Programmed May 2025

Noir and the Blacklist

With its cynical worldview and sympathy for doomed outsiders, it’s no wonder that film noir ran afoul of the Hollywood blacklist. Beginning in the 1940s, many left-leaning filmmakers found in noir the perfect vehicle for challenging the dream factory’s sunny view of American society. Campaigns like the 1947 Un-American Activities Committee sought to purge those artists from the industry, but they nevertheless exerted a powerful influence on the development of noir, often finding work abroad. Starting with antifascist films made during World War II (like the Bertolt Brecht–scripted Hangmen Also Die!) and continuing with gritty works of postwar social realism, left-wing artists—including directors Joseph Losey ( The Big Night ), Cy Endfield ( Try and Get Me! ), Edward Dmytryk ( Crossfire ), and Jules Dassin…