Prominent Noir Elements In Movies Double Indemnity And In A Lonely Place

‘Film noir has usually been talked about in terms of its historical resonances, its treatment of gender and its uses of style, and these three trends in noir criticism continue to inform criticism on and of noir, contributing to the long, unfinished, and arguably unfinishable, process of its discursive formations.’ (Helen Hanson, 2007: 1) It is a term coined by French critics after the end of World War II and new Hollywood products flooded the market, films under this term are often associated with black and white cinematography.

Throughout this essay, I will be discussing the characteristic styles and themes of film noir, they will be demonstrated through the films ‘In a Lonely Place’ (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray and ‘Double Indemnity’ (1944) directed by Billy Wilder. In a Lonely Place (1950) was based on a Hollywood screenwriter Dixon Steele and Laurel are just getting to know each other but Dixon was involved in the murder of a girl he met once, Mildred. Laurel then suffers her love affair towards Dixon as she was wondering if he murdered Mildred.

Double Indemnity (1944) is about an insurance salesman Walter Neff meets Phyllis Dietrichson when he was asked to renew her husband’s automobile policy. She asked to buy accident insurance for her husband without his knowledge. Neff and Phyllis were soon becoming lovers, they prepared a scheme to murder Mr. Dietrichson for life insurance money so that Phyllis can receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause. Unfortunately, everything doesn’t go to plan. Elements that will be covered are the narrative, style and form, themes and the behaviour of the characters.

Noir films have similar characteristics on their narratives, the ‘feelings of fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia were readily evident in noir films, reflecting the ‘chilly’ Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present.’ (filmsite) Therefore, narratives were frequently complex and convoluted, and typically told with threatening orchestral score at the background, flashbacks, witty and sharp dialogue, first-person voiceover narration. This could be seen from the opening scenes from Double Indemnity (1944) when Neff was telling the audience that he killed Mr. Dietrichson for Phyllis for money, but he ended up not getting the money nor the woman. In this scene, Billy Wilder used flashbacks to tell the story, so that the audience knows the fate of the main character. From this point, every scene in the film is building to a conclusion that the audience already knows.

As Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre gives the audience a ‘set of pleasures’, from Double Indemnity (1944), audience receives intellectual pleasure from the character, Neff so that they understand the plot of the film a lot more. Here is where Neff is trapped by the narrative in which he exists in, the film then plays off a kind of existential fatalism, which is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. Whilst the audience is already being told the fate of Neff in Double Indemnity (1944), Nicholas Ray showed a classic characteristic of noir films – complex narrative in his film In a Lonely Place (1950). As Dixon was the last person seeing Mildred, he puts himself into a suspect list, from this, the audience has to figure out whether Dixon murdered the woman, which audience are forced to show their intellectuality throughout the film. In other words, they could put themselves as Laurel, as Laurel in the film is doing exactly what the audience would be doing in their minds (trying to find solutions or clues to figure out the truth of the whole murder situation).

As ‘classic film noir developed during and after World War II, taking advantage of the post-war ambiance of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion. It was a style of low-cost, B-list American film that capitalized on advancements in film-making in the 20s and 30s’. (filmsite) Therefore, it could be argued that film noir is not a genre, instead, it is a ‘style of American filmmaking from the 1940s and 50s characterized by detective protagonists, seedy settings, shadowy lighting, and a fatalistic tone.’ (Christopher McKittrick, 2018)

There are characteristics of the iconography of a noir film, for example, ‘Venetian blind’ lighting is featured in Double Indemnity (1944) where there is a low angle medium close up shot of Neff before killing Phyllis. The low-key lighting and Venetian blind lighting are used to show Neff a dark and suspicious side, these styles of lighting add on a chiaroscuro contrast to his face, connoting his moral instability on Phyllis. This also builds up tension to the audience, as it allows them to suspects something bad is going to happen to Phyllis. As we can see in the majority of the noir films, low-key lighting is the vital part/ style, as ‘noir functions as a literal and figurative zone of darkness, a place that must be illuminated so that we can see.’ (Wheeler Winston Dixon, 2009: 3) This is because most films with noir elements in it are categorized as a crime or mystery genre. Therefore, low-key lighting allows producers to create enigma and tension to the audience, which makes the film more stimulating. Another reason for this is that noir films are black and white, so the producers are more likely to use the advantage of different levels of lighting to create different modes of tension for the audience.

