M

Nero-Film

M is a film about the hunt for a child murderer. Film noir draws a great amount of its cinematography from German expressionist films, especially M. The film has low key lighting in many scenes, extreme angle shots, severe shadows, and pessimistic tendencies. All four of these become very important in film noir.

Citizen Kane

RKO

The harsh light and stark contrast between the black and white in this shot from Citizen Kane became characteristic of film noir.

There is an almost exact replication of the following shot in The Narrow Margin, as there are in many other film noir movies. Film noir characteristially shoots from extreme low angles like this.