Despite not always being box office successes, these adaptations played a significant role in exile cinema. For instance, Warner Bros. enlisted Max Reinhardt to create a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), reflecting the high regard for literary classics among German émigrés.
The film Passport to Heaven (1941), based on Carl Zuckmayer’s Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, is a forgotten gem that was initially overlooked by distributors and the national press. It was eventually released in 1945 as I Was a Criminal and showcased a considerable directorial achievement. The film’s portrayal of Berlin, patched together from documentary footage and studio shots, and its emphasis on light and shadow, highlighted the symbols of power and the transformation of society under authoritarian rule.
These films and the experiences of the émigrés who created them remain at the edges of cinema history. While some émigré filmmakers, like Ernst Lubitsch or Billy Wilder, successfully established themselves in their new countries, their works are imbued with the influences of exile and can be considered part of the national cinema of their adopted homes. Their contributions have helped to partially redress past injustices and have created a unique relationship between German national cinema and the works of German émigrés. Their legacy continues to influence the cinematic landscape, demonstrating the resilience and adaptability of artists in the face of adversity.
Preminger, E.A. Dupont or Edgar G. Ulmer, Robert Siodmak or Max Ophils . . .
Et vous les fascistes?
In a still below we can see Loretta Young in The Stranger, watching the footage of the concentration camps in Europe. It was probably Orson Welles most profitable film as a director! When he saw the freshly released camp footage, Orson Welles was determined to broadcast it as widely as possible, and argued for it being included in The Stranger (1946), his post-war tale of Nazis in hiding in America.
Hitler's influence on film noir is more general than this, but can still be charted. In fact, film noir can in part be put down to the emigration of talent from 1930s Germany, to the relative freedoms of North America. Fritz Lang is a fine case in point. Lang was called to Joseph Goebbels' office in 1934, and told that while THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE was being banned, the administration admired his work, and offered him a job as a the head of a film studio.
The links between American film noir and fascism are quite intriguing and multifaceted. Film noir, a genre that emerged in the 1940s and 1950s, often reflects the anxieties and uncertainties of the times.
The film Carrefour (1938), directed by Curtis Bernhardt, is a poignant example of German exile cinema, reflecting the complex interplay of identity, memory, and morality. The narrative revolves and centres and goes around and around a pivotal revolving focal point which is a successful businessman grappling with amnesia and a resurfacing criminal past, embodying the duality of the Doppelgänger motif prevalent in German expressionist cinema and foreshadowing the themes of American film noir in the 1940s.
The production of Carrefour was a collaborative effort by German-speaking Jewish exiles, including producer Eugene Tuscherer, director Curtis Bernhardt, screenwriter Hans Kafka, and editor Adolf Lantz. These individuals were part of the Weimar film industry before their emigration in 1933 due to the rise of National Socialism.
German exile cinema emerged as a response to the Nazi regime’s blacklisting of over 2,000 German filmmakers based on their Jewish origins or faith. This led to a diaspora of talent that contributed to international cinema while adhering to the methods of their host countries’ industries. Despite being produced outside Germany and often in the language of the host country, these films carried the thematic concerns and aesthetics of exiled German Jewry, dealing with loss of identity and moral ambiguity.
The history of German exile cinema is intertwined with the broader narrative of anti-fascist culture produced by the ‘other Germany’—a term used by exiles to describe their efforts to continue the democratic principles of German cultural life prior to Hitler’s rise to power. This cinematic tradition is an integral part of German cinema history, running parallel to the film history of the Third Reich.
Carrefour and other works of German exile cinema should not be viewed as marginal to their host countries’ national productions but rather as significant contributions to German cinema history and anti-fascist culture. They represent the resilience and creativity of filmmakers who, despite facing persecution, continued to express their artistry and uphold democratic values through their work.
Many of the filmmakers who defined the film noir genre were refugees from Nazi Germany and brought with them a distinct style influenced by German Expressionism. This style often included high contrast lighting and themes of existential angst, which became hallmarks of film noir.
The 1940s were a time of great unease in America, with the threat of fascism in Europe and the aftermath of World War II. Film noir often depicted a world where moral ambiguity reigned, reflecting the fear and disillusionment of the era.
The influx of German and Central European artists fleeing the rise of fascism had a significant impact on American culture, particularly in Hollywood. Their experiences and perspectives helped shape the thematic and visual elements of film noir, which often dealt with corruption, betrayal, and moral conflict.
