10 Question Movie Quiz: Film Noir | Movie Mixture

Answer: Black film or cinema

French critics applied this term to the American movies released in France following World War II, when they noticed the themes and look of the many American crime and detective films were very black and dark.

Answer: Ecstasy

The mood of classic film noir is very dark, with themes dealing with deceit, disenchantment, pessimism, moral corruption, evil, guilt and paranoia. The milieu of our hero or anti-hero is the city, with its murky underworld of corruption and crime, and their women are seductive and fatalistic - femmes fatale.

The physical texture was shadowy, using low key lighting with the action usually occurring at night.

Answer: The Maltese Falcon

John Huston's adaptation of Dashiell Hammet's detective novel 'The Maltese Falcon' was not only considered Huston's best film, but a prime example of the film noir. Humphrey Bogart starred as the hard-boiled private eye investigating the murder of his partner.

Answer: James Cagney

Dick Powell played Marlowe in Edward Dmytryk's 'Murder, My Sweet' (1944) (aka 'Farewell My Lovely'). Robert Montgomery starred as Marlowe in 'Lady in the Lake' (1946) which he also directed and which was filmed from the protagonist's first person point of view. Robert Mitchum was Marlowe in Dick Richards 'Farewell, My Lovely" (1975) and 'The Big Sleep' (1978).

Answer: Double Indemnity

'Double Indemnity' (1944) was Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler's adaptation of James M. Cain's novel. It starred Barbara Stanwyck as the scheming femme fatale who convinces insurance agent/lover Fred MacMurray to murder her husband for the proceeds of his double indemnity insurance policy.

Answer: Shadow of a Doubt

'Shadow of a Doubt' (1943) starring Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright is said to be Hitchcock's favourite. When Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) visits his sister's family in the North California town of Santa Rosa, it proves a delightful change to their quiet life, especially for his niece, Charlie (Teresa Wright).

However, Charlie soon suspects her uncle of being the serial killer of rich east coast widows, earning him the name "The Merry Widow Murderer".

Answer: Leave Her to Heaven

'Leave Her to Heaven' (1946) starred Gene Tierney as the unstable menacing femme fatale with Cornel Wilde and Jeanne Crain. Ladd and Lake first teamed in "This Gun For Hire" (1942), then in another Hammett book adaptation "The Glass Key" (1942). Then again in George Marshall's crime thriller "The Blue Dahlia" (1946)- Raymond Chandler's only work written directly for the screen.

Answer: The Killers

Robert Siodmak's adaptation is about a brutal double-cross, introducing Burt Lancaster as the doomed ex-boxer "Swede", with MGM contract actress Ava Gardner as the manipulative vixen Kitty Collins.

Answer: Mildred Pierce

Michael Curtiz's 1945 movie starred Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce, and Ann Blyth as her daughter.

Answer: The Postman Always Rings Twice

This novel became Tay Garnet's sexy film noir classic of 1946. It starred Lana Turner as the seductive femme fatale waitress of a roadside diner, who convinces her lover, a drifter (John Garfield) to murder her husband (Cecil Kellaway) (Tagline: "Their Love Was a Flame that Destroyed").

The story was remade in 1981 with Jack Nicholson as the lover and Jessica Lange as the sexy wife. (Tagline: "You will feel the heat".) Taglines from IMDB. Cinegirlie points out that the novel has been filmed three times if you include the Italian version, Ossessione (1943) by Luchino Visconti. Because Visconti adapted the novel to rural Italy without the permission of the author, the film was not seen outside of Italy until the late 70s/early 80s. Cinegirlie advises "It is now available on DVD and I highly recommend it, if you are a fan of the story!" Thank you, Cinegirlie