Double Indemnity- blog#3

And the darkness is  over ..... I never would have guessed how the story was to end. The only part I guessed was that Phyllis Nirdlinger would try to kill Walter , but would succeed. I did not expect him to survive.I never suspected Walter would fall for Lola Nirdlinger either. I just can't believe all the turn of events that went on, this story would make such a good soap opera on TV , it would blow " Days of our lives" out of the water. I actually had to go back and read the ending twice because I had a hard time believing and understanding the ending. I'm still a little confused so did they kill themselves? From what I understood they made plans of suicide by jumping off the the stern of the ship into shark infested waters.

I think the ending couldn't have been better, 2 murderers left alone together to pretty much punish themselves as they have no future. The 2 people who at one point had this strong romantic passion built out of greed and the need to kill who then in a blink of an eye switched to hate are now left to end there paths together . How this came to be is what still shocks me this whole time Beniamino Sachetti Lola's secret boyfriend was the detective , the guy who was barely even spoken about in the movie or the film is who was doing all the work not to mention sleeping with the enemy . Sachetti in my eyes did a great job of investigating the truth.  I mean if the femme fatale herself let him in after she was against Lola seeing him then he did a very good Job of hiding his ulterior motive and pursuing her. He made the moves on the daughter Lola to get to Phyllis but at the same time truly loved Lola but was willing to do whatever he had to do get to Phyllis and uncover the truth. Even if that meant hurting the love of his life .

Sachetti may not have broken any laws but he did play the part of the hero who did anything to uncover the truth about Phyllis and if she truly was responsible for the death of his father, 3 children and Mr. And Mrs. Nirdlinger . In the end all his hard work paid off he got the girl and killers got what they deserve .

Keyes I think made a good Decision of letting Walter go as well as Phyllis, I would rather see them be miserable in there last hours together and see them plan there deaths  then to just take the easy way out like going to jail. I personally prefer the story book ending over he film. I think Walter and Phyllis are both evenly responsible for there own actions an both should suffer. Phyllis the evil dark women with the need to kill and Walter the lonely easily manipulated business man together at last , well I guess it's safe to say Walter got his women, kind of.

Double Indemnity - film noir post #2

A Femme fatal a despaired Protagonist involved with a crime, these are some of the characteristics of Film Noir. Per the article "Notes on Film Noir" by Paul Shrader " Film noir is not a genre. It is not defined ...as are western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. A noir film is a film of death and darkness as was Double indemnity. From the beginning the mood is set by introducing a passive, despaired and ambiguous insurance agent by the name of Walter Huff  looking to make some money by getting Mr. Nirdlinger to obtain insurance through the Automobile Club, his Spanish home with "red-blood drapes" and Spanish style interior decorating then comes along Phyllis Nirdlinger the beautiful , manipulating femme fatale "with a shape to set a man nuts", all the characteristics described in the article "Towards a definition of film Noir" by Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton.

There are many primary moods in Double Indemnity that are described in the website- Filmsite like bleakness, pessimism, ambiguity, evil, guilt and lets not forget paranoia. Walter huff sitting in the dark in his apartment , sweat dripping down his face as he realizes what he has done....murder, all for a women he only met once. I was in major shock when I read how quickly Phyllis was able to convince and manipulate him to help her kill her husband. They meet once he sees her in pajamas next time hes over for tea, they kiss and then the scheming begins. Talk about love at first sight , or so he thinks it is. To me shes an opportunist and it so happened that walter came in at the right time as far as her plans go.

As I read I felt like the next chapter got more and more suspenseful, It felt like as they planned what seemed to be the perfect murder, I still couldn't help but feel like they were going to get caught and be "sunk " as Mr .Huff said. The narrative tone of Mr.huff was very complex, worrisome and full of gloom. I pictured everything in a low key light setting,shadows on the walls and wet pavements. Even the train scene I envisioned an old rundown train station. The scenes where Phyllis called Walter from a drugstore even seemed dark and gloomy, normally I envision a drugstore all lit up and bright like Rite Aid but this drugstore I pictured an old drugstore with bad lighting, one bottle of meds sitting on the shelf and an old man asleep at the cash register with a cigar hanging out of his mouth about to fall to the ground.

I love the story line and cant wait to read more, So far we have the oppressive atmosphere, sexy femme fatale the desperate protagonist, death and pretty soon the police getting involved as they suspect a murder. Mr. Norton and Keyes are already suspicious and are wanting to take matters in there own hands to find out what really happened, all signs point to doom, things are not looking to good for Mr.Huff and his lovely accomplice.

Blog #1

Gloomy and mysterious but yet intriguing... Film Noir who would of thought it could be so interesting? I had no idea until now that the dark classic films I enjoy to watch were classified as film noir. All the Hollywood Glam, crime and drama combined creates the perfect mix for a dark film. I guess it only makes sense to recreate drama on film after the Great Depression. From my understanding the beginning of the Melodrama era began in the 1940's shortly after World War II, what an inspiration right? Though these films became very popular and one of a kind their period was put to rest in the late 1950's. Though there return was not too far away, Film Noir made its comeback in early 70's known as Modern Noir.  Noir films were not what they used to be,there were changes to the style and content of the  films. Some might say the difference between Film Noir and Neo - Noir was major , one was based on Crime, hopeless drama and Psychological thrillers as the other Fiction and the use of technology. Personally I enjoy film noir as it makes me feel like part of the story .. the deep shadows on the walls, cheap lighting and the black and white picture and lets not forget the seductive female actresses that really help make it just that much more realistic. Don't get me wrong both Film Noir and modern Noir are interesting, but there is just something about a classic black and white film that intrigues me.