Blog Entry #7: Option #3

The Method

If I were to recommend one of these stories to anybody it would definitely have to be The Method. The Method to me was definitely was way more exciting and interesting to read than Morocco Junction 90210. The reasons why I recommend The Method more than Morocco is because I really thought that The Method's plot was definitely more noir than the other. The Method's story was very interesting and I definitely think that it fits in the book Los Angeles Noir very well, I love how it shows the possessive side of men with woman. In Hollywood you definitely see a lot of men that are stalkers with obsessions over the celebrity crushes that they have, and you definitely get to see that in The Method. The Method in my opinion definitely is an exciting story, you really get a good feeling of how obsessive people are over someone else to the point that they will do anything to get they want. I really did like having a female narrative in this story, in a way it made it more exciting to see it from a woman's perspective instead of a mans. Even though you also have a woman's narrative in Morocco Junction 90210, but I personally thought the story was not as exciting as The Method. The Method definitely classifies as a noir in many ways making it a very good short story that is exciting to read. I would recommend The Method over Morocco because it has a very interesting plot with a very good perspective on the city of angels and you definitely get a different style of noir with this story and it makes for a very good read that I enjoyed very much.

Double Indemnity Film Critic

Double Indemnity Film Review

In the review by moviezeal.com on Double Indemnity they give you a very good perspective on the femme fatale, they make sure to go into great detail on how Phyllis is basically what is to come for the femme fatale in future movies of film noir. They said "Barbara Stanwyck’s role in Double Indemnity defines what would be the future of the femme fatale. She’s the ultimate schemer, the tried and true conniving hellcat who all kinds of men fall for against their better judgment." They very much understand the role of the femme fatale and how she plays into the film noir category of femme fatale. They also give a very good detailed description on Neff and how he begins to crumble under his own guilt throughout the film, "all through the narration and as the film progresses, his matter-of-fact way of speaking gives way to the tremulous anxiety boiling beneath the surface." They really give you a good understanding of what the two main characters go through during the film and give detailed descriptions behind each point.

What I gained from this reading was that I definitely didn't notice alot of points they had brought up about Neff, and Phyllis. They really opened my mind into many more definitions behind the femme fatale, they said things that I definitily would not have seen without watching the movie more closely or even focusing on one character more. It was definitiely an insigtful article and I definitely am going to watch the movie again and take notes on the characters and try and realize the little things that they do throughout the movie to better my essay. There are so many characteristics behind film noir and there is alot of things that you can find by just observing the little things because that is what definitly makes film noir what it is.


Review by Phillip Johnson
Website: http://www.moviezeal.com/double-indemnity/

Zero Draft Questions Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity

Question 1:

In Double Indemnity the movie you see a completely different ending then you get in the novel. Now the question is whether which ending is more appropriate for film noir, and the differences between them. The ending in the book is more of a boring ending in my opinion and not appropriate for film noir, Walter and Phyllis are both let go by Keyes. Walter confesses to Keyes about killing Mr. Nitlinger and him and Phyllis end up on a ship where they both do not know where they are going. Although they both know that they are eventually going to get caught by somebody and that they both have nothing in their lives, so what they do is give up there own lifes and plan to drop off the ship when the moon comes up. While in the movie you see a very different ending, instead of Mr. Keyes letting Phyllis and Walter go they both serve up there own justice. Near the end of the film you see Phyllis and Walter in the Nitlinger home and little does Walter know but she has a gun under the chair she is sitting and is planning to kill him. In this scene you definitely see a lot of film noir effects, when Walter enters the scene through the door he has a very dark big shadow behind him showing his dark side. Another thing you can notice is the venetian blinds, they really nail film noir. In the scene you see Walter talking to Phyllis about whats going on, then when Walter closes the window that's when Phyllis shoots him once. He is still alive after being shot, he think walks over to Phyllis and then grabs the gun from her and shoots her twice. Although Huff was shot also, I definitely think that Phyllis got what she deserves in the movie. When she got shot she got what she deserved because of all the things she did to the other people.  The ending in the film definitely fit in more with film noir than the novel. The ending in the film fits into the dark, shadowy, weird, and cruel aspects of the noir genre, definitely more than the novel does.

Question 5:

In the first scene with the opening credits you see a man walking towards the screen hobbling on crutches, I think that the character represented is definitely Walter Huff impersonating Mr. Nitlinger. The significance of the image is to show what or who it might be later on. It makes you think of what character that person is going to be, and that's definitely what makes it appropriate for the beginning of the film, it's very different and weird and definitely makes you think of what is going to happen during the movie. It makes you think of why that character is on crutches and walking in the dark, and its very shadowy so you can not see who's face it is. Later on in the film you begin to hear what makes you know who the person hobbling on crutches is going to be. When Walter Huff kills Mr. Nitlinger he then has to impersonate him because he had broken his leg working and it would play well with the witness statements if anybody had saw him. It ends up working for the impersonation and the whole beginning scene begins to make you realize what character it was in the beginning. The character definitely is Walter Huff and it makes a very good beginning to a very good film noir movie.