One of the best descriptions of a generic Film Noir scene was given by Joel Greenberg and Charles Higham in their book Hollywood in the Forties:

One of the best descriptions of a generic Film Noir scene was given by Joel Greenberg and Charles Higham in their book Hollywood in the Forties:

A dark street in the early morning hours, splashed with a sudden downpour. Lamps form haloes in the murk. In a walk-up room, filled with the intermittent flashing of a neon sign from across the street, a man is waiting to murder or be murdered . . . shadow upon shadow upon shadow . . . every shot in glistening low-key, so that rain always glittered across windows or windscreens like quicksilver, furs shone with a faint halo, faces were barred deeply with those shadows that usually symbolized some imprisonment of body or soul.

The following products will help you explore this subject further:
(For additional information, or to place an order, click on the product.)

BOOKS:

• Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, (3rd edition, 1993) by Alain Silver
• Dark City, (1998) by Eddie Muller
• Film Noir Reader, (1996) edited by Alain Silver & James Ursini
• Film Noir Reader 2, (1999) edited by Alain Silver, et al
• The Noir Style, (1999) by Alain Silver & James Ursini
• Film Noir Reader 3, (2002) edited by Alain Silver, et al
• Film Noir Reader 4, (2004) edited by Alain Silver, et al
• Death on the Cheap, (2000) by Arthur Lyons
• The Dark side of the Screen, (2001) by Foster Hirsch
• Film Noir, (2002) by Andrew Spicer
• A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953), (2002) by Raymond Borde, et al
• Street With No Name, (2002) by Andrew Dickos
• Early Film Noir: Greed, Lust and Murder Hollywood Style, (2003) by William Hare
• Film Noir Guide, (2003) by Michael Keaney
• L.A. Noir: Nine Dark Visions of the City of Angels, (2004) by William Hare
• San Francisco Noir, (2005) by Nathaniel Rich
• Encyclopedia of Film Noir, (2007) by Geoff Mayer & Brian McDonnell

RECOMMENDED DVDs:

• The Maltese Falcon (1941), (3–disc Special Edition) – starring Humphrey Bogart
  & Mary Astor
• Double Indemnity (1944), (Special Edition) – starring Fred MacMurray & Barbara
  Stanwyck
• Laura (1944) – starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, & Clifton Webb
• Murder, My Sweet (aka: Farewell My Lovely ) (1944) – starring Dick Powell
• The Woman in the Window (1944), starring Edward G. Robinson & Joan Bennett
• To Have and Have Not (1945) – starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
• Mildred Pierce (1945) – starring Joan Crawford & Jack Carson
• Scarlet Street, (1945) – starring Edward G. Robinson & Joan Bennett
• The Big Sleep (1946) – starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall
• Gilda (1946) – starring Rita Hayworth & Glenn Ford
• The Killers (1946 & 1964 versions) – starring Burt Lancaster / John Cassavertes
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) – starring Lana Turner & John Garfield
• Born To Kill, (1947) – starring Lawrence Tierney & Claire Trevor
• Nightmare Alley, (1947) – starring Tyrone Power & Joan Blondell
• Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) – starring Barbara Stanwyck & Burt Lancaster
• The Third Man (1949) – starring Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, & Orson Welles
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – starring Sterling Hayden & Sam Jaffe
• D.O.A. (1950) – starring Edmond O'Brien & Pamela Britton
• Sunset Boulevard (1950) – (Centennial Ed.) starring William Holden & Gloria
  Swanson
• Ace in the Hole (1951) – starring Kirk Douglas & Jan Sterling
• The Narrow Margin, (1952) – starring Charles McGraw & Marie Windsor
• The Big Heat (1953) – starring Glenn Ford & Gloria Grahame
• Pickup on South Street (1953) – starring Richard Widmark & Jean Peters
• Touch of Evil, (1958) – (2–disc 50th Anniversary Edition) starring Orson Welles and
  Charlton Heston
  
  DVD Box Sets:
• Film Noir Classic Collection (The Asphalt Jungle / Gun Crazy / Murder My Sweet / Out of the Past / The Set-Up)
• Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 2 (Born to Kill / Clash by Night / Crossfire / Dillinger (1945) / The Narrow Margin (1952))