Double Indemnity And Body Heat Comparison

887 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Roles of female gender in cinema

Double Indemnity and Body Heat are two movies that deal with heated passion, tainted love, and reckless murders. Double Indemnity was created before Body Heat in the 1940's setting the tone for the film noir period of movies. Whereas the movie Body Heat created in the 1980's is a Neo-noir film that recreated certain elements from the film noir type movies. On a side note, Double Indemnity and Body Heat were both directed by men which is another similarity between the two movies. Double Indemnity clearly paved the way for Body Heat by giving audiences an updated version of the same story directors had created 30 years ago. Body Heat gives the audience a new perspective on just how far someone will go to be with the person they love. Both movies …show more content…

They both commit murders for married women they fall head over heels for. These women are known as the femme fatale characters. Matty Tyler Walker the femme fatale in Body Heat is almost overly masculine. She always takes control of the conversations that happen between her and Ned. When Ned, and Matty first meet in the beginning of the movie Ned tries to start the conversation talking about how hot it is outside. Within minutes Matty explains how she is married, but is on her own most of the time because her husband only comes home on the weekends. Ned finds Matty very attractive and instantly wants to explore this opportunity of sneaking around with a married women. Ned wants to go to the bathroom to wash up, and leaves Matty for a brief moment. While he's gone she leaves without any goodbye. Matty shows no interest in wanting Ned, and that's what leaves him wanting her even more. Then there is Phyllis Dietrichson who is the femme fatale character of Double Indemnity. Phyllis is introduced to Walter Neff, when Walter shows up at her door looking for her husband who he wants to sell automobile insurance to. Phyllis is in her robe just getting out of the bath when they first meet, and Walter cannot stop smiling. Phyllis compliments Walter on being a good sales insurance man when they get to talking. Walter, and Phyllis continue to flirt back and fourth eventually she invites him back to her place for the following day at 8:30. Phyllis says she wants him to come back to meet her husband so he can get a deal going, but Phyllis has her own plans in mind. Phyllis' character is very similar to Matty Walker's because they both are confident, appealing to the eye, charismatic. and know how to get what they want. The traits they both posses are said to be more masculine, than

Show More
Related

  • Chinatown Film Noir

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    The genre film noir has some classical elements that make these films easily identifiable. These elements are displayed in the prototypical film noir, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity. These elements include being filmed in black and white, a morally ambiguous protagonist, and a prominent darkness. However, the most striking part of a film noir is the femme fatale, a woman who craves independence through sexual and economic liberation. In his film, Chinatown, Roman Polanski uses many of the classic elements of a film noir, however he twists many of them to reflect the time period. This is particularly evident in his depiction of his “femme fatale,” Evelyn Mulwray.

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity Walter Relationship

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    Double Indemnity is a film noir directed by Billy Wilder and was released in 1944. The film follows Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), an insurance salesman, and Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), a housewife who is unhappy with her marriage, as they carry out a plan to kill Phyllis’ husband, set it up as an accident, and collect $100,000 worth of insurance money to keep for themselves. While many viewers would say the primary relationship in the film is between Walter and Phyllis, there is a unique, less-obvious relationship between Walter and his boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). Throughout the film they have peculiar conversations, light one another’s cigarettes, and share a heartfelt breakup at the end of the film. The relationship

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity: Film Response

    290 Words  | 1 Pages

    Billy Wilder’s film Double Indemnity uses a considerable amount of German Expressionism techniques. A crystal clear example of this is at the end of the film when Walter goes to meet Phyllis at her house, when he opens the door a long and sharp shadow appears across the wall. This is a technique used in one of the most famous german expressionism films Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In order to get this effect, Wilder is using low-key lighting so the shadow is obvious to the audience. In this film, long and sharp shadows as well as inky blackness often appear on the screen, this is a major characteristic of german expressionist films. The mise en scene reinforces the darkness in the style and tone. These films emphasize

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity Movie Comparison

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1943, James M. Cain wrote one of his most selling novella “Double Indemnity”. The following year, Billy Wilder, a movie director, with the help of Raymond Chandler, a screenwriter, took the book and adapted it to the big screen while keeping the original title. Eventually, the movie became very popular and nowadays, “Double Indemnity”, widely regarded as a classic, is often considered as a paradigmatic film noir since it has set the standard for films that followed in that genre. The movie adaptation is significantly more effective in creating the mood of suspense and making the overall story tenser through the changes made to the main characters, namely Walter Huff, Barton Keyes and Phyllis Nirdlinger.

