Film Noir and Masters of Chiaroscuro

  • 5.12.18


Cinema and photography are two mediums that are highly intertwined, and one of the film genres where this is most evident is the film noir subgenre. Last month with Noirvember, watching all those wonderful noirs with great performances and story premises, it just made me so happy to see how beautifully cinematographers paint the screen with light and dark tones, making use of the chiaroscuro (the stark contrast between light and darkness) which famous artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio used to perfection in their paintings centuries ago.

I'm sure that most classic film buffs are familiar with the film noir genre and among them are many fans. I also love the gritty atmosphere of noir, the femme fatale, the hard-boiled detective, the fast-paced and great dialogue, the complex plot and the bleak ending. But probably what I love more than all of these elements is the cinematography. The site of the British Film Institute has an informative article about film noir, what makes a film noir and which is the noirest film of all, illustrated with fun graphs (here). The infographic says dramatic tension in film noir often had to come from lighting and composition because the Hays Code didn't allow explicit display of sex and violence on the screen. These are the techniques mentioned in the article:

  • - dark and oppressive lighting
  • - high contrast, dark and long shadows
  • - composition: asymmetrical and imbalanced
  • - camera position: extreme high and low angles
  • - deep focus: give background equal importance 
  • - wide angle focal length (see here)
  • - the Dutch tilt (see here)
  • - use of reflections and mirrors to increase sense of drama and unreality
  • - 'choker' close-up to heighten intensity
  • - strong diagonal bands (caused by prison bars, staircases and blinds)
  • - disruptive cuts
  • - obscured vision (e.g. by cigarette smoke, rain, fog, or protagonist being drugged or knocked out)


Although I find those cinematography techniques highly fascinating, to delve deeper into these is not the purpose of this post. What I want to do here is pay tribute to the Masters of Chiaroscuro who made the film noir beautiful and memorable with their stunning imagery. 

I'm sure I forgot names but here's my list of noir cinematographers (in alphabetical order by surname): 

*well-known noirs: Raw Deal, T-Men, He Walked by Night, The Big Combo, Border Incident, Hollow Triumph
*other well-known films: Devil's Doorway, An American in Paris (ballet photography), Father of the Bride


Joseph F. Biroc
*well-known noirs: Cry Danger, Johnny Allegro
*other well-known films: It's a Wonderful Life (with Joseph Walker), Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Elwood Bredell (sometimes credited as Woody Bredell or Elwood Burdell)
*well-known noirs: The Killers, Phantom Lady, The Unsuspected, Christmas Holiday
*other well-known films: The Ghost of Frankenstein (with Milton Krasner)

Stanley Cortez
*well-known noirs: Secret Beyond the Door, The Night of the Hunter
*other well-known films: The Magnificent Ambersons


*well-known noirs: The Naked City, Brute Force, Lured
*other well-known films: Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, Winchester '73, The Mortal Storm, Harvey, The Far Country

*well-known noirs: They Live by Night, On Dangerous Ground, Kansas City Confidential, The Racket, The Narrow Margin and Beware, My Lovely  

*well-known noirs: The Maltese Falcon, They Drive By Night
*other well-known films: Casablanca

Lee Garmes
*well-known noirs: Nightmare Alley, Caught, Detective Story
*other well-known films: Gone With the Wind (uncredited), Scarface, The Paradine Case

*well-known noirs: High Sierra, The Letter
*other well-known films: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Little Caesar

*well-known noirs: In a Lonely Place, Human Desire, The Harder They Fall, Framed, Johnny O'Clock, Scandal Sheet, The Reckless Moment
*other well-known films: From Here to Eternity, Birdman of Alcatraz, Bonnie and Clyde

*well-known noirs: Mildred Pierce, Humoresque
*other well-known films: Gone with the Wind, Captain Blood, Jezebel, Rebel Without a Cause

*well-known noirs: Gun Crazy
*other well-known films: Witness for the Prosecution, To Kill a Mockingbird, Red River, Rio Bravo 