To explain this further, we can look at the fistfight scene of Dixon and the driver that accosts him in In a Lonely Place (1950), the contrast of lighting is comparatively higher than the normal lighting. Connoting his aggressiveness from his inner body, which also reveals to the audience that Dixon’s severe anger issues are no longer concealed. Apart from lighting, the characteristic of sound is also an identification in noir films. The sound that is used on a scene would generally be diegetic traffic flow, with the occasional siren to match the urban location, with the sirens also adding to lower society of the film noir world. An interesting point when the scene involves women, the instruments tend to be high pitched with instruments such as violin and flute. This can be heard in Billy Wilder’s production when Phyllis is walking down the stair to meet Neff in the living room. The violin creates the effect of a weary romance from Neff towards Phyllis, whilst the flute would be used to emphasis the beauty of Phyllis.

However, looking back to the scene before Neff killing Phyllis, it consists of background music and the dialogue between two characters and also the sound of the gunshots. At the beginning of the scene, Neff went to close the window behind Phyllis as he doesn’t like the music from outside the house, but in reality, the reason why he closed the window is that he doesn’t want the gunshots to be heard. The gunshots were loud enough to create contrast because the audience doesn’t know that Neff has a gun, which provides emotional pleasure (Altman, 1999) to the audience, as they were shocked with Neff’s action towards Phyllis. In addition to this scene, the music is contrapuntal with the actions of the characters, as it is a romantic and calm piece of music, not a stereotypical piece that normally used to build suspense. But as soon as the gunshots were heard, the romantic music stops, it is a way to exaggerate the action that has just taken place.

Besides, the way of how noir films’ directors portrait their work through shooting from different angles, to fit into its unique characteristic styles can easily be seen in Double Indemnity (1944) and In a Lonely Place (1950). The most commonly used shot is low angle shots, largely because they make the character or subject of the shot appear to be more powerful. This is used for both femme fatale and male characters, which allow directors to interpret to the audience when the characters are empowered within the storyline. This is evidenced towards the end of Double Indemnity (1944), a low angle medium close up shot is used to show Neff’s facial expression and his upper body’s movement. Which allows the audience to see his posture, and has given ideas of Neff’s dominance over Phyllis, because of his power, Phyllis ends up being murdered. Within the shot, we can also see the costume that Neff is wearing – smart suit, this connotes his wealthiness and intelligence. Moreover, if we look at the costumes that the characters in both films are wearing, we can clearly identify another characteristic style of a noir film. In noir films, there are two types of women; femme fatale and innocent woman, for example, “wife” or working woman.

Femme fatale uses their beauty, charm and sexual allure to attract the male characters, we can see this through their outlook, for example, red lipstick, low neckline, high heels, elbow-length gloves, jewelry, dress, precise and neat hairstyle, and cigarettes. If we look at Laurel from In a Lonely Place (1950), the tone of her costumes throughout the whole film is quite dark compared to Phyllis in Double Indemnity (1944). This connotes the danger inside Laurel and that her life right now is in its downhill. As she wasn’t sure about her doubt on Dixon, thus she is slowly realizing the aggression of Dixon. However, the dark clothing also connotes her upper-class status and that she is the femme fatale of the film. On the other hand, for the men’s costume, they are likely to be a hard-boiled detective and end up getting the femme fatale, the characteristics of their clothing are trench coats, suits, guns, hats, and cigarettes. This can also be seen in both of the films that had been covered above.

Finally, the vital element of noir films is the thematic contents, such as dynamics between gender and femme fatale. As Christine Gledhill argues that women in the noir world tend to split into two categories: ‘there are those who work on the fringes of the underworld and are defined by the male criminal ambience of the thriller’ (Helen Hanson, 2007: 3) eg femme fatales and murder rich old men for their money; ‘and there are women on the outer margins of this world, wives, long-suffering girl-friends, would- be fiancées who are victims of male crime, sometimes the objects of the hero’s protection, and often points of vulnerability in his masculine armour.’ (Helen Hanson, 2007: P3) This can be seen in Double Indemnity (1944), however, it is the other way round of what Christine has said. Instead of fiancée being the victim, it is Phyllis’ fiancé, Mr. Dietrichson being the victim. In the end, Neff didn’t get the money nor the woman. This fits in Matthew Sweet’s rules of the 1940s and 50s American film noir thrillers that it is ‘a dame with no past and a hero with no future’. (imdb, 2009)

This sums up the ending of Double Indemnity (1944), as Neff murdered someone for the one he loved but in the end, he couldn’t get what he wants. Furthermore, considering the gender dynamics during the 1930s to 40s, males are dominating the society, however, they are still attracted to femme fatale. Which contradicted the ideology of men being physically and emotionally stronger than woman, and that they dominate over women. As in reality, they can easily be distracted by women and their sexual allure.

To conclude, film noir is not a genre, it is a style of the film during and after World War II in the 1930s to 40s. There are a lot of specific characteristics styles and themes, which they can be easily and clearly identified. Both Double Indemnity (1944) and In a Lonely Place (1950) demonstrate the characteristics style in noir films by breaking the rules of classic Hollywood films, in order to make it selves unique.