16 Characters From A Film Noir Never Made : Found Photos From The American Dream

 

Film noir was coined in 1946 by the Italian-born French critic Nino Frank to describe the crime thrillers laced with smoky cynicism, femme fatales and amoral ambiguity first produced by Hollywood in the 1940s. “These ‘dark’ films, these films noirs, no longer have anything in common with the ordinary run of detective movies,” said Frank of movies including Double Indemnity (1941), Leave Her to Heaven (1945), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Laura (1944) and The Woman in the Window.

Meanwhile, aways from the silver screen, Americans were having their pictures taken in photobooths. Like the characters of film noir, the people in these found photos lived the American Dream…

 

 

 

 

Delivery Boy: My that coffee smells good. Ain’t it funny how coffee never tastes as good as it smells.

Albert Arnett: As you grow older, you’ll discover that life is very much like coffee: the aroma is always better than the actuality. May that be your thought for the day.

– Born to Kill, 1947

 

 

 

Walter Neff: You’ll be here too?
Phyllis: I guess so, I usually am.
Walter Neff: Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?
Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean.
Walter Neff: I wonder if you wonder.

– Double Indemnity, 1944

 

 

Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney): Oh, I see. You cross the tracks on May Day with a basket of goodies

for the poor slum kid, but back you scoot – and fast – to your own neck o’ the woods. Don’t you?
Helen Brent (Claire Trevor): I wouldn’t say that.
Sam Wild: No, you wouldn’t *say* it… but that’s the way it is.

– Born to Kill, 1947

 

 

 

‘Dad’ Newell (Wil Wright): Well, I guess I better be goin’, Mr. Harwood.
Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva): Wait a minute – you forgot your cigar.
‘Dad’ Newell: Oh.
Eddie Harwood: I think it’s out.
Eddie Harwood: [he lights it] Cigars go out awful easy, don’t they, Dad?
Eddie Harwood: [he blows out his lighter for emphasis] Good night.

– The Blue Dahlia, 1946