Walter Neff's Last Stand

The Quote

“Circumstances become more and more unendurable, and yet you must endure” is the quote by Director Abraham Polonsky I chose from the American Cinema’s episode “ Film Noir” that best fits the situation Fred MacMurray’s character faces in the film Double Indemnity.  Walter Neff,  Fred MacMurray’s character, enters into a murder pact with Barbara Stanwyck’s character, Phyllis Dietrichson to kill her husband, played by Tom Powers, for an insurance policy Walter Neff wrote and sold to the him specifically for this purpose.  The husband is killed by Walter and the his murder is faked as a train accident, simple enough.

Endured

(A)  After the victim is out of the way things unravel pretty rapidly as Walter’s boss, Barton Keys, played by Edward G. Robinson, starts to suspect the wife and who ever her boyfriend may be, Keys states “It just a hunch of 26 years of experience”.  

(B)  The point of severing Phyllis from her husband was to be able to be with her and collect the insurance. Now that she is under suspicion Walter can’t be seen with her, the two are still separated and the insurance company refuses to pay on the policy with a court hearing.

(C) To make matters worse the victim’s daughter, Lola, played by Jean Heather, confides in Neff that she too suspects the wife, her step mother, and vows to find the truth and bring it to light. He spends a lot of time entertaining her in an effort to calm her down. It appears that spending time with Lola brings out some remorseful feelings in Neff. 

(D) All this time his guilt makes him feel as if he was being watched.

(E)  He comes face to face with Mr. Jackson, played by Porter Hall, the only eye witness from the train who saw Walter. He is in Barton Keys’ office. Even though Mr. Jackson seems to think he has met Walter before he never puts it together to Walters’s relief.    

(F)  Phyllis is followed by the insurance company and is observed several times in the company of Lola’s hot headed boyfriend, Nino, played by Byron Barr.  Neff begins to wonder why Phyllis and Nino are together.  Perhaps she is working on Nino to get rid of Lola and him too.  

(G) In a bid for self preservation he goes to see Phyllis with the mind set to kill her, and frame Nino for her murder and her husband’s.  Neff kills Phyllis but not before being shot by her.  Although wounded Neff has the chance to escape but returns to his office to make a full confession to Keys via recording drum device.  He essentially bleeds out and is assumed captured. 

Walter Neff was able to endure all of these circumstances until he saw a way out of his situation.  With pressure mounting from all sides he decided to murder again rather than be hung out to try by Phyllis.  You would think that the character had reached the limits of his endurance at this point but rather than run immediately he offers a confession to his boss maybe just too show I have a little more left.

The Femme Fatale

I chose to go with Janey Places’ description of a femme fatale.  In synopsis a smart, powerful, sexual woman with a willingness to use her sexuality to get what she wants.  Illustrated by long hair, tight cloths, long finger nails and she smokes.  A lot of the time shot with the camera from a low angle to show she has power or a position of control. 

I would have to say that Phyllis is a typical text book femme fatale in description and deed.  She uses her sex appeal at the right time to suggest to Walter that maybe she and he could be together, if her husband was out of the picture.  She employs Neff like a tool and by the end of the movie it is pretty obvious that she has every intension of disposing of him via Nino of the revolver under the chair cushion.  By her own admission we see that she is truly rotten and will use who or whatever is necessary to get her way.

Photography, lights and location

Film noir, at least the post World War Two films have the distinction of being some of the first films shot on location with a minimum of effort.  The setting was usually urban/metropolitan a street, trains, parks and so on.  The techniques and cameras developed during the war made the ability to film off the sound stage and with more mobility a noir staple.  Black and white film and the use of seemingly natural light and shadows seemed to convey a sense of “there is something going on here” you just can’t see what it is.  The viewer was left to their imaginations.

In Double Indemnity the use of bright light is evident in the opening shots as Walter Neff arrives at Phyllis’ house regarding the lapse in her husband’s policy.  The ice cream truck pulls over for kids playing in the street and at this point he is a happy guy going about his job.  But when he leaves the house the mood and lighting become darker. 

In watching the movie I noticed that in nearly every interior scene there were either venetian blinds or plantation shutters casting their shadows into the rooms, a noir trademark. 

And when events were about to take a sinister turn the shot would pull in on Phyllis’ face, as her husband was murdered you see her smirking face aglow and the inside of the car dark.  Again as Walter arrives at her house she lights a cigarette while seated on the pistol she more than likely intends to shoot Walter with. 

The only semi-deep focus shot I recall was when Walter, dressed like the victim with his crutches was on the rear platform of the train talking with Mr. Jackson.  Walter never turns around just let Jackson talk to the back of his head to avoid recognition.

As for the neo-noir films I think they capture the spirit of the old movies but they lose that sinister, dark foreboding that the black and white films had.  They show too much and leave less to the imagination.  There is nothing like an original and all the money, modern equipment and Technicolor in the world can compare