blog 5

After reading the article that Brian Gallagher wrote called I love you to: sexual warfare & homoeroticism in Billy wilder’s double indemnity I think he was spot on with a lot of his theories except on the bromance. I really think he put a lot of thought on all of the subliminal messages that accrued in the movie. But I really think Brains gaydar is off a little. Yes I get it that homosexuality has been alive and kicking for a while but the actors that Billy put in this film are not what I would call on the light side of man hood. So after the discussions we had in class and dissecting every bit off Brian’s article I did some research on Billy and I have to admit I may have been wrong on this one and maybe my gaydar may be off a little. Let me explain what I found. Billy said in an interview after the making of double indemnity that he wanted to create a love story between two men when he made double indemnity. In this article by QScribe, Billy wilder: My Gay Icon. Who says in the article that “he said he didn’t know why the abundantly heterosexual wilder should have been drawn to queer subject matter time and again” looking into the mind of wilder some more it is said that most of his movie held some content of gay relationships in them and that he did like to tap into the taboo. But I have to say coming from a heterosexual male that I just couldn’t see it. What saw were two guys that were friends and that had worked together for a long time. Keys being older then Walter and also at the time he is his friend and mentor. Both men don’t have kids or wives, I saw this as maybe a possible father and son type of relationship or maybe even keys playing the part of Walters big brother image. But I guess that’s what Billy wanted to project. And he did a good job of doing that, because I never realized this homosexual relationship in the movie was being displayed through subliminal contexts. But if I was gay I might have picked up on it and I think that was Billy intentions. I do have to give Billy kudos on doing this because he did a brilliant job on disguising the content. On another note if I wrote double indemnity I think at first I would be upset with wilder for changing the content but after thinking about it for while I think a brilliant job on combining film noir and this ever controversial subject. I really hope that I could shed a different light on this subject.

Blog 4

        My first response is to question 1. Discuss the contrast between the endings of the novel and the movie and which one seems more appropriate for film noir and why. Well the hard part is keeping your personal opinion off of which ending you really liked and keeping your thoughts on how they keep with film noir. Both endings in my opinion are very good ending to this story. In the novel I think James Cain took more time in presenting a proper mystery ending then in the movie and by this I mean more elaborate. The whole bit about where Keyes is talking to Walter in the hospital and telling him the low down on how Phyllis is a cold blooded murder and that she was most likely the one responsible for the death of children and MR.Nirdlingers wife. And that Sachetti was really investigating Phyllis. Also that whole scene where they both end up on the boat feeling that everybody knew who they were and that there only escape was to dive for shore hoping that they didn’t get eaten by a shark that was following the boat was classic film noir. And by this I mean in keeping with film noir both the femme fatale and good guy turn bad get what they deserve. Now don’t get me wrong the movie ending was good and it also kept in with the tradition of film noir as where the femme fatale and the good guy turn bad get the shaft at the end they just didn’t do it with as much class. Mainly in my opinion because of budget or location, the whole bit about her loving Walter so much that she couldn’t pull the trigger again and him shooting her instead. And then going to the office, well that just seems like there trying to end the story too soon.

        My response to question 4. Discuss the appropriateness of Fred Murray and Barbra Stanwyck for their roles in the movie and how do these actors measure up to the image the book gives us. And do these actors exemplify qualities that are consistent with the description of the protagonist and femme fatale in film noir. I think they did a real good job on picking the right actors for this roll. At first when I saw who were playing the parts I thought Barbra was a good choice but Fred Murray was a bit off. But he pulled it off playing the dull every day guy with a desire to break bad, not to good looking and a little tarnished. And they matched what I imagined in the novel. Barbra was an excellent choice as she displayed every bit of the femme fatal with her whole character being that of a double crossing, tough, and extremely manipulative woman who in the story was too much for Walter to handle. As you can see that through most of the story she controlled most of the moves and made Walter think that he was the one who was the master mind. Now with that said lets redo the movie to present day who do you think should play the part of Walter and Phyllis? Maybe Brad and Angelina lol.

blog 3

        The night was picture perfect for pain and sorrow with the rain coming down and the night dark with clouds. As knell in front of my wife’s grave site thinking how I let her down in not convicting the bastard that killed her. But he was very well connected and had all the right people in place to make sure that if any one got close to his illegal activity’s he had a way out. Even if that meant he had to murder a cop’s wife just make a point. The case was closed and done with for about three months now and no one took my suspicions about his activities seriously. Everybody I talked to on the force chalked it up to stress brought on by my wife’s car accident, it was no accident. But it’s real hard to convict a congressman of drug trafficking charges when he owns just about everybody in key places. Even when I brought charges up on him it seems all my witnesses and discovery went missing and made me look like a fool to my superiors and completely discrediting me. Killing my wife I guess was icing on the cake.

