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Article: Film buffs ask: Know your noir?(Arts & Culture)(film noir)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- December 26, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Randy Dotinga Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
What's in a film noir? There should be dark shadows. An atmosphere of impending doom. And, of course, a femme fatale and a murder or two.
But can you have a film noir if one or two of those things are missing? Good question: As the genre experiences a revival, critics say marketers are hawking lots of old movies as film noir when they don't fit the definition.
The concept of noir has been "diluted," says Eddie Muller, a leading author on film noir. "I will chuckle at what I see people try to pass off as noir."
For instance, a number of online commenters noted that ...