Blog #7 Option 3

As I start to read Los Angeles Noir I realize that this is definitely not a pg13 book that anyone can read. This book is an R rated book for sure. With the weird, sexual and dark stories it tells, gets your imagination on another level. As I start to read the first story "The Method" by Janet Fitch I can almost imagine myself in the story. I definitely recommend this short story over Patt Morrison's Morocco Junction. I say this because the whole time you are left with wanting to know more about what is happening and you would have never expected the result; at least I didn't. The Method also fits more into the Noir genre as it tells about a girl who moved to Los Feliz, California from Kearny, Nebraska to pursue a career in acting. She meets a man at her job in which they become boyfriend and girlfriend or should I say more of rather sexual partners. He uses her to try and commit a murder for him to an old famous actress Mariah McKay. Well turns out she finds out that he doesn't love her and is using her and she turns the table on him and poisons him. As she watches him die she tells him how she was onto him and wasn't going to be made to look like a fool.

This is noir, dark, evil, sexual and cruel, with the story being read in first person, through the protagonist, this time not being a male but female, Holly. She shows the cynical, obsessive, frightened and insecure loner struggling to survive when ultimately she loses. In the end it almost as she works as the femme fatale as well, in a way with her manipulative ways by tricking him into having sex when she slips the poison he had given her to poison Mariah and then she ends up using it on him. As he slowly dies she whispers to him "Am I good enough now, Richard? (121)”. This shows the immoral and cruel side to noir. This short story without doubt gave me chills.

On the other hand Morocco Junction did not. I was very bored for most of the story and had to stop reading and come back to it several times, although the end was very intriguing, but it did not remind me at all of noir. Except for the fact that maybe there being a detective which is who you are reading under the whole time. The whole thing had me very confused at times until the very end where I was able to understand more and finally caught my attention. But I would not recommend this short story; it was very bland and if you’re looking for something more towards the noir style this is not it. Overall I recommend The Method, it gives you a better insight to what noir is and shows you the gloomy yet immoral side of what a true noir story is all about.

Blog #5 Different Perspective

            As I search to find a review online, I find it really hard to choose one.  Almost every review has something great to say about both the novel and film for "Double Indemnity". I started my search on google and came across a site called goodreads.com. I found many great reviews but one definitely caught my attention.  Reviewer Jeffrey Keeten starts off with a quote "I had killed a man, for money and a women. I didn't have the money and I didn't have the women." he explains how the is one of the great Noir lines of all time, and that he could stop his review right there because that line sums up the movie and i'd have to completely agree.  As Jeffrey starts to talk about both the novel and film he goes into speaking about the Femme Fatale Phyllis, how she could be one the most viperous examples in history. He explains the difference in the way Phyllis was portrayed in the film as being more of a deviously manipulative than in the novel which I have to agree on, maybe because we were able to actual see and visualize her. Then he starts on about Huff and gives a great example of Huff's relationship towards Phyllis as " She being the carrot and he is the greyhound running around the track." Jeffrey believes that there is no hesitation about Huff and that he's not sure what was more important to Huff pulling off the perfect swindle or winning the girl; in which Jeffrey agrees to him pulling off the perfect swindle. I'd have to agree with him if it was directly related to the novel but as I watched the film they made Huff and Phyllis out to be as if they were truly in love with each other whereas in the novel they seemed to only be in love before the murder and used it as an excuse for the murder of Mr. Nirdlinger.

           Jeffrey Keetan finishes off his review with greatly recommending both the novel and film. He says that he generally liked both but much rather enjoyed the novel because there was more depth to the characters and more subplots that can be incorporated into the flow of the novel, but even a movie that butchers the original source material can be a great movie. I believe Jeffrey did a great job in describing his view of both the novel and film and was able to put them into words that everyone could relate too.  Overall I definitely recommend this site, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the reviews. For the most part all of the reviewers loved "Double Indemnity" as did I and would recommend both the novel and film. Both leaving you with wanting more but yet it being just enough. 

Blog #4 Novel VS. Film

As I watched the end of the film of "Double Indemnity" I started to notice many differences compared to the novel. Not only did it end different but there were many scenes that they had changed around and even added more to it. I didn't like the ending to the film, it seemed rushed towards the very end, almost as they just wanted to hurry up and end it. Even though I feel the same way towards the novel, I liked the way they ended it better, it was a short ending with lots of detail. Although I did like the fact that in the film they had Walter kill Phyllis. Just saying she was one heartless woman, who got what she deserved and that was to "die in pain". That sounds horrible to say but when you can kill multiple people for no reason what so ever then they deserve whats coming towards them, in one way or another.  As I said that in the movie they had added more scenes, such as in the novel Phyllis and Walter did not see each other after the murder until they were on the boat, whereas in the movie they had seen each other multiple times. In the film Phyllis and Walter were portrayed out to be as if they were still in love with each other unlike the novel they had moved on after the murder of Mr. Nirdlinger and only kept in contact to make sure they were on the same page so they wouldn't get caught.

 Both of the endings left me with wanting more, with the novel I wanted to know that they actually jumped off the boat, this novel had been so detail oriented the whole time that in a way I was expecting them to tell how they did it and they did sorta but I wanted more haha. With the film I felt like they missed so many things and could have made it so much better. Both endings seemed appropriate for film noir, but I believe the novel did a great job at giving so much detail in the little things like at the very end where they describe what Phyllis is wearing, "She's made her face chalk white, with black circles under eyes and red on her lips and cheeks. (114)" This quote gave me the chills and creeped me out. Film noir describes femme fatale as a mysterious, duplicitous, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, manipulative and desperate women and I believe that Cain did a fantastic job in describing and portraying Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis is just that if not more. Film noir is described as dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed love and they emphasize the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of human experience. As I refer to the last sentence in the novel, Walter says his last words " I didn't hear the stateroom door open, but she's beside me now while I'm writing. I can feel her. The moon. (115)" With such little words Cain ends this novel with just that, "Film noir".