How to Use film noir in a Sentence

film noir

noun
Definition of film noirnext
  • The late ’40s and the ’50s saw the development of film noir.
    — George Wead, Slate Magazine, 1 Sep. 2017
  • The roots of the erotic thriller are in film noir and Hitchcock, with all the subtext said out loud.
    — Vulture, 8 Apr. 2022
  • The actor Gloria Grahame had one of the great faces of ’50s film noir.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Elisa Benzoni’s costumes have the look of 1950s film noir.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2023
  • There will be no place for Celine Dion — this is a sci-fi film noir.
    — Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 1 Oct. 2017
  • So have the experimental episodes like the film noir episode been a shot in the arm, so to speak?
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2022
  • If the 19th-century had film noir, these would be the story boards.
    — Roberta Smith, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2020
  • Some are horror stories, some have a tinge of film noir.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2024
  • But there’s still a lot to like here for fans of detective fiction, and of film noir and jazz.
    — Paul De Barros, The Seattle Times, 20 Jan. 2018
  • Roden prefers to watch movies made in the forties, the fifties, and the sixties—bank heists, jailbreaks, and French film noir.
    — Anna Wiener, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022
  • An odd new take on the Dark Knight — very film noir, as if Gotham were Chinatown.
    — Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 14 Dec. 2022
  • The place does have a vintage feel, from the red leather booths to the music that sounds straight out of a Hollywood film noir.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Mar. 2022
  • Phil embraces all the film noir tropes — the smoking, the cynicism, the reliance on voiceover.
    — Bryan Bishop, The Verge, 24 Aug. 2018
  • The plot turns can't save this 1956 film noir from its wooden acting or the gaping holes in the story.
    — Chris Ball, cleveland.com, 25 Mar. 2018
  • Part of it was a throwback to classic film noir heroes.
    — Matt Patches, Esquire, 16 Apr. 2015
  • Alan Ladd starred in this crime film noir, which gave us one of Nat King Cole’s biggest (and classiest) hits.
    — Paul Grein, Billboard, 29 Jan. 2021
  • Ideal spot to watch vintage film noir and have a cocktail.
    — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Dec. 2023
  • So everybody's got layers to help set that mood and that film noir vibe.
    — Irina Grechko, refinery29.com, 21 Sep. 2020
  • Michael Curtiz directs Claude Rains in this 1947 film noir.
    — Chronicle Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Jan. 2018
  • The whole thing is very film noir, which may connect to the noir episode coming later this season.
    — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 10 Jan. 2019
  • At night, with its twinkling lights and flashing neon signs, it’s a vista sprung from a classic 1940’s film noir.
    — Malina Saval, Variety, 2 Feb. 2022
  • For instance, women in film noir: The femme fatale has all of this power.
    — Shaad D'souza, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2021
  • Other great reads How the small screen breathes new life into classic film noir.
    — Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2024
  • Cage’s Spider-Man Noir is a parody of goofy film noir clichés.
    — Bryan Bishop, The Verge, 14 Dec. 2018
  • The journalist, who once worked for CNN, took part in a discussion about film noir.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Many of these wet-look toppers are trench-styled, giving the coats a film noir heroine mystique.
    — Sharon Graubard, courant.com, 15 Aug. 2019
  • The characters are all haunted, many are doomed, and the film is based on a novel with the kind of wild labyrinthine plot that is a hallmark of film noir.
    — Martin Scorsese, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2022
  • Lupino directs this film noir about a woman’s life after she is raped on her way home from work.
    — cleveland, 28 Mar. 2022
  • Sadly, many of the actual stars of the film noir era of the ’40s and ’50s who used to turn up as guests at this and other noir fests have moved on to that great heist aftermath in the sky.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 6 May 2024
  • The city could provide the setting for a 1930s gangster thriller, a medieval fantasy with secret codes and evil monks, a bodice-ripping romance, or a contemporary film noir.
    — Stanley Stewart, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'film noir.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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