In this beginners’ level introduction to film noir we will investigate what it is that makes this genre so darkly alluring and persistent. We will look at its expressionist styles, its pulp-fiction heritage, its steamy, disorientating cityscapes and its stench of criminality. We will also look forward to the My Noir season and trace the genre through to the present day. Above all, we will look at noir’s familiar character types: the private eye, attempting to keep his bearings in a deceptive world without losing his macho prowess; the villains and perverts who beset him from all sides, and of course the femme fatale, the bad girl whose legs and stresses he finds so hard to resist.
Led by Andy Moor, Reader in Cinema History at Manchester Metropolitan University.