March 2, 1999

Announcements:  There will be two review sessions after spring break.  The first is Tuesday, March 16 from 7 - 8:30.  The
                           second is Friday, March 19 from 1 - 2:30.  They are both in 113 Carnegie.  The second exam is March 23.

Lecture Notes:

I.  The French Connection

• During WWII, France was occupied by the Nazis and the exhibition of American films was banned
• Upon liberation, theaters were flooded by the backlog of American films which were made during the war but not seen in France
• These were movies of a different style than pre-war films which were upbeat, classical Hollywood cinema
• Post-war movies were downbeat, pessimistic
• The French were fascinated by these movies and coined the term "film noir"

II.  Noir as Genre

• Some critics say film noir is a specific genre that relies upon an identifiable set of characteristics
• dark, rainy streets
• fixed characters
• predictable narrative pattern

III.  Noir as Series

• Other critics say film noir is a series of thematic conventions that go across genres
• Can not be characterized as one specific genre
• There were noir westerns, such as High Noon, noir comedies, etc.
• Film noir instills an uneasy feeling in the audience

IV.  Nosferatu and Attack of the 50- Foot Woman

• Nosferatu gave rise to German Expression
• In Attack of the 50-foot Woman, a woman was exposed to atomic radiation and thus grows to 50 feet
• This was made in the period of time after the war where women were going back to their homes
• Shows the fear of the career woman
• Both movies use similar film noir characteristics:
• claustrophobic framing
• oblique/diagonal lines
• low-key lighting

V.  Futility of Individual Action

• Post WWII, Americans were going to work in the cities, which were considered cold and impersonal
• There was a rise of the mobile American society as more families were willing to relocate for their jobs
• Film noir addresses this

•  A jazz musician is wrongly accused of holding up a bank
• He becomes ensnared in a web of police manipulation

    The film opens with an insurance salesman, Walter Neff, entering his office early one morning.  He begins speaking into a dictaphone recording a message for his boss, Mr. Keyes.  He confesses to killing Mr. Dietrichson for money and a woman.  He says he didn't get either.  He begins telling how it all began.

    In May, he went to the Dietrichson's house to talk about their car insurance.  He meets Mrs. Dietrichson (Phyllis) and is instantly attracted to her.  He arranges to come back when her husband will be there.

    Back at his office, he receives a message from Phyllis saying she doesn't want him to come over the next evening; she wants him to come over Thursday afternoon.  She tells Walter her husband said that he'll renew his insurance.  When he goes to her house, she tells him she's worried about her husband working in the coal mine and that he should have accident insurance.  Phyllis asks Walter all the details about the policy.  She wants to get a policy for her husband without him knowing it.  Walter realizes that Phyllis wants her husband dead so that she'll get the money.  He tells her she won't get away with it and leaves.

    She stops by his place later that night and tells Walter that he got the wrong impression of her.  They kiss and say they're crazy about each other.  They decide to come up with a plan to kill Mr. Dietrichson.  First, he had to get Mr. Dietrichson to sign a policy without him knowing what it's for.  He signs what he thinks is an auto renewal policy.  As he's leaving the house, Walter tells Phyllis about the double indemnity clause, which pays double for an unusual death.

    Mr. Dietrichson's daughter, Lola, is waiting in Walter's car when he leaves.  She wants a ride to see this man, Nino, whom she is seeing.

    Phyllis and Walter would arrange to "bump" into each other in the market to talk over their plans.  One day, he gives her the policy to put in Mr. Dietrichson's safe deposit box.

    On June 15, Mr. Keyes comes into Walter's office and asks him to be his assistant.  Walter turns the offer down because he doesn't want a desk job.  While they're in the office, Phyllis calls.  She tells him that she'll be driving her husband to the train (he has a broken leg from an accident at work) and they work out their plans.

    When Walter leaves, he leaves his rate book on his desk, and he takes his car to a garage.  These are all things to establish his alibi.  He changes into a navy blue suit, which is what Mr. Dietrichson would be wearing.  He walks over to the Dietrichson's house and sneaks into the back seat of their car.  Phyllis and her husband get in and start driving to the train.  When they are driving through a dark alley, Walter reaches up and kills Mr. Dietrichson.  They go to the station and Walter gets on the train, looking like Mr. Dietrichson.  He goes out to the observation tower, but someone is in there.  The man offers to get Walter a cigar.  When he leaves, Walter jumps off of the back of the train.  Phyllis is on the side of the tracks waiting for him.  They take Mr. Dietrichson's body out of the car and place it on the tracks.

    Walter goes back to his apartment and then goes to the garage, so the repairman would see him.

    Mr. Keyes and Walter go see the head of the company, Mr. Norton.  He tells them that he doesn't think the death was an accident.  He thinks it was a suicide so the company is not liable.  Mr. Keyes does not agree.  Later that night, Keyes goes to see Walter at home.  He thinks it is odd that Mr. Dietrichson never placed a claim when he broke his leg.  This probably means that he didn't know he had a policy.  Keyes suspects Phyllis is involved.

    Lola goes to see Walter.  She tells him that she suspected Phyllis of killing her mother years ago.  She also says she saw Phyllis trying on a black veil right before her dad died.  Walter makes sure that Lola doesn't tell anyone else this news.

    One day Walter goes to Keyes' office and outside is Jackson, the man that was on the train.  Keyes figured out that Mr. Dietrichson was killed somewhere else and put on the tracks.  Jackson comes in after looking at pictures of Mr. Dietrichson and says the man on the train was not the man in the pictures.

    Phyllis and Walter meet and he tells her they're pulling out of the deal.  They can't sue because they need to save their necks.  She threatens him by pointing out that he planned how to kill him, she only wanted him dead.
 
    Lola and Walter are together one night.  She tells him that she thinks Nino and Phyllis killed her dad.  After the murder, Nino was supposed to meet her, but he never showed up.

    Walter goes to Keyes' office to see if Keyes thinks that he's involved.  He listens to a message from Keyes to Mr. Norton saying he doesn't think Walter is connected to the murder, but he has seen Nino and suspects him.  Walter calls Phyllis to arrange to meet with her.

    Right before Walter gets to Phyllis' apartment, she hides a gun under a cushion.  He tells her he's getting out of the deal.  She shoots him and hits him in the arm.  He walks closer to her trying to get her to shoot him again, but she doesn't.  She tells him that she thought she never loved him, that she was only using him.  She realized, though, that she really did love him since she couldn't shoot him the second time.  He shoots her dead.  Outside Nino is about to walk in.  Walter stops him and offers him a nickel to go call Lola.  He tells Nino that Lola is in love with him so he goes to call her.

    This is when he goes back to his office to leave the message for Keyes.  While he's talking, Keyes walks in.  Walter tells him he is going to flee the country and cross the border.  As he's walking out of the building, he collapses from all the blood loss and dies.  Keyes tells him he loves him.