Movie Terms - Film Noir

I read a lot of blogs every day, and terms come up that are often used that I thought not everyone would know the meaning to, so I like to educate my movie loving public, and here is todays attempt. The definition is Film Noir. Normally, it's an attempt by the "movie critic" to sound intelligent, and often the term isn't used right, so here is the definition. Now, go out there, and sound smart! (Thanks to Wikipedia)

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.

The term film noir (French for "black film"),[1] first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era.[2] Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect; before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas.[a] The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars