Local inflections of darkness: Danish film noir during the classical noir cycle

This dissertation will examine noir cinema as it is expressed in Denmark, focusing on feature films made during the two classical noir decades (40s and 50s). Like its American counterpart, crime and passion also characterize Danish noir, and the films discussed in each chapter are all permeated by a sense of fatality that is typical of classical American noir. However, Danish noir exists and attains its noir character within the renowned mediocrity that characterizes Danish language and culture, and therefore, the analytical approach to this group of films will focus primarily on the local socio-historical context that frames these movies.;Demonstrating the genre's deterritorialization, I will identify the factors that give Danish noir its unique local flavor compared to other film noir traditions. In contrast to previous research into Danish noir, I intend to focus less on establishing a particular film's noir qualification and more on identifying the external causes that shape these films. I will underline the cycle's link to the period's progressive cultural voices and the multifaceted historical significance of World War Two vis-à-vis the German occupation of Denmark.;Emphasizing the cinematic representation of class and space, chapter one discusses a strain of noir films that are interested in the fate of the average Joe (Larsen) who tries to get ahead but trips somewhere along the way. Through his failure, these films echo several key issues of concern to the political left, and in general, the ideology of Danish noir is markedly skeptical of the bourgeois status quo and the forces that dictate it. This is also evident in Bodil Ipsen's noir productions (addressed in the second chapter) that utilize the contentious issues of sexuality and gender to challenge traditional moral values. The final chapter looks at three noir films from the postwar period that represent the national trauma of the occupation in terms of a crisis of masculinity, pertaining to the country's acquiescent response to the German invasion. Together, the films constitute an absorbing window into a unique cultural setting and prove that Danish noir is capable of harnessing the thematically progressive potential of this dark cinema.