X-ray visions: radiography, chiaroscuro, and the fantasy of unsuspicion in film noir.(Critical essay)(Cover story)

From: Film Criticism | Date: December 22, 2007| Author: | Copyright information

Introduction

Immediately recognizable even to the film noir neophyte is the lighting technique known as chiaroscuro, the angular alternation of dark shadows and stark fields of light across various on-screen surfaces in films such as Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944), The Dark Corner (Henry Hathaway, 1946), Raw Deal (Anthony Mann, 1948), and many others. Whereas critics have long suggested that chiaroscuro fittingly evokes the postwar milieu, furnishing a backdrop for tales of psychological imprisonment (1) while creating an atmosphere of claustrophobia and duplicity, (2) ...

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