on 2/12/2025, 10:28 am
Actually, that purpled-out image of Fred MacMurray that kicks off the climatic scene of DOUBLE INDEMNITY is rather nice in capturing the overtones of the situation--the feverish voiceover (a detail Ms. Lee notes but doesn't emphasize) is modulated over the course of the film, reaching its peak of fervor when Walter Neff's plans for escape are scotched by the mixed motives of his "confession."
Ms. Lee's instructor probably should have focused more on film noir and not on the cultural ("American tradition") and slipped THIS GUN FOR HIRE into the mix to balance out the "private dick" component that continues to irk Dan H. and that continues to skew critical approaches to noir right up to the present day. (Of course Ms. Lee might be convinced that noir really is linked to the policier mode if she were to see the films that actually kick off noir--the "forgotten four" from France in 1932!)
But she makes some good points about Neff's character and how it functions in the film, signaling her openness to a wider array of narrative dynamics that come into play as noir expands and evolves.
It's rather fun to watch a young person discover noir in this incremental way, something that Eddie M. is attempting to cement (hence his relentless quest for the "young people"). It seems like the classroom (and not the barroom) might really be the best place to lasso the youngsters...
Next up for Ms. Lee: OUT OF THE PAST.
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