FILM NOIR - SOME OF THE FINEST, MOST INNOVATIVE AND MOST INTERESTING FILMS THAT HOLLYWOOD HAS EVER PRODUCED In the 1940s and 50s Hollywood showed its dark side with a wave of highly stylized movies featuring sinister plots, shady characters, sexual tension, chaos and confusion. Dubbed 'film noir' by French critics in the 1970s, both for their heavy use of shade and black outlook, these films have fascinated critics, students, moviegoers and moviemakers ever since. Film Noir analyses the defining films of the genre, including: . The Maltese Falcon. The Big Sleep. Kiss me Deadly. The Postman Always Rings Twice Plus it profiles iconic actors, such as Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter, and legendary directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles