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Literally meaning "black," the concept of "noir" was first applied in France to describe the British Gothic novel. It was later used in "Serie Noire," a collection of American fiction, translated into French, including the writings of "hard-boiled" novelists such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Cornell Woolrich, James M. Cain and Horace McCoy. French film critics coined the term "film noir" by analogy with those literary works (many of which had been made into film).
Many noir films were crafted by German and central European emigres, trained in the UFA studios in the 1920s and early 1930s and influenced by German Expressionism. The noir ambience is dominated by low-key lighting, chiaroscuro effects and deep shadows, creating feelings of disorientation, loneliness and entrapment.
Along with other critics, Paul Schrader feels that the cycle of "noir" films starts with John Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941), and begins to decline after Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958). Within these years, noir directors included Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle and Otto Preminger. Titles such as The Big Sleep (1945-6), Call Northside 777 (1948), Murder, My Sweet (Farewell My Lovely) (1944) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955) are examples of noir style and storyline. The classic Double Indemnity (1944) has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The "noir" style periodically resurfaces as an homage to these Hollywood classics. Though shot in color, American films like Bullitt (1968), Klute (1971), Chinatown (1974), Body Heat (1981) and the recent remakes of The Postman Always Rings Twice and D.O.A. are a tribute to the "noir" sensibility.
Many of the stylistic aesthetics and narrative techniques of noir were prevalent on American television.
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