Which German directors helped shape the visual style of film noir?

German directors played a pivotal role in shaping the visual style of film noir by bringing the aesthetic sensibilities of German Expressionism to Hollywood.123

The shadowy, high-contrast lighting that defines the noir genre is directly rooted in the silent-era German Expressionist cinema of directors such as Robert Wiene and F.W. Murnau. These techniques—which include the use of dramatic shadows, shafts of light, and skewed perspectives to convey psychological states—were adopted by European filmmakers who relocated to the United States.213

Among the most influential of these directors was Fritz Lang, who became a master of the noir style in the 1940s with films like The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). Other notable European directors who helped establish the noir aesthetic in Hollywood include Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock. These directors often felt like outsiders in the studio system, and they utilized their training to emphasize cinematic style as a means of expressing complex thought and emotion.134