At the Criterion blog, Farran Nehme Smith writes about noir, defining noir, and curating Criterion’s “Noir by Gaslight” series. “Recently on the Criterion Channel, I’ve been given the chance to program a collection of films that challenge and complicate the idea of what classic noir is. All are period films (save perhaps for Corridor of Mirrors, which nonetheless has a strong element of period-set flashbacks). The light that flickers around these shadowy tales of madness, murder, and twisted love isn’t filtered through a windshield or venetian blinds, nor does it come from a bare electric bulb in a cop’s interrogation room. The stories unfold by gaslight—the beautiful, dangerous way that most cities and towns were once lit, from the Victorian era into the Edwardian years.”

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