The cover of the “Double Indemnity” novel, written by James
M. Cain shows a big train in black and white, already illustrating main
elements of film noir. The main character’s name is Walter Huff, an insurance
salesman who has fallen in love with Phyllis Nirdlinger the married woman or
the classic femme fatale character who is desperate and chooses to manipulate
Huff into planning the perfect murder against her husband and betraying
everything he had ever worked for. Their relationship shows a strong example of
Huff, “the male protagonist in film noir who has to inevitably choose (or have
the fateful choice made for him) between the women and invariably he picks the
femme fatale who destructively goads him into committing murder or some other
crime of passion.” A very relevant part of the novel that I believe relates to
a key element in film noir is after the murder was done, Huff is at his house
in his room and had just finished a conversation with Ike Shwartz (another
salesman) to complete his plan so that he would an alibi and nobody would have
any suspicions of him and Phyllis that could connect to the murder, is
contemplating about what had just happened and says “Soon as he hung up
everything cracked. I dived for the bathroom. I was sicker than I had ever been
in my life. After that passed I fell into bed. It was a long time before I could
turn out the light. I lay there staring into the dark. Every now and then I would
have a chill or something and start to tremble. Then I started to think. I tried
not to, but it would creep up on me. I knew then what I had done. I had killed
a man to get a woman. I had put myself in her power, so there was one person in
the world that could point a finger at me, and I would have to die. I had done
all that for her, and I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived. That’s
all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate.”(Cain 54) Now if that
is not a perfect example of self-regret or internal conflict, hence crime from
within in film noir, then I don’t know what is! The dark things a man does for
love that has him trapped in a situation that can have fatal repercussions with
a woman who is crazy, manipulative, and gorgeous just waiting for somebody to
find out what crime they’ve done. This kind of quality gives the readers or
audience that feeling of suspense that makes one think what is going to happen
next. Other good examples of film noir
from the novel is the night-time setting on the railroad tracks where Huff and
Phyllis were dragging the dead corpse of her husband to make it look like he
had fallen off the train by accident, clearly showing the lie and crime they had
done or the part when Huff had just finished talking on the phone with Phyllis,
he says “I loved her like a rabbit loves a rattlesnake. That night I did
something I hadn’t done in years. I prayed.” (Cain 70), pretty much telling
what in the world has he gotten himself into.
I liked how you took into account of using the cover of the book as an example to help illustrate the black and white atmospheric element of film noir. That had me thinking differently about the phrase, “never judge a book by its cover.” I know that phrase is totally meant for something else, but in this case, the cover of this book does have to do a lot about its overall theme. Also, I liked how you implemented the feeling of self-regret and the internal conflict within Walter after he committed the crime. It feels like the author was taking into account the perception and moral weight of confession.
ReplyDeletei never really paid attention to the book cover till now and it does gave you a great illustrate of atmospheric of what film noir is about. I like how you also put the comment when Mr. huff says he loves Phyllis like a rabbit loves rattlesnake it was a good example of how the femme fatale had manipulative the protagonist to her plan and in most film noir novels it only takes the gorgeous women to make the protagonist to believe she is loving and trustworthy so they can make them do whatever they want.
ReplyDeleteVery well put, the cover does give you that noir feeling that prepares you for what you're about to read. The femme fatale in Double Indemnity does what she does best and manipulates Mr. Huff into joining her in her dark fantasy with death. You make a very good point when you talk about how Mr. Huff felt after the murder, "self regret" and "internal conflict". He definitely feels that now, especially all alone in his room starting into the dark, gives you that strong feeling of noir at it's finest. Great job.
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