Keturah Sarno

ENGL 400
02/20/2016
Screening Report 1
Double Indemnity
I would like to focus on the 1944 classic film noir Double
Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder. Towards the beginning of the film
the two protagonists, Walter Neff, played by Fred MacMurray, and
Phyllis Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, have their first
flirtatious encounter. This encounter began the downward spiral for
Walter as can be seen through an initial foreshadowing created by the
metaphor of a rushing car, which runs a stop light, in combination with
the use of lighting and an urgent-sounding music track.
The title shot of the film depicts a man limping toward the
camera on crutches. Low-key lighting depicts the
man only in silhouette.

The music takes on the

sound of a deadly march toward the camera. The

film then cuts to a crane shot of the rushing car
mentioned above, as it speeds through downtown Los Angeles. The car
carrying Walter can be seen as a metaphor for rushing into Phylliss
false love. Walter Neff is driving the car, and runs recklessly through
obvious dangers. This foreshadows the warning signs for the dangers
presented by Phyllis later in the film.

One scene that lures Walter in takes place in the foyer of Phylliss
home. The director uses a voiceover frame narrative in which Walter
speaks into a dictaphone in his colleague,
Keyes' office, to remember his first-time
meeting Phyllis. When he walks into the foyer
Phyllis Dietrichson is depicted in an alluring
low-angle shot, as she is wearing only a towel and is illuminated by a
key light.

The scene uses a low-angled shot on her and then

implements a shot-reverse-shot sequence, cutting from high to lowangle shots, according to which character is speaking. Although Phyllis
is brightly lit, the space around her is dark, concealing the whole
picture from Walter, just as Phyllis will conceal from him her true
nature and her schemes.
The use of the horizontal lines is implemented in many films
noirs. In this scene the horizontal lines are cast by the venetian blinds
that seem to be located throughout the Spanish hacienda-style
California mansion. In this particular frame the audience will see the
shadows cast by these blinds that almost act as an arrow that is
bringing the viewers attention towards the staircase. The staircase
itself has the balusters pointing vertically, directing the viewers
eyesight upwards as if the camera were waiting, like Walter, for Phyllis.
Using this low-key lighting was an interesting cinematic device
producing the illusion of lines with shadows throughout the scene. This

allows the scene to have a feel of mystery. Not only does the scene
direct the filmgoers eyes towards Mrs. Dietrichson but also towards
the horizontal shadows on the floor, walls, and even Walters shirt,
giving the impression that he is caught in her trap. Once he meets
Phyllis, the low-key lighting of bars compounds the feeling of being
trapped and that is exactly what Walter will be once he is locked into
Mrs. Dietrichsons devious plan to kill her
husband for money.
Going back to the beginning scene
where Walter is frantically driving the car,
the

use

empathetic
sense

of

orchestra

of

rendering

sound

and

sound

both

contribute

mystery

and

tension.

conveys

The

temporal

animation when accompanying the fast

car pace towards the office for Walterss
confession. In the same construction scene the sound of drilling
heightens the tension. Furthermore, sound use is an important part in
this scene and demonstrated when the car tries to avoid being hit and
sharply turns its wheel causing a screeching tire sound, which
exemplifies fidelity. In conjunction, a signifier of the Los Angeles
Railway Corp also foreshadows where most of the films main drama
and murder will occur.

Thus, in the film noir Double Indemnity, the filmgoer will notice
many different angles of chiaroscuro lighting and empathetic sound.
The motifs created by lighting and sound in Double Indemnity,
particularly by low-key lighting and disturbing sound, combine to
create the films omnipresent sense of a tragic destiny awaiting Walter
Neff.