COMS 354 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Murder, My Sweet, Dashiell Hammett, Edward Hopper
16 Apr 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
February 8th: film noir and the private detective. One of the most beloved forms of american cinema of the classic age (1927-1955) Film noir as a movement : general darkening of tones in cinema throughout this period. Hard-boiled detective: dashiell hammett, the creator of sam spade . American detective story based in san francisco. Characteristics of film noir, like clip from murder, my sweet (1944) Differences between the classical detective and the private eye: american private eye. Gets embroiled in the case and has to get out. Moral position: believes in law and order. Thinks power is corruptive: detective (feminized in the early 1900s - 1950) Does not participate in violence and sex. Conservative moral position (restoration of existing order) Typical narrative pattern of the hard-boiled private eye: Novel begins with a client"s hiring the detective in something more minor than a murder. Detective begins to investigate and only then do the murders begin.