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity: A Conspiracy with Motives

    2176 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Billy Wilder’s 1944 blockbuster hit Double Indemnity, a fast-talking insurance salesman named Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) visits the home of the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) to renew the insurance policy on her husband’s automobiles. A romantic affair shortly ensues, and Walter is soon coerced by Phyllis into plotting a murder. Walter then comes up with an idea to receive double the amount Phyllis had previously intended, and they eventually deceive Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers) by making him sign a double indemnity insurance policy which in return states that the widow will receive full compensation on behalf of the bearer’s death. Mr. Dietrichson’s death is then made to look accidental; however, all does not go according to plan when Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a diligent insurance investigator conducts an examination of the case file. It is a tale of love and betrayal where Walter and Phyllis inevitably face the repercussions of their actions. The story transitions from the present to the past with the use of flashbacks. The voice of Walter Neff is used as a narrative style in the form of an office memorandum which is integrated throughout the film. The movie opens and ends with Walter as he tells the story of killing a man to Keyes through the Dictaphone. Billy Wilder uses money, a woman and the ability to cheat the system to denote Walter Neff’s motives to commit the perfect crime.

    Read More

  • Walking Across Egypt

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick. Pearl Turnage, Mattie's older sister, has given in to the stereotypes that are now plaguing Mattie, and insists that she do the same. In fact, she invites Mattie to accompany her to the funeral home, where they will each pick out a casket that they are to be buried in. Pearl pushes the subject, as if to force Mattie into realizing that she doesn't have much time left to live. Pearl also begins talking to Mattie about the past and the fun that they once had, as if to tell Mattie that those days are over and that it is time for her to begin a new chapter in her life.

    Read More

  • Social Issues In The Show 'That 70's Show'

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    Donna’s father is angry when he finds out and automatically assumes it means she’s going to have sex with many men. This example is representative of the double standard held between men and women. It wouldn’t be an issue if one of the boys had multiple partners or used birth control, but as soon as one of the females does, it is frowned upon. When Jackie hears that Donna is on the pill, she exclaims “you’re going to be so popular,” which implies women can only be well-liked if they please men. Then, Eric’s parents give him “the talk” and while Kitty mentions that foreplay is important, Red disagrees. This implies a woman’s pleasure is not important, as long as men are taken care of. While Laurie is home, Eric finds out that she is failing classes, perpetuating the “dumb blonde”

    Read More

  • Film Noir: The Big Sleep

    858 Words  | 2 Pages

    while his wife Bunny and daughter Maude are reminiscent of the two Sternwood daughters, Vivian and Carmen” (Bergan 201). These two women also provide that all-important aspect of the femme fatale. Bunny is the impulsive, sexualized woman who acts without thinking, and lives by the charity of the elderly husband who just can’t tell her no. Maude is the dark, intelligent, manipulative woman. She works in the background, accomplishing what she wants, only telling others what they need to hear for her to get what she wants.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the film Double Indemnity

    2717 Words  | 6 Pages

    Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder 1944) is a film about an insurance sales man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) that falls for a highly sexual, scandalous woman, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) who attempts to kill her husband. Even though Walter dismisses Phyllis attempt to purchase life insurance policy for her husband; he is unable to stay away from Phyllis for long. In the time they spend together, Walter and Phyllis try to hatch a fool-proof plan to get rid of her husband and get a double indemnity from the insurance company. Walter Neff boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) is a man of skill and knowledge, and has been working in the same job for twenty-six years, and has always been able to tell who is a cheater and who is an honest man. Barton ability to tell who is being honest by consulted the ‘little man’, and does so throughout the film. Walter later finds out that Phyllis has been involved in another ‘accident’ prior to her involvement with her husband Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers).When both Walter and Phyllis are about to be found out by Barton, Phyllis attempts to kill Walter and escape with the cash. The scene in which both Barton and Walter are together in the office and are later in the hallway in which the male characters Walter and Barton both find themselves together on the ground highlights and suggest gender noir in the film. The film Double Indemnity uses the stylistic qualities of film noir to illustrate the homo-erotic relationship between Barton and Walter with the use of lights, shadows, and oneiric qualities which also suggest and emphasize the importance power of gender in noir.

