blog post #3 - Detective ID

In film noir you tend to come across a couple of characters with specific tendencies. In double indemnity you really get who’s who in that way but there is a character that was hard for me to tell and it was the hard-boiled detective that is searching for the truth. Maybe I’m not as thoughtful as I should be or I just wasn’t looking for it, but no matter there it was right in front of me. Critics often depict the anti-hero, the protagonist, as the detective and I guess I found that, but I also found two other characters that also held the traits of the hard-boiled detective. In order to figure out who the real detective is we have to know what the characteristics of the detective are; hardboiled, determined, almost reckless, earnest, seeking, and merciless.

First of all the main character in Double Indemnity, Walter Huff, plays a form of detective in how he seeks Mrs. Nirdlinger’s motives then finds them out. Now Walter doesn’t continue this characteristic, he turns more towards the scheming criminal side. For a brief time we see him for what he should have stayed but no longer. This confused me because I thought that the main character had to be the detective or there wasn’t one.

Secondly in a small way we see keyes’ boss as a form of dectiveness. When the claim of mr. nirdlingers accident was reported he went to work checking data. Although he is not as driven and lacks experience he comes up with some ideas that are not too far from the truth. Keyes boss digs super hard at the beginning to come up with any excuse as to why they shouldn’t pay Mrs. Nirdlinger.  He searched as far as he wanted to find his version of the truth. Unfortunately this is not our detective.

Finally and most importantly Barton Keyes is our true blue through and through detective of the movie. As soon as that claim was made Keyes searched every possible option for this death as you all know. Keyes character was harsh and untrusting. Huff tells us that he would go to great lengths to double check the validity of even his calendar before believe it. Keyes is the very definition of the detective, he searches and searches for the truth until he finds it. His curiosity brought him to a place he never thought he would be. So here he is our detective a hardboiled searching machine.

Although keyes was the major detective you have to remember the others that also dabbled in that field. Huff and Keyes’ boss were also detectives, but to an extent. I guess it’s hard sometimes to depict who’s who in film noir if you aren’t looking for the special characteristics. Usually in film noir the anti-hero is the detective but in Double indemnity that is not the case. I guess a good question to ask you is where you expecting the detective to be someone other than the anti-hero?

blog post #2

The Double Indemnity is a book that shocked me through and through! This book is filled with noir! The sum of what I read was the story of an average insurance salesman who happens upon a client’s wife whom catches his attention with her words and body. Driven by this woman (the femme fatale of the story) he planned and followed through on the murder of her husband. The remaining question is will they get away with it?!

                The easy question is, is this book classified as film noir? I say yes, because of three main characteristics; Lust, murder, and scamming. The scamming produced a murder that was sought because of the lust.  The lust of the movie derives from the wife of an oil company worker who desired the love/lust of another man and the money she could receive from his death. This lustfulness is widely known by the femme fatale of the story. Scot Snyder who wrote personal disorder and the film noir femme fatale put it this way “the film noir femme fatale is a composite of power, lust, and greed”. These women are identified by these characteristics and these are the characteristics of the female of Double Indemnity. Now the main character himself falls for this seductress, this also is common in film noir. Barton Palmer wrote in his article called Characteristics of Film noir “Often, these anti-heroes found themselves tempted by a woman, looking for a man to further their schemes.” and indeed had this guy taken her bait.

                Another aspect of this book that pointed it down the dark road of film noir is their murder! Criminal underworld, scheming, greed, and immoral actions these are more to describe these two characters actions. The main character, the anti-hero, saw what he wanted, saw an opportunity to achieve it and took it no looking back. Never once did this character stop to think or ask himself “is this moral? Should I do this?” no he pushed forward and let reality hit him later. “Hollywood production of a growing number of pessimistic, downbeat crime films.” Is how Lee Horsley described film noir in his article The Development of Post-war Literary and Cinematic Noir. Noir is identified by its crime and corruption.

                Another side to their corruption and crime was the scamming. What an amazing part of the book! This guy knew every in and out of his company. Based off of his knowledge he devised such an elaborate plan that it seems almost fool proof! He rehearsed his every action until perfection. He worked around every obstacle to succeed in his mission. What got me was this was not even his goal. The woman was the one who wanted her husband dead and the money his insurance would provide. The anti-hero did this for her, all of it. Every step, every precaution that was created to cover his every move was all for her but when it was all accomplished he didn’t even want her anymore! What a woman she must have been for this guy to do this for her and then the result of it was hatred towards her for what he had done. 

Introduced to Noir

When I signed up for this class I had no idea what film-noir, neo-noir, or noir in general was. I was eager to understand what it was Toth was talking about so passionately, so I went online and read the homework article. After reading all of its description and explanation I still didn't quite understand. Being more of a visual person I decided I would try to look at something or watch something noir. So I watched brick the movie. What a powerful way to understand this new concept. Noir is dark and mysterious. Every second you’re holding your breathe and then something happens to change the whole plot. The characters of noir are tired and apathetic almost. This kind of drama brings a careless and dangerous side out that I’m not used to seeing. I had to stop and think about how these are someone else’s thoughts, their fantasies; what a character clash! Film noir from the 40’s and 50’s was spoken of as powerful and relatable to the people of that time, but no more do we relate. I guess I disagree with the previous statement; the world is just starting to sink back into a dangerous place for different reasons.  I view these movies as cautionary tales to prevent us from becoming what we once were and to warn us of those who are that, whether they are true or false. You can’t quite know exactly what noir is until you experience it. I’m generally someone who enjoys light hearted, romantic films filled with happiness and noir is just the opposite. I really enjoyed exploring this new genre though, and I look forward to continuing the experience.