British Gangster Films

British Gangster films are a sub-genre of the Thriller genre. Their settings typically tend to be dark, rough city streets, run down council estates, and old ware houses. The characters usually involve male leads, who are immoral criminals, who only care about making money, through the most dishonest of ways. violence is a theme that runs throughout British Gangster Films.

There are not many well know British Gangster Films. Apart from the famous, lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998) directed by Guy Ritchie







Other British Gangster Films:
-Brighton Rock (1947) directed by Graham Greene
- Get Carter (1971) directed by Mike Hodges

Thriller

Thriller is a genre not only in film but in other areas of the media too, including; literature, Television, and advertisements. Thriller has many sub-genres too. For instance Film Noir, and La Noir, are sub-genres of the Thriller.

Thrillers are usually fast paced, with plots involving crime, and the characters normally consist of evil villains, and beautiful victimised women.

Thriller Films have been popular with audiences for many years. Most thrillers tend to be made in Hollywood and are extremely mainstream. Due to the large budget needed to make affective successful thrillers, as expensive lighting, and authentic props, and settings are needed.

Recent successful thrillers include:

- The Bourne Identity (2002) directed by Doug Liman.

- Seven (1995) directed by David Fincher

- The Godfather (1972) directed by Francis Ford Coppola

- Pulp Fiction (1994) directed by Quentin Tarantino

- Fight Club (1999) directed by David Fincher

The Opening of the Third man

"The Third Man" is a British film noir. It was Made in 1949, four years after World War Two ended. It was directed by Carol Read, who also directed "A Letter From Home"(1941), and "The Man Between" (1953). It starred Joseph Cotten, and Orsen Wells.

In the opening sequence, Read presents themes that are going to run throughout the film, Crime, War, Anger, and Death.

The opening is a montage of images representing these themes, bought together With a Voice Over. The Voice over pieces the images together, and adds a slight air of humour, as the character seems to be unusually fine with the criminal activity taken place in Vienna, as he mentions “The Black Market” in a fond way. The opening also uses enigmas, as it makes the audience question, “what type if man could this character be?”, “why has he come to Vienna?”


The film also uses binary opposites, to establish these themes. Such as, the detailed gothic architechture of vienna, and the war destructed poor peoples houses, shown in the opening images. Good and Evil, are also used as binary opposites. These opposites are used succesfully by Read in The Third Man.

Femme Fatales and Costumes (redone)

Femme Fatales:



A Femme Fatale is typical a seductive, beautiful, alluring woman, who uses her charm to seduce and manipulate men, to get what she wants. She often leads her male victims in dangerous or even deadly situations. Femme fatales are used frequently in film noir. Int the original Film Noir era, women's sexuality was often exploited, usually to sell a film or product.



Femme fatale is the french phase for "deadly Woman". A femme fatale usually has a hidden purpose, and she uses her feminine wiles to achieve it. In Film Noir, almost all female Characters are femme fatales in one way or another. They usually have Exceptional Beauty, and occasionaly large amounts of charisma.


Like the female character in the opening of sin city. Her red dress, exolits her feminine sexuality, yet to her advantage. Her dark eye make-up and bright red lipstick are typical of the film noir femme fatale. However, she does not get what she wants, as she is exploited and murdered for money.
still taken from the opening of "Sin City"




Just like in "Sin City", not all Femme Fatales get what they want. Some can be victims trapped in a world they dont want to belong in, this is also the case in "The Lady From Shanghai" ( a film noir made in1948)


Although Femme Fatales are typically Villians, in some films they have played heroines, or have began the film being evil, however by the end they have repented for their sins and become the heroines.

The Use Of Chiaroscuro Lighting In Film Noir

Chiaroscuro is a technique in cinemotography, where lighting and shade are used in the mise en scene. Chiaroscuro lighting is a common convention used in film noir.

It can be used as a sort of metaphor for certain characters inner personality, ie if a character was evil, or was about to do something bad, in film noir lighting would be used to create a large dark shadow behind the character, the shadow could be in the shape of a gargoyle.

still taken from "The Third Man"

The lighting can also be used to add suspense to a scene. For instance if it was very dark in a scene and something important or bad was about to happen, the lack of light, builds up suspense, and then when the situation happens, a bright light could be switched on. This technique is used in "The Third Man", the main character finally finds his friend that is apparently dead.

still taken from "The Third Man"

Lighting is very important in film noir, as it can be used to represent things, without using words. Light is something easy to work with on a low budget. Which is what most films were made using, in the opriginal film noir period.