Blog Entry 4 Double Indemnity

Q 1. Discuss the contrasts between the endings of the novel and the film. Which seems more appropriate for film noir? Why?

Firstly I didn't like the ending in the novel as I did not understand the descriptions so well. But thanks to the class discussions I came to understand it a little better. While I understood the visual of the film version a lot more and have decided that I like the ending of the film noir version a lot better. I see in it a lot of noir elements; like within the film you have a sardonic protagonist (being humorous in a grim or sarcastic way). You also see dark shadows, and venetian blinds which cast-off many bar-lined shadows across some of the characters giving thoughts of them being trapped in the situation in mise-en scene their in on camera. And of course the femme fatale: mysterious and double-crossing.

In the novel the idea that the two of them, Huff and Phyllis Nirdlinger being found together on ship, and that they sense the captain knows just who they are by the look he gives the two of them as he exist the radio room ( that neither of them will get off ship except in handcuffs), as they rome past walking the decks contemplating their great suicidal escape that evening by jumping overboard in the rear aft of the ship hopefully into the waiting jaws of that big ol' shark they spotted following the ship earlier that day to finish them both off. I can see how this leaves the the story open to the imagination and suggestive thinking and personal interpretation. Yet I like to see a finale. Like as in the film, where Neff gets it, but only in turn to kill that vixen.

Q 5. During the title sequence, a man on crutches hobbles towards the camera. Explain the significance of this image. Who in the story does this man represent? Why would this be an appropriate image to show at the beginning of the film? How does this sequence anticipate later developments in the film?

To start with I didn't think to look up the phrase double indemnity in the dictionary, until I started writing all these blogs. Indemnified: 1. to protect or insure (a person) against penalties incurred by his actions etc. 2. to compensate(a person) for injuries suffered. Indemnity: 1. to protect or insure (a person) against penalties incurred by his actions. 2. compensation for damages done. But then back in 1944 I would think there would have been something about that phrase that would have understood just as today by audiences that tells them what the movie's about if they knew the meaning of the phrase. I guess especially if you're in the insurance business or you have knowledge of an infinitive broad working word knowledge; I don't. But still Walter explains the meaning to Phyllis in the novel and I think he does the same in the film if I'm not mistaken. The significance of the man on the crutches symbolizes Mr Deidrickson whom we soon learn about as the film roles; but it also represents the impostor, that of Mr. Neff the insurance salesman turned murderer. I don't fully understand why it is appropriate to show this in the beginning of the film, except other than this is what the plot follows in the storyline. This sequence anticipates later developments in the film, as this is our first view on the big screen and at first we don't know what it means our self's, but later as the storyline envelops the audience, we begin to follow the trail of intrigue and the plans and design for murder. And as the players who are involved play out each scene, we watch to see if inevitably they get caught or some how they pull it off and get away with the crime; as it turns out they don't. As usual those who do wrong get caught and find themselves either serving long sentences behind bars or end up paying the piper with their very lives.