Blog entry # 5

On his film review “Dvd Playback” written by Kenneth Sweeney about Double Indemnity he claims that Double Indemnity represents the most perfect example of the film noir-thriller on the 1940’s, he based it on the cinematography worked by John Seitz, together with the directors Hans Drier and Hal Periera, they created a landscape of stark contrasts, dark corners and multi layered shadows. Although this is not the first film noir of its kind, a lot of people consider the visual texture of Double Indemnity to be the hallmark of the genre; he also talks about the setting of the film that makes the movie more effective. Sweeney stated that the “consistent use of sharply contrasting lighting, sparely decorated locations, bold shafts of light diffused through window blinds or cigarette smoke, and a generally expressive, darker slant on the proceedings was a stark departure from the highly saturated look that characterized the growing number of color films at the time”. I agree with the author because the setting itself speaks for the movie and it has an impact to the audience. Seitz use monochromatic schematic with a nearly infinite gray scale that fits and heightens the tension of the dark narration made by Walter Neff. The gray scale looks very pleasing that mirrors what the film looked like in the 1940’s. The cinematography and the settings are effective enough for the film to be nominated in an Academy Award and became an inspiration to other film of Noir. Sweeney also mentioned about the speech delivered in the beginning of the film by Robert Osborne which he thinks very unnecessary among with the commentaries that tend to be repetitive. This article focuses more on the settings and I couldn’t agree more with Sweeney, the movie cover all the visual elements to make it as a work of noir, like the low-key lighting, most of the scenes are shot with this to give emphasize to the evilness especially on the scene where Walter is at his office confessing about the crime he just did, the movie also used a lot of low angle shots to show power especially with the femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson and also the sharp focus every time their showing her face as a sign of her hardness or brittleness. I also learned that they did a television remake but Sweeney described it as laughable and jaw dropping dull. I wonder why he felt that way on a television version, I would think that it will be better because there is more than enough time to explore the movie more in depths and I also wonder if it has a different ending like the novel and the film. According to Sweeney 60 years after its first release the movie die down and lost its slick and black hearted charm. Nevertheless Double Indemnity is regarded by many as the first true film noir, with its dark tone visually and thematically that is brilliantly done and express through lighting and set up.