After World War II, Hollywood produced a series of low budget
pictures characterized by a dark mood, bleak urban
landscapes and fierce violence. French critics called them
films noirs (black films). These movies presented a critical
vision of the social injustice present in the American
capitalist society. This thesis examines the socio-political
dimension of film noir firstly through its social, literary
and filmic origins, then through a piecework study of shots
and dialogues from six noir pictures: Body and Soul (1947),
Force of Evil (1948), Knock On Any Door (1949), Kiss of
Death (1947), I Walk Alone(1948) and The Set-up (1949). It
is shown how the Marxist convictions of their makers
influenced their style and their content. Even films noirs
made by apolitical or moderate filmmakers follow a similar
pattern. It is concluded that film noir contains expressions
of anti-capitalist struggle toward social justice and moral
redemption. The appeal of these ideas to many Americans is
shown by the box-office success of these pictures, while
many noir writers, actors and directors were the victims of
the reactionary repression of the early fifties.
next to an author's name indicates that all files or directories associated with their ETD are accessible from the Virginia Tech campus network only.
![[VT]](http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/images/ETD-db/restricted.gif)