*well-known noirs: The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, To Have and Have Not, White Heat
*other well-known films: Gentleman Jim

*well-known noirs: Body and Soul, Sweet Smell of Success, Pursued
*other well-known films: Hud, The Rose Tattoo, The Thin Man, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Robert Krasker
*well-known noirs: The Third Man, Odd Man Out
*other well-known films: Brief Encounter, El Cid
*well-known noirs: Scarlet Street, The Woman In the Window, The Set-Up, No Way Out
*other well-known films: All About Eve, An Affair to Remember, Sweet Bird of Youth

Joseph LaShelle
*well-known noirs: Laura, Fallen Angel, Road House, Where the Sidewalk Ends
*other well-known films: The Apartment, Cluny Brown, My Cousin Rachel, Marty

*well-known noirs: Kiss Me Deadly, D.O.A., While The City Sleeps
*other well-known films: Stalag 17, Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools

Joseph MacDonald
*well-known noirs: Pickup On South Street, Panic in the Streets, The Street with No Name, Call Northside 777
*other well-known films: My Darling Clementine, How To Marry a Millionaire

*well-known noirs: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Touch of Evil, The Stranger
*other well-known films: Spartacus, Bringing Up Baby, There's Always Tomorrow, Written on the Wind, All That Heaven Allows

*well-known noirs: Man Hunt, The Prowler, Johnny Apollo, Dragonwyck 
*other well-known films: How Green Was My Valley, Gentleman's Agreement, The Keys of the Kingdom, A Letter to Three Wives, Anna and the King of Siam, The Razor's Edge, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Mark of Zorro

*well-known noirs: Side Street, The Spiral Staircase, Where Danger Lives, Out of the Past, The Fallen Sparrow, Stranger on the Third Floor
*other well-known films: The Curse of the Cat People, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Note: Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) is often regarded as the first true film noir of the classic period (1940 - 1959) and Musuraca's cinematography in this film defined the visual elements for the noir genre, along with Toland's Citizen Kane.


Franz F. Planer
*well-known noirs: Criss Cross, 99 River Street
*other well-known films: The Big Country, Breakfast at Tiffany's

John F. Seitz
*well-known noirs: Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, The Big Clock, This Gun for Hire
*other well-known films: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Sullivan's Travels

Gregg Toland
*well-known noirs: Citizen Kane
*other well-known films: The Little Foxes, The Long Voyage Home, The Grapes of Wrath, The Best Years of Our Lives

Harry J. Wild
*well-known noirs: Cornered, Johnny Angel, The Big Steal, The Woman On the Beach, Pitfall and Murder, My Sweet
*other well-known films: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes


PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Citizen Kane (1941) with Orson Welles;
*Raw Deal (1948) with Claire Trevor;
*He Walked By Night (1948) with Richard Basehart;
*The Killers (1946) with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner;
*Secret Beyond the Door (1947);
*The Night of the Hunter (1955) with Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters;
*Kansas City Confidential (1952) with John Payne;
*The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart;
*Nightmare Alley (1947);
*Humoresque (1946) with Joan Crawford;
*The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall;
*The Third Man (1949);
*Scarlet Street (1945) with Joan Bennett;
*The Woman in the Window (1944) with Joan Bennett;
*Laura (1944) with Gene Tierney;
*Pickup On South Street  (1953) with Jean Peters and Richard Widmark;
*The Spiral Staircase (1946) with Dorothy McGuire;
*Out of the Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer;
*Criss Cross (1949) with Yvonne De Carlo;
*Double Indemnity (1944) with Barbara Stanwyck;
*Citizen Kane (1941) with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten;
*The Woman on the Beach (1947) with Joan Bennett, Charles Bickford and Robert Ryan;
*Murder, My Sweet (1944) with Dick Powell.


NOTE: I have a habit of starting blogs and then deleting them or let them float around the internet, so in the past this post has appeared in a slightly different form on a (now deleted) Tumblr and Blogger blog of mine (I also start blogs on different platforms, lol .... ). So if you have seen this extensive list of cinematographers before, it's me who has put it together.
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