Film Noir Production

7Noir Themes

“Why don’t you take that chip off your shoulder?”

“Every time I do, somebody hits me over the head with it.”

(Macao)

In the previous chapters we already talked about some of the thematic elements within noir stories. Because the film noir movies were mostly B pictures, they were often under less scrutiny by both the Hollywood execs and the Production Code office – which still had plenty to say but often didn’t follow through with the B pictures as much. The pulp stories explored risqué themes of sexual attraction, infidelity and drug addiction, but also – possibly even more risky to the political Production Code office – a dissatisfaction with the status quo and a distrust of both the upper class and the powerful. These were stories ...