Film noir allowed filmmakers to explore and critique contemporary issues indirectly. Through the genre’s dark and pessimistic tone, directors could comment on the rise of authoritarianism and the loss of individual freedoms without directly confronting the political climate of the time.
Throughout the 1930s, there was a close relationship between artistic expression and societal confidence. Reflecting on the decade in 1939, Malcolm Cowley expressed in Harper’s a sentiment of defeat and disillusionment within the American art scene, as artists witnessed a world succumbing to military and political forces.
The Great Depression, coupled with the rise of fascism, led to notable shifts within the artistic community. Ezra Pound, for instance, aligned with the fascists in response to the turmoil faced by democratic nations. Tyrus Miller characterized Henry Miller and other late modernist writers of the late 1930s as having lost faith in their purpose, with modernist literature’s quest to reveal a coherent, understandable world beginning to falter. This decline in conviction, according to Miller, marked the abandonment of modernism’s aim to mend a fractured world.
Recognizing the significance of Frederic Jameson’s portrayal of film noir as a modernist art form that appeared towards the end of the 1930s, one can appreciate the insights provided by Tyrus Miller’s observations on the birth of film noir. This coincided with a crisis of confidence within modernism. Jameson highlights a key aspect of both literary and cinematic noir through his discussion of uncertainty in Raymond Chandler’s works, where the resolution of mysteries becomes secondary to the experience of reading.
This shift exemplifies the core of noir—a loss of certainty. An anecdote involving John Huston and Humphrey Bogart debating over The Big Sleep illustrates this point, as even Chandler himself couldn’t recall the details of his plot, underscoring the theme of uncertainty that defines noir.
The emergence of film noir is further complicated by its origins in German Expressionism, which peaked from around 1919 until the early years of the global Depression, ending with Hitler’s rise in 1933. This period was marked by intense anxiety within the Weimar Republic, characterized by hyperinflation, civil unrest, and the looming threat of Nazism. American film noir inherited from German Expressionism a focus on subjective psychological states and a deep-seated distrust of authority, equating it with the criminal underworld.
By 1930, the Great Depression had driven many to seek aid from local relief organizations, which quickly became overwhelmed. Desperation led to makeshift settlements in city dumps, and the sense of an ending pervaded, with even distant nations like Cameroon sending aid to the United States. The despair was so profound that former President Calvin Coolidge, before his death in 1933, expressed a lack of hope for the future, a sentiment echoed by historian William Leuchtenburg who observed a societal disintegration.
The 1930s brought about a significant shift in American perspectives. Politically, there was a move away from conservative values, a change that was more than superficial, as the economic crisis prompted a backlash from those who remained conservative. Additionally, there was a growing disillusionment with business leaders, contributing to a new cynicism towards national leadership and a re-evaluation of historical figures. This paranoia and bitterness would later be reflected in the emerging stylistics of film noir.
The departure from traditional values was evident across various strata of society. In Pennsylvania, a father’s plea to Governor Pinchot highlighted the desperation at the family level. At the class level, A. N. Young, President of the Wisconsin Farmers’ Union, spoke before the Senate Agriculture Committee in 1932, expressing the radicalization of even conservative farmers due to the economic system’s failures. The sentiment for drastic change was so strong that discussions of revolution, unlikely as they seemed, were voiced even by conservative figures like Governor Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi. These expressions of frustration, while not indicative of an imminent communist revolution, underscored the profound shifts in confidence and the mood of the era.
The narrative of national confidence and the emergence of film noir in the 1930s is marked by a search for accountability during the Great Depression. This search fostered a culture ripe for the House Un-American Committee investigations, which shifted the focus of scrutiny from capitalist leaders to liberals. Central to this era’s story is Franklin Roosevelt, whose personal battle with polio in 1920 profoundly shaped his empathy for the downtrodden and informed his later social welfare policies.
As Hoover’s presidency waned, the nation’s morale was at its nadir, teetering on the edge of disaster. Roosevelt’s inauguration brought a renewed sense of hope, emphasizing faith in the future. His response to the banking crisis, including the declaration of a bank holiday and the passage of emergency banking legislation, signalled a pivotal shift in public confidence. The reopening of banks, with more deposits than withdrawals, symbolized the restoration of trust in the financial system and, by extension, the nation.
