Blog # 3 "Double Indemnity"

WOW, is all that I have to say about the ending to this novel. At first I had a feeling that Phyllis was somehow going to try and kill Walter but did not expect to find out how many other people she had killed previously to the murder of Mr. Nirdlinger. The ending of this gave me chills, and creep-ed me out it was not what I expected at all. I didn’t think there was going to be so much going on. One minute I’m thinking it was definitely Phyllis trying to kill Walter but then Lola and Sachetti come into play and now I’m thinking it’s them. I think that Keyes played a major role in this and I had my mind set that he was the detective the whole time, because he had guessed the entire murder and was trying to figure out who did it. Then when he started talking about all the other murders that Phyllis did, and how Sachetti was friends with her the whole time because he was trying to find out that she was the one who murdered his father and three children. That’s when I changed my mind; Sachetti plays the role of the detective in this novel. He had to become close with Phyllis so that he could try and get her to spill the beans about what she had done. “Sachetti elected himself a one-man detective agency to find out what it was all about (106)”. In order for Sachetti to figure out that Phyllis did it he had to become close with her, very close and that’s what a detective does. A detective is sneaky and slick and finds a way to get information with out the assassin finding out.

The ending to this left me a little confused, and I had to go back and read it again. At first I didn’t like how the ending played out, if left me wanting more details. But now that I think about it, that’s how Phyllis and Walter should have died. They committed suicide in shark infested waters meaning they died miserably, and as they should have. One thing that also made me happy was to hear that Lola and Sachetti got married. They have both been through so much trauma in there lives that they can both relate to each other and move forward with their lives. This book left me wanting to read a part 2 just so I could find out if the case would have been solved and for Keyes to get the satisfaction that he was right all along.  

Double Indemnity is a great example of Film Noir, with it being a dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Not only there being one main murder but we find out that the femme fatal “Phyllis” had murdered multiple people. She is a gorgeous woman with a deceitful and manipulative personality, as Keyes describes her as “pathological”. Even though this novel seemed a little fast-pasted at time, it kept my anxiety high and wanting me to read more and more.      

Blog #2 "Double Indemnity"

James M. Cain's novel, "Double Indemnity" tells a story about a dark, deceitful and yet suspenseful murder. Walter Huff an insurance salesman out of Los Angeles, California meets a woman by the name of Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis is wanting to buy an accident policy for her husband. At first Walter was a little bit suspicious of Phyllis because she didn't want her husband to know, but Walter was amazed by her beauty and fell in love with her and as she did with him. He had a plan and that plan was to get her, and in order to do that he arranged the perfect murder and gave up everything he had ever lived for. Over time Walter and Phyllis planned out the murder of her husband, thinking about every possible detail that they could so it would be the perfect murder. Walter schooled Phyllis on everything and told her exactly what to do and say to get him right where they needed him. The plan was set now it was time to put it into action. Mr. Nirdlinger was heading to his school reunion and was supposed to drive but had broken his leg and wasn’t able to, which had worked out to Walters benefit. Because he couldn’t drive, Phyllis convinced him to take the train in which she drove him to the station with Walter hidden in the back seat, in which he proceeded to break Mr. Nirdlinger’s neck with his crutch. Walter was dressed exactly how Mr. Nirdlinger was and took his train ticket and got on the train. Phyllis drove the car with the body down the road to a dark place, where Walter got off the train and helped her place Mr. Nirdlinger on the tracks as if he stumbled and fell of the train. They thought they did it and planned it perfectly. But people started getting suspicious, especially Walters co-workers. One thought it was suicide, when the other new it couldn’t be and he knew it was murder.

 As you compare “Double Indemnity” to film noir you can see many characteristics. Film noir is described as, “nightmarish, weird, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel”. And James Cain’s novel “Double Indemnity”, I think is exactly that. Some characteristics such as, it taking place in a large city, femme fatale, crime, cops, guilt and paranoia play a major role in Double Indemnity. Film noir stories were developed around a male character who encounters a beautiful but promiscuous and seductive femme fatale who used her feminine charm and sexuality to manipulate him, often ending in a murder. Double Indemnity is just that as this quote shows it, “What I was doing was peeping over that edge, and all the time I was trying to pull away from it, there was something in me that kept edging a little closer, trying to get a better look.(14)” This quote explains how Phyllis was able to manipulate Walter into helping her with the murder of her husband. This is what film noir is about duplicity, guilt, and loveless love.  

rsheppardfilmnoir.blogspot.com

     According to the reading, film noir is based on movies from pre-millennium '90 that were based on dark, scary and suspenseful films. Film noir is best described as, crime-infested, shadow-draped, and black and white movies. Most of these films were imported from Europe. Germans and Australians, who had fled the Nazis and expressed there experiences in their films. Film noir is described as more of a white film, so basically these films are for and about white people. Film noir is a style that most film makers enjoy, and that of young filmmakers began in noir mode. As “The Neo-Noir’90s” describes it,” film noir is still exuding its old, shadowy glamour”. You would think during the time film noir had started it would have been a time of despair and depression but no, it was during an age of peace and prosperity. There were three novelists that took part in the vision of noir who were Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, and Cain. Immediately following World War II, film noir seemed to change more. Most of the films that were made were not box office hits, they were considered a fluke, and unlikely to go anywhere. Such as the movie “L.A. Confidential”, most of the audience was directors, film students, critics and some of upscale film enthusiasts. Most of these films now are low-budget, independent films. This reading describes film noir perfectly “noir is a stylistic safety blanket that lets us deal with crime and chaos without saying what’s really on our minds”.