Book excerpt: Film noir is usually associated with a series of darkly seductive Hollywood thrillers from the 1940s and 1950s--shadowy, black-and-white pictures about private eyes, femme fatales, outlaw lovers, criminal heists, corrupt police, and doomed or endangered outsiders. But Film Noir: A Very Short Introduction demonstrates that the genre has much earlier origins and is more international in scope. The key themes and styles of film noir are discussed along with some of the most iconic film noirs, exploring important aspects of their history and ongoing influence: their critical reception, major literary sources, methods of dealing with censorship and budgets, social and cultural politics, variety of styles, and future in a world of digital media and video streaming.