DOUBLE INDEMNITY, TRUE FILM NOIR

After reading the novel Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain and watching the majority of the 1944 film, based on the novel by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, it proves to have all the the characteristics of Noir based on the handout titled "Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir". After reading the review by Lawrence Russell on the Internet, web address www.culturecourt.com his observation is in line with the handout and the definition of noir. According to Russell," It's in black and white, and it certainly had the pathology: a woman gets a man to commit her crimes on the promise of sex and big money". He also states "that the male dupe is betrayed and takes the fall for her crime".

The story takes place in Los Angeles with insurance agent Walter Huff trying to make a sale of auto insurance to Mr. Nirdlinger and he decides to make a house call. Once he gets in and discovers the man of the house is not home, he encounters the femme fatale of the story, Mrs. Phyllis Nirdlinger. This begins the entrapment and destruction of Walter by the fatal sexual manipulation that Phyllis portrays. Russell states, " that if the fate of the protagonist is revealed from the beginning, what's left to keep you watching?

 Noir seems to have the characteristic of the end of the novel or film starts at the beginning of the work product. This effect would make the reader or viewer want to know what is in between, especially when the murder has already taken place. How did it get to that point. Russel brings out a lot of good points in his review. "Within the modernist sets of the classic noir sex is primarily an act of self-destruction", suggested by Russell. " The actual murder is carried out like a play wherein Walter is both assassin and understudy. That Walter pretends to be the dead man complete with crutches and leg cast when he boards the train for Palo Alto is both a prophecy and a parody of his fate" states Russell. I liked the way he ended his review with the statement, "In the noir universe, there is no insurance for an agent who writes his own plans, it seems". This was a very good review, having seen the film and read the book it gave life and faces to the characters.