Conventions of Film Noir

Film Noir captures the grittiness behind the façade of assumed utopic society. The films of Noir, which were borne from the novels by authors such as Raymond Chandler, are dark impressions in which man is deemed immoral from the get-go. Our main character has deep problems, usually a unagreeable past, yet he pursues the “bad guy”, or exposes the “crime ring”. Does he do it for the money? Maybe he does it to impress a girl. In very few cases, out main character, who faces adversity, solves a crime out of pure goodness of the heart, or because he feels it is his duty. The shadow-lined streets, the neon-blinking signs of bars and motels, and the slick pavements are the world in which Noir grows. And it is in this sinister and pessimistic world that we can learn, as well. Race and class are often present in Noir, for there are the slums, where our main character lives, and then there are the mansions and Hollywood and Beverly Hills, home to the “client”, and more often than not, as in the case of Chinatown, home to the “villain”. “Villain”, in this case, rests within quotes due to the moral ambivalence of Film Noir. There is no hero, because our main character has flaws. He drinks. He talks dirty. He abuses women. He kills. But, at the same time, we admire him, we look up to him and we want him to succeed. The same goes with the “villain”. Noir relies heavily on contrasts between black and white visually, but it shies away from it literarily. Nothing is handed to the viewer. Who we think is the bad guy, in many cases, shares the viewpoint of many politicians and higher-ups in society. These men are shown as immoral, but how much more immoral than our main character?

"The mechanics of filmmaking in TOUCH OF EVIL, the play of shot and countershot, of dialogue and ambient sound, seem glutted by some strange weariness, the film’s motives and events and meanings clouded by ambiguity. Perhaps noir could simply go no further than the appallingly corrupt vision of society TOUCH OF EVIL provides" (link)

Touch of Evil, Orson Welles' last large production, is also considered the last film that marked the era of Film Noir. As the quote above explains, Touch of Evil portrays such a vile, immoral reality of the world that no film afterwards could shave competed, or exemplified the tropes of Noir as well as it did.





Let us revisit the tropes of Film Noir....

(the following is from here)
Film Noir Characteristics:
(do remember though that it is not necessary for a film to have all of the characteristics to be considered film noir).
Urban environment
Rain-soaked streets
Seedy taverns, diners, and run-down buildings
Claustrophobic interiors
Flickering street lamps
Neon signs
Scenes appear dark, as if lit for night, with many dark shadows
Oblique and vertical lines, especially in regards to lighting
Shadows
Films done in black and white
Narration, especially flash-back narration
Criminal underworld
Hopelessness
Corruption
The "heroes" tend to be morally ambiguous, alienated from society, and have a fatalistic outlook. Characters torn by psychological conflict
The femme fatale

Alright, so which do Touch of Evil embrace?
The setting is urban in most of the film, for it takes place in a border town (Mexico-USA).
Many building appear rundown, or at least they do not appear to be brand new or in the greatest condition. In fact, the whole border town, and the motel in which the lead actress stays, appear seedy.
The filming style is claustrophobic in that there are very tight shots-- Orson Welles plays Hank, the corrupt detective. To play the role, Welles put padding underneath his clothes to appear fat, and the camera, in its tight angles, helped to show this "fat".
The scenes appear dark. The subject matter of the film is dark, and the characters appear in shadows. You never know what is hiding in the dark, or what will come out of it.
The film is done in black and white, and this definitely added to the atmosphere.
There is a criminal underground. In fact, there are two rings. The first is the Mexican grime ring, and the second is by Hank himself, whose corruption runs team and has caused much death.
Yes, corruption is a big theme of the movie when it comes to Hank, the white detective who is arrogant and racist, the man who is the most immoral of all.
In this movie, the "hero", Charlton Heston (Mike Vargas is the character) does not appear morally ambivalent. He is alienated from white society, but he does not carry a pessimistic viewpoint. Instead, he seems to want to see the best in people, and he also carries a strong sense of honor and sense of duty to reveal the truth.

The issues from AMST 274 that make an appearance into the film is the relational dimension in the way that the police as an institution, by way of Hank, automatically assume certain things about Mexican people, negative, racist things. Just like in A Better Life, when the police ask the boy to take his shirt off so he can photograph his gang tattoos, only to see that the boy has none, in Touch of Evil Hank persists in making racist comments and looking down on Vargas, assuming that he has less brainpower and also assuming that he has intrinsic favoritism towards Mexicans when it comes to laying down the law.