「フィルム・ノワール」は一般的に1940-50年に米ハリウッドで制作された、ダークでスタイリッシュなモノクロ映画の作品群を指します。フランス文芸・映画批評に端を発する「フィルム・ノワール」という呼称の起源や、これがその後どのように意味合いを変化させながら海外で使用されるようになったのかを、映画史の上で重要な出来事や代表的な作品、受容の過程、主要文献などと共に紹介します。デジタルメディアやストリーミング時代のこのジャンルについても展望します。
 

• Considers the fascinating genre of film noir, discussing what makes a film "noirified," and why these films are so difficult to categorize
• Highlights the key themes, films, and styles of film noir
• Discusses some of the most iconic film noirs, among them The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, The Third Man, Chinatown, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Lost Highway

  
Film noir, one of the most intriguing yet difficult to define terms in cinema history, is usually associated with a series of darkly seductive Hollywood thrillers from the 1940s and 50s--shadowy, black-and-white pictures about private eyes, femme fatales, outlaw lovers, criminal heists, corrupt police, and doomed or endangered outsiders. But, film noir actually predates the 1940s and has never been confined to Hollywood. International in scope, its various manifestations have spread across generic categories, attracted the interest of the world's great directors, and continue to appear even today. 
  
In this Very Short Introduction James Naremore shows how the term film noir originated in in French literary and film criticism, and how later uses of the term travelled abroad, changing its implications. In the process, he comments on classic examples of the films and explores important aspects of their history: their critical reception, their major literary sources, their methods of dealing with censorship and budgets, their social and cultural politics, their variety of styles, and their future in a world of digital media and video streaming.