In my essay I would like to give an overview of film noir, why and how it developed and what influenced it. For a better understanding, it is important that one should have a look at the historical and literary background. When we talk about the literary background I mean the types of novels from which the films originated, the books which were popular in the 1930’s in the United States. After examining the historical background I would like to give a picture of the early 30’s to the late 40’s and concentrate on how society has changed and how they affected the film industry.