For this was the summer when, after the hiatus of the Second World War, French critics were again given the opportunity to view films from Hollywood. The films they saw, including The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity. Laura, Murder, My Sweet, and The Woman in the Window, prompted the naming and theorization of a new phenomenon: film noir.

Much of what has been written about the genre since has remained within the orbit of this preliminary assessment. While sympathetic towards the early French critics, this collection of original essays attempts to move beyond their first fascinated look. Beginning with an autonomy of that look—of the 'poujadist' climate that nourished it and the imminent collapse of the Hollywood studio system that gave it its mournful inflection—Shades of Noir re-explores and calls into question the object first constructed by it. The impetus for this shift in perspective comes from the films themselves, viewed in the light of contemporary social and political concerns, and from new theoretical insights.

Several contributions analyze the re-emergence of noir in recent years, most notably in the hybrid forms produced in the 1980s by the merging of noir with science fiction and horror, for example Blade Runner and Angel Heart, and in films by black directors such as Deep Cover, Straight out of Brooklyn, A Rage in Harlem and One False Move. Other essays focus on the open urban territory in which the noir hero hides out; the office spaces in Chandler, and the palpable sense of waiting that fills empty warehouses, corridors and hotel rooms.

Finally, Shades of Noir pays renewed attention to the lethal relation between the sexes; to the femme fatale and the other women in noir. As the role of women expands, the femme fatale remains deadly, but her deadliness takes on new meanings.

因为这是一个夏天，在第二次世界大战的停顿之后，法国评论家再次有机会观看来自好莱坞的电影。他们看到的电影，包括《马耳他之鹰》、《双重赔偿.劳拉》、《谋杀，我的爱人》和《窗里的女人》，促使人们对一种新现象进行命名和理论化：黑色电影。

此后，关于这一类型的许多文章都停留在这一初步评估的范围内。在同情早期的法国评论家的同时，这本原创文章集试图超越他们的第一次着迷的观察。《黑暗的阴影》从这一观点的自主性开始--滋养它的 "poujadist "氛围和赋予它哀伤语气的好莱坞制片厂系统的即将崩溃--重新探索并质疑它首次构建的对象。这一视角转变的动力来自于电影本身，在当代社会和政治问题的影响下，以及新的理论见解。

有几篇文章分析了近年来黑色电影的重新崛起，最值得注意的是1980年代黑色电影与科幻小说和恐怖片合并产生的混合形式，例如《银翼杀手》和《天使之心》，以及黑人导演的电影，如《深海掩护》、《直奔布鲁克林》、《哈莱姆之怒》和《一步错步步错》。其他文章关注的是黑色幽默的主人公所藏身的开放的城市领域；钱德勒的办公空间，以及充斥在空荡荡的仓库、走廊和酒店房间中的可感的等待感。

最后，《黑色的阴影》重新关注两性之间的致命关系；关注黑色电影中的女主角和其他女性。随着女性角色的扩大，"致命女人 "仍然是致命的，但她的致命性有了新的含义。

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