Report on A Calssic Film Noir

Double Indemnity (1944, Dr Billy Wilder).

Walter Neff is the main character in this film and acts as the 'Hero', he is a successful insurance sales man who works for pacific all risk. He mostly deals with life insurance. And the film starts off with him on his office desk late at night and tells his story into a 'dictaphone'. And the film flashbacks to the past and it starts off when he meets the 'femme fetale' of the story, 'Phyllis Dietrichson' when he goes to renew her husbands insurance policy. Whilst they talk, it becomes obvious that Phyllis is flirting with him.

He then learns that she can take an life insurance policy out without her husband knowing, so if he dies she gets £50,000 pounds in compensation so she makes it clear she wants to murder him to make a claim. She visits him at his home and tells him that together they should kill her husband. Being in the business all his life, he knows about all the secret trades etc, therefore he came up with a plan so that she would receive twice the insurance pay out using the "double indemnity" clause (£100,000), whereby the husband dies an unlikely death. The detective of the case suspects and queries with walter, but walter stands strong, and he almost gets a way with it. Meanwhile Phyllis wants Lola, her husband's daughter, killed because Lola suspects her of killing her parents and Walter finds out.

Walter also finds out that Phyllis is also seeing Lola's boyfriend secretly and decides to blame them for the murder. Phyllis tells him that she was seeing Lola's boyfriend so that he would kill Lola. But the walter attempts to shoot her but she shot him first, when they confront. Phyllis hugs him and he shoots her. He confesses to the detective and says hes going to mexico instead of serving a death sentence but collapses when walking to the elevator due to his injuries and it finishes.  

Without a doubt all the characters are typical of Film Noir's, with a hero involved and a femme fatale. And the narrative strictly follows the general conventions of Film Noir, with the typical male man who falls in love with the femme fatale, and makes one little mistake and it ruins his life.

The world the characters live in, is grim, dark, mysterious and once again follows the conventions of Film Noir, and we get a sense that the characters want a 'way-out', either by getting loads of money, or just getting that once chance. They are a couple of shots where the camera is extremely close up to the character, and it shows us the characters expression that much better, and makes us feel it's an awkward way to see people, so it makes it more dramatic. The editing in Double indemnity is pretty basic and follows Film Noir, especially when a dramatic scene is uncovering, there are much more shots, and we see the whole point of view of it, whilst the camera is still fixed on the 180 degree rule.

Lighting and the venetian blind are used over and over again in this and it really does follow general conventions of film Noir. Once again, this film follows the rules of Film Noir in sound as well, with voice overs being a tradition of film Noir's this film is focused on the voice over and it un-ravels the story for us. The message and values of the film, are like every film Noir, don't fall for the wrong girl.

 I would personally say the older generation would like this film, however middle-age man would probably enjoy this film as well, and also, even though they are not the stereotypical audience for this, I enjoy this kind of film, and so do some of my mates because it's mysterious, you have to think to watch it and it's sometimes hard to understand, and I guarantee if the quality of the picture, and the actors were updated film noir could still be a very popular film choice for people. Especially men. Even though there are a few Neo-Noir's popping up here and there.

Second Example of a Contemporary Film Noir

ChinaTown

JJ Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply.
The film features many elements of the film Noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama which make Chinatown a very good example of contemporary noir film. It also uses the venetian blind effect and shadows in great detail, and it is a real grim outlook, and in my opinion a fantastic detective movie.

First Example of a Contemporary Film Noir:

Sin City

Four tales of crime are thrown into this film and are originally adapted from "Frank Millers" popular comics, The first tale is focusing around a muscular brute who's looking for the person responsible for the death of his beloved Goldie, the second tale is a man fed up with Sin City's corrupt law enforcement, who takes the law into his own hands after a horrible mistake, the third tale is a cop who risks his life to protect a girl from a deformed paedophile, and last but not least the fourth tale is about a hit man looking to make a little cash from his job.
Sin City is one of the most successful contemporary noir films ever made, the whole film is mainly black & white but there are certain objects and characters that are in colour. It uses shadows and special lighting to indicate the characters motives and expressions. And also uses film noir genereal cinmatrography camera work, eg. the camera looks up on certain characters and then looks down upon characters to indicate where the power is.