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| Neo-Nazi hunting in the Americas in Jigsaw (1949) |
This did lead to a small neo-Nazi or white supremacist strain in film production, featuring such threats as The Crusaders, a race and Nazi-based hate group working in America in the film Jigsaw (1949). This is rare because a glance at the many faces of Hollywood in the 1940s does display a peculiarly white supremacist tone in and of itself.
The early days of the New Deal highlighted the willingness of conservative politicians to set aside their ideologies in support of the President, reflecting the urgency of the national crisis. This period was characterized by internal political tensions as the New Deal programs were implemented, laying the groundwork for the profound changes that would follow.
The implementation of the censorship code in March 1933 led to the rejection of several film projects, including an adaptation of James M. Cain’s noir novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, which was later produced in the 1940s when American ideological dynamics shifted. Similarly, The Maltese Falcon, a quintessentially noir novel, was adapted into films with non-noir endings in 1931 and 1936 before finally achieving its noir status in 1941.
The fallen-woman films of the era, such as Eugene O’Neill’s play Anna Christie adapted in 1931, focused on the sociological redemption of the woman rather than the fatal woman archetype of noir films. These films displayed a confidence in identifying and addressing the societal and economic factors contributing to a woman’s perceived immorality. Anna Christie peeled back the layers of its protagonist’s history, revealing a life marred by abuse and lack of choice, offering a liberal perspective on individual responsibility that resonated with audiences during the Depression.
Midnight Mary (1933) is another example of the fallen-woman film that explores the environmental and societal influences on a woman’s life. The film begins with Mary, portrayed by Loretta Young, in court, and through flashbacks, reveals the slum conditions and injustices that shaped her life, challenging the initial perception of her as a criminal. This narrative approach reflects a sociological confidence in explaining and understanding the economic and class-related forces at play, a confidence that would later wane in the noir films of the subsequent era.
Film noir evolved from early sociological narratives through a complex interplay of historical circumstances, literary influences, and changes in the film industry. Initially, films like Anna Christie (1930) and Midnight Mary (1933) focused on sociological issues, aiming to explore and explain the causes of poverty and moral behavior within a social and economic context. They offered a sense of certainty in their ability to understand and address these issues.
However, as the 1940s approached, the genre began to shift. The rise of film noir is often attributed to a combination of factors.
The genre drew heavily from hard-boiled detective novels of the 1930s, which featured cynical attitudes and complex, morally ambiguous characters.
Film noir adopted a visual style influenced by German Expressionism, characterized by high contrast, low-key lighting, and stark shadows, which contributed to the genre’s mood of pessimism and ambiguity.
The tumultuous times of the late 1930s and 1940s, including the Great Depression and World War II, created a cultural backdrop that was reflected in the darker themes of film noir1.
The implementation of the Hollywood Production Code in the 1930s forced filmmakers to be more subtle and creative in dealing with adult themes, leading to more complex storytelling.
The style often explored the underbelly of American society, delving into topics like crime, corruption, and the flawed human condition, which resonated with contemporary audiences.
Over time, film noir evolved into neo-noir, adapting its core elements to fit contemporary settings and sensibilities, while retaining the essence of moral ambiguity and complex narratives.
The transition from sociological narratives to the more stylized and psychologically complex narratives of film noir reflects a change in American society and cinema. The genre moved away from the earlier confidence in resolving social issues to a more introspective exploration of existential themes and the human psyche. This evolution mirrored the growing sense of uncertainty and disillusionment in the culture at large, making film noir a unique and enduring genre in cinematic history
Franklin Roosevelt’s period in the late 1930s, often referred to as his “dark period,” was characterized by a significant shift in national confidence and political dynamics. After a triumphant re-election in 1936, Roosevelt faced a series of challenges that tested his leadership and the nation’s faith in the New Deal policies.
The year 1937 marked a turning point, with the onset of a recession within the Depression, known as the Roosevelt Recession, which caused a renewed economic downturn1. This period saw the rise of the conservative coalition in Congress, which opposed further expansion of the New Deal and blocked many of Roosevelt’s initiatives1. Additionally, Roosevelt’s attempt to expand the Supreme Court in 1937, often referred to as the “court-packing plan,” faced significant backlash and ultimately failed, further complicating his political standing.
