Double indemnity was made in 1944 and is a classic American Film Noir. The plot to this film is a successful insurance salesman gets talked into a murder and insurance fraud scheme. A lady has a rich husband and she makes him get life insurance with the salesman. The lady and the salesman murders the lady’s husband making it looks like he has fallen of the back of the train by accidence. The plan is for the lady and the salesman to collect twice the amount of insurance from the company.
In the first scene you are shown that the movie is in black and white which is very typical for a film noir. A man dressed smartly with a hat and pipe in his mouth returns to his office looking like he is in pain he doesn’t speak at all. There is just music in the back ground that spends up and gets faster till he picks up the phone. Starts to tell the audience why and how he got in the situation he is in and this is when flash backs are brought into the film. He admits on the phone saying” yes I killed her” this leaves the audience guessing on why, what and when he killed her.
The main female character is Phyllis Dietrichson, when you first see her on screen my first impression was she’s a blonde, stylist dresses very elegant, rich and she’s a stay at home wife. Also she’s half naked when Walter Neff comes round and meets her for the first time this shows that she is just an item and is scene as a sex symbol as the way she is looked is important to her roll she plays. Even when she goes to get dressed she put on a dress showing her famine character. You wouldn’t have expected her to be a murder which you find out later on in the movie as she looks very innocent and venerable. as the movie goes on the audience are shown that she is a strong character impression of her totally changes from the first time you show her as she convinces her insurance agent who is Walter Neff to help her murder her own husband because she isn’t happy being with him and want his money shows a powerful side to her, not the typical female character you normally see in films.
The main male character is Walter Neff, who is an insurance salesman. He is the first character that’s introduced to the audience of him in the office looking like he’s in pain. He is dressed smartly and is in all black wearing a hat as well making him looking like a stylist classy salesman.
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