What is 'Neo-Noir' (Contemporary Film Noir)?

Neo-Noir is a genre of a film which uses traditional elements of film noir but with modern themes and visuals and affects.

Some Neo-Noir films don’t usually reflect the traditional classic of a Noir film but they use the characteristics of Film Noir and transports it to the modern way film are made by using different affects plots and themes.

Some examples of Neo-Noir films (many of which i have watched):

The French Connection (1971)
The Godfather (1972)
China Town (1974)
The French Connection II (1975)
Hustle (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Raging Bull (1980)
True confessions (1981)
Scarface (1983)
Against all odds (1984)
Murphy’s Law (1986)
Batman (1989)
Deep Cover (1992)
The Last Seduction (1994)
True Crime (1996)
Phoenix (1998)
Twilight (1998)
Heist (2001)
Dark Blue (2002)
Collateral (2004)
Sin City (2005)
American Gangster (2007)
The Spirit (2008)

Second Example Of A Classic Film Noir

Detour Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (1945)

  A piano player, Al, sets off hitch hiking his way to California to be with his fiancée who left to become a star in Hollywood. Along the way, a stranger in a convertible gives him ride, and it all seems great.
However while driving; Al stops to put the top up of the car because it was raining heavily. He discovers that the owner of the car has died in his sleep. Al (stupidly) dumps the body in a gully, takes the stranger's money, clothes, and ID and then drives off in his expensive car, because he knew that he would get done in by the police if he said that the stranger just died in his sleep.
After spending the night in a motel, he picks up hitchhiker, Vera, (a femme fatale), who had earlier ridden with the man who died, and she begins to ask questions and then threatens to turn him in for murdering the stranger unless he gives her all the money.
They then arrive in Hollywood, and they rent an apartment, while trying to sell the car for extra cash, they read a newspaper and found out that the stranger was about to collect a large inheritance of the family. Vera demands that Al impersonate the stranger, but Al balks at this notion. When the two get drunk in the apartment and begin arguing, a snubbed Vera takes Al up on his earlier dare to call the police, whereupon Al accidentally strangles her with a telephone cord while pulling it to stop Vera from calling the police.
Al starts hitchhiking east again, and is waiting for the police to pick him up ad take him in. And it finishes with him getting picked up by the police, but, and now a big but, is that we don't know whether it was a dream, reality, or he was just getting a lift. The voice over at the end questions the audience and leaves it on a cliffhanger.

Detour uses many characteristics of a film nor, flash backs, venetian blind affect, shadowns, femme fatale, everyday guy, and they all work to creat in my personal opinion the best film noir out there. And also because i like the ending of the film.

First Example Of A Classic Film Noir

The Killers – Directed by: Robert Siodmak (1946). 

 

The killers starts of like a typical film noir does, with a car driving in the peak of the night, with the car's headlights on full blast, driving towards a city/ suburb area. And you see a sign that states ‘BRENTWOOD, NEW JERSEY’. And so the story begins of 'The killers'. . .
It kinda starts to kick in when they enter the town and kill a man. No real reason why, it's a film noir remember, this is normal. A detective who actually knew the guy who got killed sets out to hunt down the killers and so he sets a plan to trap the killers and the man who hired them to kill his old time buddy. The film includes a detective and gangsters/hitmen type of characters, and of course you guessed it, a femme fatale. This is a typical Film Noir and has many characteristics of a typical film noir, including dark and gloomy suburb alleyways and locations, mysterious deaths and killers. And a 'Hero', who of course encounters a variety of problems along the way in finding the two contracted killers. The film is in black and white and used a couple of dutch tilt angles and low angle shots which is stereotypical for the Film Noir genre. It uses a lot of shots which disorientate the viewer, and made the viewer feel confused. The film also includes flashbacks and is set in an urban environment like most classic Film Noirs. Not much else to it really.