It can be tough to find your footing with film noir at the beginning of your cinephile journey. What can help you better understand the ideology and message of the film movement? Well, you can obviously start with the classics, like Double Indemnity or The Big Sleep or Out of the Past, but sometimes the peripheral movies of the genre provide the most insight, expose the nuances of the genre more readily. What if, for this week of the Cinephile Movie Club, we dove headfirst into the outskirts of film noir, the gems adored by genre aficionados?
That’s exactly what we plan to do, and I’ve got three recommendations for you. Let’s highlight three lesser-known but well-respected noirs that share a common thread: the role of women in film noir. Each of these movies utilizes women in very specific ways that we see repeated throughout the course of film noir history.
The Featured Film Noirs
The first, a 1944 film called Laura, is a classic mystery story where a detective unravels the labyrinthine plot throughout; the second, a 1947 film called Lured, is a comedy/thriller where a woman is thrust into an investigation to find her friend’s murderer; and the third, a 1955 film called The Big Combo, is a straight crime drama involving cops and bad guys who abuse women. (All of these movies are available to rent on Amazon and Apple, or stream on boutique services like The Criterion Channel and Kanopy.) All three showcase the different kinds of stories and genres that film noir could dip into, yet all three are united in their evaluation of women, in their reaction to the changing gender dynamics of the 1940s and 1950s.
While we may perceive the female characters of film noir as inhabiting either a passive, helpless damsel-in-distress role or an antagonistic femme fatale role, each of these movies complicates the genre’s depiction of women by introducing characters who are not merely catalysts for male action but central figures with their own inner lives and struggles. Let’s assign titles to each of the women that unites all three films – three categories that showcase how women were depicted outside the stereotypical roles we’ve assigned to the genre: the muse, the investigator, and the survivor.
Laura (1944)
The muse is Laura Hunt, the titular character of Otto Preminger’s classic mystery tale. Played by Gene Tierney, Laura is the quintessential noir muse – a figure who captivates everyone around her, both within the story and beyond – a portrait (literally, as her portrait is the most important motif in the film) of idealized femininity. But what makes her role unique is how she destabilizes the trope of the passive, objectified muse. She is more than the subject of male desire. She is successful and independent – her choices defy the control of the men who obsess over her – the male characters’ stories and thoughts and fixations don’t define her – she is just as flawed and contradictory as anyone else in the film. Thus, Laura’s character explores the idea of a woman as an object of desire while simultaneously critiquing the limitations this role imposes. Her independence and personal decisions clash with the men’s need to define her, symbolizing the tension between self-actualization and societal expectations of women in noir.
Lured (1947)
Then there’s Sandra Carpenter, our investigator, played by Lucille Ball. Lured flips the script by making a woman the active protagonist in her own story. Unlike many noir women who are either victims or instigators of crime, Sandra becomes a voluntary investigator, working with Scotland Yard to lure out a serial killer targeting women. Her intelligence, her resourcefulness, her wit set Sandra apart from the archetypal noir female – Sandra’s quick thinking and sharp tongue highlight her refusal to be victimized by the male-dominated world around her – her charm and agency is used for the common good, to gather information and manipulate situations to her plight’s advantage – her emotional intelligence, her ability to show fear and vulnerability without ever compromising her resolve help her solve the crime in ways her male counterparts could never. Sandra represents a bold reimagining of the noir woman: not just a subject of male desire or manipulation but a figure of empowerment who turns the genre’s typical power dynamics on their head.
The Big Combo (1955)
Finally, we have the survivor, Susan Lowell, played by Jean Wallace in The Big Combo (perhaps my favorite film noir ever). While she’s not the main character, and despite being portrayed as the archetypal victim (trapped in a toxic, abusive relationship with the sadistic Mr. Brown), her presence transcends those tropes through her struggle for agency and survival, and her arc is one of reclaiming autonomy and agency. Ultimately, Susan represents a symbol within all of film noir’s underlying cynicism regarding tyrannical male figures that abuse society, about those who unfairly hold and carelessly exert power in favor of themselves. Susan’s struggle is not just physical but psychological – she must overcome the coercive hold Brown has over her, symbolizing the broader struggle of women to break free from controlling, patriarchal forces – her moments of resistance highlight the resilience required to escape such a manipulative environment – her escape from Brown’s influence signifies a victory not just over her oppressor but over the systemic forces that sought to define her life.
