Film noir means "Black Cinema," it was a French label given to a Hollywood genre that developed in the 1940s and ended around 1958. The word black to describe this genre lets many darker things be explored in these movies. The 1950 film Sunset Blvd. by Billy Wilder fits the moods, characteristics, goals, and story of Film Noir.
The moods Sunset Blvd. include bleakness, distrust, alienation, guilt, desperation, paranoia, ambiguous morals, and disillusionment; they are components of film noir. The very opening scene of Sunset Blvd. was a picture of a sidewalk with dried up leaves, and the words Sunset Blvd. stenciled in there; a very dark image overall. Giving us a sense of the grim and bleak story we are about to see. With the opening scene of a dead guy, we have the minor music playing with the soon followed voice-over. …
