TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir

Summer is cooler in the shadows.

We invite movie fans from around the world to join us for a flexible, multimedia investigation and celebration of film noir.

In this nine-week course, we’ll go back in film history to investigate the "The Case of Film Noir"—the means, motives, and opportunities that led Hollywood studios to make these hard-boiled crime dramas, arguably their greatest contribution to American culture.

This course will run concurrently with the Turner Classic Movies "Summer of Darkness” programming event, airing 24 hours of films noir every Friday in June and July 2015. This is the deepest catalog of film noir ever presented by the network (and perhaps any network), and provides an unprecedented opportunity for those interested in learning more to watch over 100 classic movies as they investigate “The Case of Film Noir.”

Both the course and the associated films will enrich your understanding of the film noir phenomenon—from the earliest noir precursors to recent experiments in neo-noir. You will be able to share thoughts online and test your movie knowledge with a worldwide community of film noir students and fans.

Course Outcomes

Students will

• gain a deeper appreciation of classic Hollywood movies
• be able to identify the characteristics of a film noir
• able to explain the origins and history of film noir
• be able to perform close analyses of films noir

Topics include

• What is Film Noir?
• Film Noir and Its Influences
• Film Noir in the Studio System
• Film Noir Themes and Characters
• Film Noir in the Postwar Period