Film at it's Most Noir

The study of film/literature comprises a small portion of the English department's resources where I attend. The few of us often get together and dream about luxuries we don't have, such as seminar classes. Tragically, there is one woman about to graduate who will not have had any seminars in one of her fields of study. Because we only have one professor, who is bound to teach the courses required for the MA in Film/Lit, and he only has taught one class per semester, we've been s.o.l.

But--this fall we have a new professor coming from Wales and we have been hoping for more opportunities for classes, especially seminar classes. When trying to think of what we'd like to study in a seminar, inevitably the topic of film noir arises. Like I've learned to do so well, I smile and nod understandingly while offering such non-specific approvals as "yes" and "definitely."

The dirty truth was, until recently, I'd never seen much film noir and didn't really care one way or the other about studying it. I'd seen The Maltese Falcon in a film history class and rented Double Indemnity. I really enjoyed both of them, but could hardly claim familiarity on a genre based on two films. Well, thanks to my public library, and the fact that I have a two week lapse between re-reading Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, I've seen three more films and think I am qualified (as far as the casual viewing masses) to have AN OPINION on the subject.

I watched The Asphalt Jungle (yay, John Huston), The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Murder, My Sweet. (I also have The Big Sleep but haven't watched it yet.) Guess what? Film noir is awesome. The dialouge is snappy, the characters are gritty, and I just like it. Now when we pontificate on subjects worthy of our academic attention, I can smile and nod, knowingly.