Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir

Film noir was a cycle in American cinema which first came into prominence during World War II, peaked in the 1950s, and began to taper off as a definable trend by 1960. Over the years, a group of films from the period emerged as noir standards, beginning with Stranger on the Third Floor in 1940. However, since film noir is too wide-ranging, it cannot be kept within the narrow limits of the official canon that has been established by film historians. Consequently, several neglected movies ma...