    Read More

  • Miss Representation Summary

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time

    Read More

  • The Nightmare Before Christmas And Corpse Bride Comparison

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tim Burton is known for his stop motion animated films. In most of these stop motion films he uses many of the same techniques to produce his conflicts and resolutions. In two of his films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, they each have a different plot, but they share a common theme of death and another world. There are many similarities in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride including the use of dark and bright colors, the way music is used, using the dead and the living to thicken the plot, and supporting characters to show the main character’s proper course of action. The differences between the movies include the celebrations that occur, the means of transportation between two worlds, and how the dead and

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity Gender Roles

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the film Double Indemnity (1944) film noir also portrayed the gender roles (femininity) introducing a charming woman who got her ways into men’s life leaving him devastated, confused etc. women with these qualities are often called femme fatale. Women in general have a larger corpus callusum, that helps them transfer data through the left and right hemispheres faster then men that made it easy for her to achieve her aim, also women in the other head have a more limbic brain

    Read More

  • Double Indemnity: A Tale of One City

    2076 Words  | 5 Pages

    Adapted from the novella written by James M. Cain, Double Indemnity is a melodramatic film noir that highlights the conflict its characters face through adultery and murder which develops from the dissatisfaction and alienation that arose in the era of modernity as shown in most noir films. Unlike most noir films, Double Indemnity set the bar in terms of structural themes to follow and elements that eventually came to be considered essential in the noir genre. The film was seen to be a full embodiment of what the genre should be. Double Indemnity is an archetypal noir film, which portrays noir elements through its style, the characters, its writers’ backstory and the history of Los Angeles, the city in which it is set. This essay will examine how Los Angeles is integrated not only into the location but also into the storyline of the characters and their motivations but also the filmmakers’ lives. It does this through characteristic noir motifs like “the urban cultural landscape, the lack of rootedness of the characters, and the self-deceptions that center their world” (p. 437) affect the protagonists in the film. Double Indemnity’s use of Los Angeles as its primary location exposes the innate decadence and decay of the city through film noir stylistic elements. Billy Wilder directed Double Indemnity and the film became the archetypal noir film because it embodied all the characteristics of a typical noir film, which include “claustrophobia, paranoia, despair and nihilism” (Place and Peterson, p. 327) course kit source. Los Angeles, the city used primarily as the location in the film becomes not merely a backdrop but a character in the film through its physical and implied characteristics. The context through the stories of Wild...

    Read More

  • Sweating and Heat Loss Investigation

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sweating and Heat Loss Investigation Aim To find out whether heat is lost faster over a sweaty body compared to a dry body. Apparatus 2 Boiling tubes 47ml max 2 Measuring jug 50ml max A Beaker 250ml max 2 thermometers Paper towels A kettle to boil water A stopwatch 2 magnifying glasses (8x) 2 corks with a small hole through the centre A test tube rack Preliminary work In my preliminary work, I need to find out how much water to use, whether the tissue should be wet with hot/cold water, how often the readings should be taken, how accurate should the readings be, how many readings should be taken and what my starting temperature should be. My results are as follows. Starting temperature of 40°c Time (secs) Wet towel (°c) Dry towel (°c) 30 36 38.9 60 35 38.5 90 34 37.9 120 33.9 37.5 150 33 37 180 32.6 36.9 210 32.3 36.8 240 31 36.5 270 30.4 36 300 30.3 35.9 Starting temperature of 65°c Time (secs) Wet towel (°c) Dry towel (°c) 30 51.1 53 60 48.2 51.9 90 46.4 51 120 46 50 150 44.3 49 180 42.9 48.4 210 42.6 46.9 240 41.7 48 270 40.2 47.5 300 39.3 47 Starting temperature of 60°c Time (secs) Wet towel (°c) Dry towel (°c)

    Read More

  • Heat Transfer Essay

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Heat energy is transferred through three ways- conduction, convection and radiation. All three are able to transfer heat from one place to another based off of different principles however, are all three are connected by the physics of heat. Let’s start with heat- what exactly is heat? We can understand heat by knowing that “heat is a thermal energy that flows from the warmer areas to the cooler areas, and the thermal energy is the total of all kinetic energies within a given system.” (Soffar, 2015) Now, we can explore the means to which heat is transferred and how each of them occurs. Heat is transferred through conduction at the molecular level and in simple terms, the transfers occurs through physical contact. In conduction, “the substance

    Read More

More about Double Indemnity And Body Heat Comparison

Open Document