Blog Entry #4

#1

Both the endings of the novel and the film are in a way appropriate for film noir and somewhat not appropriate. I was excited on watching the ending of the film hoping it would be better than the novel’s but I stayed in the middle; liking and disliking both. To start off, the ending of the novel portrayed Phyllis as the femme fatal way more than the film’s ending did. In the end of the novel she talks about how she’s going to meet with the love of her life, referring to death. I don’t know about you but that gives me the chills. She’s seen as a crazy death-loving woman in that ending. On the other hand, in the film’s ending she doesn’t seem as reckless as a femme fatal. Of course her plan is to kill Walter Huff but she chickens out after she misses to kill him in the first shot. She does not just withdraw from the attempt to kill him but confesses to him that she is madly crazy in love with him.  A real femme fatal, as they are described, would have shot him again without thinking twice about it and she would have definitely not confessed any sort of love to the man she was using to her advantage. Now, about the way they died, the ending of the film was most appropriate. Phyllis needed to beg for mercy at her time of death instead of making her own choice about it and that’s how it happened in the film. Overall, the ending of the novel was the most appropriate for film noir for the reason that Phyllis was portrayed as the femme fatal until the end as Walter the weak ambiguous protagonist who falls too easy. Though that was the most appropriate, I believe the novel would have been perfect if Walter Huff would have got away with his plan to kill her in the park.

#4

Actor Barbara Stanwyck was appropriate for her role in the novel. Barbara Stanwyck was clearly the women I was imagining for the role of the femme fatal while reading the novel. She is an attractive woman with a thin fit figure. Her facial features seem very sweet and innocent, fooling anybody into thinking she’s an angel but with a lift of one eyebrow the image you once had of her turns to something uncomfortably evil. From the beginning to the end of the novel, Barbara Stanwyck stuck to her role and did a great job. She was fit for the role as a femme fatal. In contrast, Fred MacMurray was not who I was expecting to do the role of the protagonist. First of all his voice didn’t sound of a man who would be weak for any women who gave him an eyebrow lift. He also didn’t seem to me as a guy who would be single at that age but more of a family guy who would do no harm. In my opinion, a taller guy with finer cheek bones like for example, actor James Franco would have fit the role perfectly.

Blog Entry #3: Detective

There are many elements associated with film noir; Many of them including an ambiguous protagonist, a femme fatal, fatalism, and corruption but these are just a few of the many. A detective is also another element associated with film noir. A detective in a piece of film noir may or may not be referred to as a detective but many certainly obtain the qualities of one. In the novel of Double Indemnity one of the characters takes on the roles of a detective though never in the novel is he referred to as one. Keyes works in an insurance company which is nowhere near being a detective but his job in the company is to investigate who the phony clients are. In the beginning of the novel Mr. Huff describes some of the ways in which the reader can assume that he will take on the role of the detective. Like a detective, he is very slick at his job. “You can’t even say today is Tuesday without he has to look on the calendar, and then check if it’s this year’s calendar or last year’s  calendar, and then find out what company printed the calendar, and then find out if their calendar checks with the world Almanac calendar.” From this quote on page 7 of the novel, we can clearly assume that this man does not just let everything pass him by. A detective is very much like that; careful in every step he makes. Mr. Huff states the following about him: “But he’s a wolf on a phony claim.”(pg.8) Meaning he will hunt down the truth and there’s no way to hide from it with him. Later in the novel we see his role as a detective in action when he senses that the Nirdlinger’s case was a murder. A detective is always asking questions, either to himself or to others. Keyes says to Mr.Huff, “This is murder…So they covered the porter, did they. Nobody went out there. How do they know somebody didn't swing aboard from outside? How do they know-”(pg.66) Keyes role as a detective is very important for this novel as a detective would be to any other piece of film noir. Though Keyes’ suspected murderer and story was incorrect, his role in the novel is still valued as a detectives.

Blog Entry #2: Double Indemnity

James M. Cain’s novel, Double Indemnity definitely has the various definitions that describe a film noir. Numerous people have stated their definitions of film noir; mostly all leading to characteristics that may be considered facts about this type of style. For example, in the article, “Towards a definition of Film Noir”, Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton state that “film noir is [crime] from within; from the point of view of the criminal. In Double Indemnity this statement would be classified as correct. The novel is told in first point of view by one of the criminals, Mr.Huff. The first chapter starts off with “I drove out to Glendale…”giving the reader hope that he or she will be getting the insight scoop from the criminal himself. Though the reader has no idea at this point Mr.Huff is the criminal in the novel, he is later recognized as the criminal when he offers to help Mrs.Nirdlinger with a devious crime. “You are going to do it, and I’m going to help you” is what he tells her. Throughout the novel, Mr.Huff lets the reader in on every detail of the crime in process or as he says, “…while this thing is cooking…” pg.35. Mr.Huff and Phyllis Nirdlinger are plotting Mr.Nirdlinger’s death “accident” and the reader is in on it from the beginning. We learn from Mr.Huff in chapter one of the novel that Mrs.Nirdlinger is quite an intriguing women. He states the following: “I saw something I hadn’t noticed before. Under those blue pajamas was a shape to set a man nuts…” pg.6. In this part of the novel, Mr.Huff has just introduced the femme fatal from his point of view. The femme fatal is another element that is used to define film noir. The reader quickly assumes Mrs.Nirdlinger is the femme fatal because of the way Mr.Huff refers to her in his mind. From the website Filmsite, the article “Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles” delivers the following statement about a femme fatal: “Usually the male protagonist in film noir has to inevitably choose (or have the fateful choice made for him) between the women-and invariably he picks the femme fatal who destructively goads him into committing murder or some other crime of passion.” Those words are perfect words to describe Phyllis as a femme fatal. Her rocking body as described by Mr.Huff makes him desire her and as a result, do whatever it takes to have her. In the novel, she asks him for the reason why he wants to help her kill her husband and he replies with a bold response and says, “You, for one thing.” He later also says that he’s doing it for the money as well. Reading a novel from the point of view of the criminal is the best way to make it more exciting because you know the criminal’s every thought, making you feel guilty as if you knew something you probably shouldn’t know of. Given the quotes above from two types of sources we can assume that the novel fits with the various definitions of film noir.