Though film noir (literally, "black film”), an American genre rooted in German Expressionism, is best remembered by a few titles, dozens of films were produced in the noir style during its brief heyday in the late 1940’s through the mid 1950’s. Films noir reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of that 'chilly' Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present, and they counter-balanced the optimism of escapist Hollywood musicals and comedies. The criminal, violent, misogynistic, hard–boiled, and/or greedy perspectives of anti–heroes and femmes fatale in film noir were a metaphoric symptom of society's ills, with a strong undercurrent of unresolvable moral conflict. In film noir, hilarity does not ensue.