Analysis of the film Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is said to portray film noir like no other movie because everything from the movie is meant to symbolize a certain characteristic of film noir. Double Indemnity has it all: a gritty story based off of a hard-boiled detective novel, an outstanding hero (or anti-hero in the case of noir films), and a great film noir female (the femme fatale).

The 1944 Crime and Drama film, Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, showed the love story between an insurance representative and one of his client's wife who plotted to commit insurance fraud on his company, Pacific All Risk Insurance CO., in order to be together. The insurance representative, Walter Neff, met Phyllis Dietrichson during one of his visit to Mr. Dietrichson's home. Phyllis inevitably becomes interested in acquiring accidental insurances for her husband which includes double indemnity. Walter begins to suspect her intentions but shortly later, they began to have an affair and Phyllis proposes to kill her husband in order to receive the money. Walter agrees to this proposal and plans the perfect death so his company would

One of the main concepts when it comes to understanding film noir, first is the understanding of the definition. Film noir is “a cycle of postwar films that employed low key lighting and were literally dark” (Nichols, 500). In this particular genre, we are in a world where there is a lack of honesty and trust, many cases of seduction and betrayal, and darkness submerges people (Nichols, 250). Moreover, film noir reflects a tone of darkness, “exploring themes of seduction, betrayal, and murder” (Nichols, 58). In this film, we will learn more of how seduction and betrayal is used to express the darkness of the film. Some other traits of film noir that should be understood before exploring the two scenes is understanding the setting. In most cases, “film noir takes place in public spaces such as urban streets, cafes,

The leanness in the writing of literary noir is as fascinating and noteworthy as the moody lighing and deep shadows in much of noir film. Short, clipped sentences riddled with occasionally near-nonsensical metaphors, spattered with begrudging remarks, and often given a cynical, broody tone. My favourite pairing of this clipped, broody tone is with an unreliable narrator, one who either never tells the full truth, unless it suits them, or who embellishes on the truth at unpredictable

In Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder, 1944), character Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) becomes enchanted by the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck). However, through an act of lust, Neff gets involved in a murderous scheme with Dietrichson. The entirety of the movie is a flashback as Neff recalls his scheme. He records his guilty testimony onto a dictation machine, which is partially overheard by his clever boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). Double Indemnity is composed of several shots, scenes, and sequences that intentionally provoke anxiety and alienation; these instances also contain elements that have a peculiar combination of realism and oneirism. In one of the earliest scenes, Walter Neff meets

This essay will identify the importance of the elements of Film Noir between the movies Maltese Falcon, Chinatown, and L.A. Confidential. This will also discuss if Chinatown and L.A. Confidential remain true to the classical form or if they are in the baroque level of genre. This essay will also identify these discussions using examples for each film.

With its low key black and white style that’s influenced by German expressionism, Double Indemnity adopts film noir and crime fiction properties. Based on adultery, corruption, and murder, the alluring beauty Phyllis Dietrichson used Walter Neff for a selfish deed. In the opening scene of meeting, a high angle point of view shot is used looking at her legs and eventually revealing her wearing only a towel. Top lighting is used to illuminate her body and physical features. This is an effective scene because

In both Rear Window and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul give a contrasting view of gender roles in relationships to the social norm and give different forms of women in society. With the readings of Hillary Neroni’s The Feminist Theory Julio Garcia Espinosa’s For an Imperfect Cinema and Sergei Eisenstein's Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, I’ll be examining the gender roles within the films of Rear Window and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

Genres of film generally possess certain traits that define our fundamental understanding of the genre’s structure. These are referred to a genre convention. The genre of drama within film lends itself to a few fundamental ideals (Grant, 2007:10). Firstly is the concept of a grounded and realistic setting, which in essence relates to characters dealing with conflicts that could be experienced in our reality. The second ideal presents itself through the characters dealing with their conflicts, both internal and external, in what is generally quite an emotional and intense manner (Grant, 2007:21). This can also feature a growth in character, as well as a shift in status or power dynamics between characters in a film. Finally, another important ideal of the drama genre is the way in which addresses a social issue that is prevalent in society (Right Direction, 2014), such as abuse, addiction and

Death is a part of much of film noir. A facet of death is the idea of the living dead. In a few films there is the inclusion of characters who are a part of the living dead. The living dead refers to those characters who are inevitably going to die, or those persons who have escaped death and are now living.

In crime novels, typically, there is a character who commits an offence and then is taken down by the hero. However, the genre noir contradicts this stereotype of crime themed stories. Noir was created in the 1930’s and is inspired by both literature and previous film history along with the sociohistorical of the period it grew out of.

Although Phyllis played a major role in Double Indemnity, the one who came up and executed the plan to murder Mr. Dietrichson was Walter. She is portrayed as a femme fatale and as a typical gold digger woman. She was a young, beautiful woman that lured an older, widowed man because of his money. In most film noir productions, the women are portrayed as seductive and promiscuous.

How Double Indemnity fulfils the definition of Film Noir Many commentators agree that it is essential films like Double Indemnity (1944) and Out of the Past (1947) that make up perfect film noir masterpieces. They also agree that the birth of this ‘movement’ was possible with the production of The Maltese Falcon, the first textbook example of a film noir. According to French film critic Nino Frank, film noir is a film genre that is characterized by violence and pervaded by an intense ‘feeling’ of dread and moral uncertainties. A film of this kind tends to accommodate heroes who are tough and cynical but overwhelmed by mighty forces beyond their power (Park 19).

For Writing 39B, we were assigned a project that allowed us to present our knowledge of the genre conventions that are used in the genre of Noir. We read the novel Double Indemnity throughout the course, and we also watched its film adaptation. For this project, I decided to write a script that portrayed a man’s struggle of trying to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry in Las Vegas. Through his struggle, the message that I presented in my script is that the difficulty of accomplishing one’s dream often drive people to commit unlawful acts.

Discuss, in relation to two films, Marcia Landy’s assertion that ‘femininity is central to the early and late melodramas […] always present and always problematic’. ‘Film melodramas foregrounding women escalate in the latter part of the Ventennio. They offer problematic images of femininity, suggesting a crisis of representation inextricably tied to the figure of the woman. Woman appears as a malcontent, disrupter of the family, and corrupter of socially sanctioned behaviour.’ Melodrama was a cinematic genre that flourished in Italy under Fascist rule.