Despite the initial optimism following his re-election, the political landscape shifted as Southern Democrats grew wary of Roosevelt’s liberal reforms, fearing they would disrupt the established social order, particularly regarding racial issues. The New Deal had attracted a diverse coalition of voters, including African Americans, labor unions, and ethnic groups in northern cities, thanks to its more inclusive programs and labor-friendly legislation1. However, this shift in the Democratic voter base also contributed to the growing unease among more conservative elements within the party.
Roosevelt’s dark period reflects the complexities of leading a nation through economic hardship and social change. It underscores the delicate balance between progressive aspirations and the political realities of the time, as well as the impact of shifting public sentiment on the course of American history. For a more detailed exploration of this period, you can refer to Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s works and other historical accounts that provide insight into the era’s challenges and Roosevelt’s navigation through them
The emergence, nascence, appearance and birth of film noir is deeply rooted in the historical context of the 1930s and the collective American psyche shaped by the experiences of World War I. The genre’s emergence in the late 1930s can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the liberalization of the Hays Office, which began to approve more hard-boiled content, reflecting a societal readiness to confront more gritty and realistic themes.
Historians like Tyrus Miller link the crisis of confidence among modernists in the mid-1930s to the traumatic experiences of World War I, suggesting that the period between the world wars was marked by a “war neurosis” that influenced cultural expressions, including film. Phil Hardy points to sociological changes, particularly the evolving roles of gender and labour as World War II approached, which contributed to the portrayal of complex female characters in film noir.
Lea Jacobs observes that by 1938, films began to exhibit an atmosphere of pessimism and angst characteristic of film noir, even before the official entry of the United States into World War II. This shift in representation is evident in characters like Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon and Velma Baughmam in High Sierra, who appeared in films released before December 7, 1941.
The decade’s films had featured assertive women with verbal dexterity, but as the Hays Office censorship intensified, the portrayal of women using their sexuality for social advancement began to be depicted with consequences, as seen in films like Stella Dallas (1937) and Kitty Foyle (1940). The psycho-sexual is a rich film noir vein and underpins all closed discussion of sexuality in the 1940s, a wartime sexuality, an expansionist sexuality, a hard defended normativity. The discussion awaited is why do so many films, and films noir (Mildred Pierce, Gilda, Daisy Kenyon, Laura, Jennifer, Rebecca et al.) - - why do so many of these narratives ship with a woman's name as a title? - - comparable to nothing in the male space.
In summary, the birth of film noir was not an isolated phenomenon but a culmination of various historical, sociological, and cinematic developments that reflected the complex and changing American society of the 1930s and 1940s. The genre continues to evolve, adapting its core elements to contemporary settings and sensibilities in what is now known as neo-noir
Film noir’s evolution throughout the 1930s reflects a gradual shift in American cinema, where elements of the genre began to surface intermittetly before becoming a dominant force by the end of the decade. Early films like Rouben Mamoulian’s City Streets (1931) introduced noir characteristics, employing Expressionistic techniques to convey psychological turmoil, a hallmark of the genre. This was further exemplified in films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), which explored themes of split personality, another noir fascination.
The development of film noir was significantly influenced by the national mood during the Great Depression. The genre became a medium to express moral ambivalence and the contradictory complexity of human motives, resonating with the public’s feelings of anguish and insecurity. As Tyrus Miller notes, the late modernist texts of the era abandoned the ambition to restore meaning to a fractured world, leading to the use of ‘unreliable narrators’ to reflect the uncertainties of the times.
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| You Only Live Once (1937) |
The 1937 film You Only Live Once epitomizes the transition to a universe characterized by moral ambiguity. The film’s use of voice-over narration, a common noir device, serves to ironize subjective certainty, placing the audience in the shoes of the protagonist, Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda), whose criminal identity is questioned throughout the narrative. This reflects the broader societal shift where individuals grappled with identities imposed by the economic crisis, eventually coming to terms with the irony of their situations.
In essence, film noir emerged as a response to the era’s crisis of confidence, capturing the complex and often dark realities of American life during the 1930s. It offered a cinematic space where characters, and by extension viewers, could confront the ambivalent universe they inhabited, marked by uncertainty and the search for truth amidst a backdrop of societal upheaval. Film noir’s legacy continues to influence modern cinema, with its themes and stylistic elements enduring in contemporary storytelling.
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| Loretta Young in THE STRANGER (1946) |
