Film Noir- David Katzman

After taking a class committed to analyzing Film Noir, as well as it being my favorite period of film history, I was excited to read Paul Schrader’s take on the subject.  My favorite part of the paper was how he differentiated tone and genre.  I am constantly struggling with answering the question, “is Film Noir a genre of film?”  After reading this paper, however, I am leaning towards the side of Film Noir being categorized as a cinematic tone.  I also loved his discussion of the German influences of Film Noir.  I took a class called German Expressionism and Film Noir; however, I have found that papers often do not discuss the two topics together.  Many of the dark and pessimistic styles found in Film Noir were seen in Germany with films such as the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis.  Without these films, Film Noir would seize to exist.  Not only did the ideas of Film Noir change however, but also the European directors using German Expressionism in Europe found themselves in Hollywood years later after avoiding the outburst of WWII.  It was interesting and exciting to see that Schrader incorporated both historical and analytical aspects of Film Noir into his essay.  I also greatly appreciated Schrader’s use of bullets to organize his thoughts.  When discussing a film period as vast and stylistic as Film Noir, it can be difficult to understand so many points and characteristics simultaneously, however, Schrader is able to simply order his thoughts in a way that thoroughly explains his points.