Examples and synopsis of Classic Film Noirs

Director: Billy Wilder

Double Indemnity - 1944

Walter Neff is a successful insurance sales man who works for pacific all risk. He goes back to his office late at night and tells his story into a dictaphone. He meets the femme fetale of the story, Phyllis Dietrichson when he goes to renew her husbands insurance policy. During their conversation, it becomes very flirtatious with provocative phrases and sexual inuendo. He learns that she can take an insurance policy out without her husband knowing and wants to murder him to make a claim and tells her he wants no part of it. She visits him at his home and tells him that together they should kill her husband. Being in the business himself, he knows about all the rules etc, therefore he came up with a plan so that she would receive twice the insurance pay out using the "double indemnity" clause, whereby the husband dies an unlikely death. Phyllis wants Lola, her husband's daughter, killed because Lola suspects her of killing her parents. Walter finds out that Phyllis is also seeing Lola's boyfriend and decides to blame them for the murder. Phyllis tells him that she was seeing Lola's boyfriend so that he would kill Lola however, he attempts to shoot her but she shot him first. Phyllis hugs him and he shoots her. He confesses to the detective and says hes going to mexico instead of serving a death sentence but collapses when walking to the elevator.

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Ace in the hole       -  1951

Chuck Tatem is a news reporter who is short tempered and this has caused him to be fired from Americas best newspapers. He finds himself in Albuquerque, trying to get a job from Jacob Boot. He wants the job to save up the money to go back to New York or Chicago. He gets hired by him but he complains about the lack of news in the area. He gets sent with the photographer to cover the rattlesnake roundup but on the way he discovers that Leo Minosa is stuck in a cave in an old indian burial location. The local indians and Leo say that the spirits might have caused the cave-in as he's been stealing religious relics from the cave. he writes a story and to ensure he keeps the rights he makes a deal with the crooked sheriff for keeping Leo's location secret.  Chuck finds out that the rescuers can get him out in 12 hours so he decides to persuade them to drill from above allowing him more time to write his story as instead of 12 hours, it will take 6 days. The New York newspaper hires Chuck back and pays him a large amount for the story. Leo becomes ill as the time passes and changes the lives of those who made profit from his suffering.

Evidence of some of the noir elements would be: the venetian blind effect, when Walter goes to confront Lola just before she shoots him, her face is covered in the blind pattern using contrasting shadows across her face with minimal light peering through the gaps. The use of contasting shadows in ace in the hole when he goes into the cave, bright light with dark black shadows.