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.