        All of the sudden I heard or felt somebody behind me and all could think is what a hell of a place to kill me. I turned slowly around fully expecting a 9mm bullet to tear into my chest and I see a woman dressed all in what looks like a black dress. But it’s hard to see with how dark and cloudy it is. Do you want revenge and justice and if you do will you kill that son of a bitch if I give you all the information you need. I know that voice it’s his wife Kelly, what are you doing here and are you out of your mind. I’m a cop not a hit man. Kelly was about half his age a stunning red head, with a sweet smile and a body to match but you could tell she was just a trophy and she was meant to be seen and not herd. Just answer the question? She said. I didn’t know what to say I was in shock. She said that’s a good enough answer for her and she left me her phone number and told me to call her in 24hrs.

        Your dam right I called her, 22years of upholding the law and now I was going to break it in a very large way. As the weeks went by and we planned how I was going to get that bastard me and Kelly became close I guess she wanted my undivided attention and she knew just how to take advantage of a grieving man and at this point I really didn’t care. I needed a place to get him that his secretary or his legal calendar wouldn’t show his appointments like when and where he would be. Like on one of his money drops, that’s when he will be alone without his body guard. We need to make it look like the deal went bad or maybe a robbery. She gave me a time and place when he was going to be at a landing strip just outside the city. There was only one catch, she wanted to be there to see his face when it went down, at first I said no way but what the hell he had been treating her like a dog for so long that she at least deserved that.

        He was there five minutes before the plane arrived just like she said he would be and we were there five minutes before him. As he stood there facing the run way smoking a cigarette we walked up behind him quietly and as he turned around to see who the hell was out there I stuck 10 inches of fine hard steel in his stomach and then proceeded to bring it up toward his chest. His expression was priceless as he feel to the ground. And just as we turned around and I was thinking it was over I see 3 cars approach us and as we stand there I can hear people screaming for us to get on the ground. I recognized there jackets FBI, I guess I wasn’t the only one who was looking at him. Sitting in the back seat of one of the cars and looking at her in the back seat of the other car I see her smile at me.

blog 2

Frank Morgan BLOG 2

         I’m not real big on reading books in fact I don’t read books at all. Why read a book when you can go see the movie or at least that how I thought. But I have to say that James M Cain does a good job with Double Indemnity on giving you all the proper visual insight to let your imagination fill in the blanks. The question that we want the answer to is how we can read a book and get the feelings, images and story line that are displayed in film noir without actually seeing the story play out on the big screen.                                      

        Double Indemnity the book takes place in the Los Angeles area around the 1930s time frame. When the city just started its booming period with large brick building and neon lights filling the land scape and the homes had Spanish decor. Keep in mind in these days wise guys and gangsters were coming up in the world. The story is told by one of the main characters Walter Huff who is an insurance salesman who is described as a pretty straight up guy who really knows the ins and outs of the insurance business and he’s the one that can really tell who’s going to try and defraud the insurance company. In the book Walter goes to renew an insurance policy to one of his customers. When arriving at the house the man of the house who is Walters’s customer is gone but his wife (Phyllis Nirdlinger) is home and she agrees to listen to what he has to offer. She is at first is described as having a sweet face and kind of washed out look with blue pajamas on. But on their second encounter she brings on all the hotness and makes sure he notices what kind of body is under those clothes. They end up talking about accident insurance and we all know where this conversation is going? You guessed it they end up talking about how Mr. Nirdlinger may have an accident and what a horrible thing that would be “yeah right.” At first she puts on the act like it really bothers her but this woman is so cold she even had MR. Nirdlinger daughter (Lola) as a witness to the signing of the accident policy. And then ask Walter to drive Lola down to the movies knowing dam well that they are planning to murder her dad that’s one cold woman.

         For months they practice what to do and what not to do and how they might pull this off all while falling in love with each other. They need him to have an accident on a train so that they can collect double indemnity on the insurance claim. And when MR. Nirdlinger plans a trip to his reunion they see their chance to achieve there murder. Then end up pulling the murder off but a funny thing happens after the murder. Phyllis get up tight and angry and Walter gets sick to his stomach and his feeling for Phyllis start to change from love to hate. The story plays out with the head personnel at the insurance company (Walters bosses) having their own opinion that this was a murder and at this point they are trying to figure out how to go about proceeding with this claim. One executive (Keyes) wants to squeeze Phyllis into confessing and the other executive (Norton) wants to make Phyllis sue for the money and see how it plays out in court.

        From the book ESSENTIAL CINEMA by Jon Lewis Film Noir is a style characterized by deep shadows, night scenes, shady characters, and plots involving elaborate schemes and betrayals. There are many aspects to this book that lend to the style of film noir but. Let’s take this statement right here plots involving elaborate schemes and betrayals and apply it to double indemnity the book. We can see clearly how Walter and Phyllis plan and plot an elaborate way to kill MR. Nirdlinger in order to receive full profit from an accident involving a train. And the main contributor of this idea is MR. Nirdlinger own wife showing a deep betrayal of character. This story is a classic build up love, greed, murder and betrayal and of how a good man of sorts has been persuaded to do things he wouldn’t normally do by a very persuasive femme fatale.