Reading a few reviews, the Double Indemnity: A Policy That Paid Off by John Allyn got my attention. Maybe it was the part where is said A Policy That Paid Off, where I think its ironic title for his review of the novel itself. John compares the two ending and discusses the end as a policy that paid off. I think it’s ironic because in the end in both novel and film this classic film noir, someone ends up dying. "In the original story Walter and Phyllis carry out a murder and stage a phony accident on a train to collect double indemnity on her husband’s insurance policy. They might get away with it but fear, inevitably, drives them apart. Each plan to kill the other, and Phyllis, who is more than a little pathological, it the first to act." she shoots him and he ends up in the hospital telling the story to Keys, to save Lola, (Phyllis daughter who Walter fall in love with) who is the cops number one suspect. End of the novel Keys lets Walter escape on a boat to Mexico where Phyllis is also on. While being on the boat "they feel they have been spotted and decide to jump overboard in a suicide." So they both die in the novel at the end.
In the same review John talks about the film which has I different ending. "In the film version the ending finds Walter and Phyllis meeting for that last in her living room. Phyllis shoots Walter and wounds him on the shoulder, but she cant fire that second shot and thereby becomes a more sympathetic, more tragic figure than the cool-blooded Phyllis in the book. Walter then shoots her to protect Lola.
Something I like about John's review was how stated "there is no suicide plan so there is no reason to establish Phyllis as pathological." Which is true. Walter had the control film than the novel. " This turn makes her motive for murder more understandable and makes Walter more acceptable than the sap in the book who will follow Phyllis anywhere." in a way I didn’t like the ending of the film because john is correct. Phyllis is not the femme fatal in the film. Well she is but she turns out to be care-ness at the end instead of careless.
Another thing I liked about john's review that he made sense to the film ending. "By returning to the living room where Walter and Phyllis first meet, as much a cage in the city as the insurance office, the film is given a satisfying dramatic and visual unity." once again I agree with John's review!
Allyn, John. "Double Indemnity: A Policy That Paid Off." Literature Film Quarterly 6.2 (1978): 116. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Mar. 2011.
Hello Jeannie
ReplyDeleteWow!!! I really like the way you write. Your writing is very simplistic and acccurate. Another thing that caught my attention was how you describe the novel and the film to everyone in a short way. I think that it's a good way to let people know what the novel or film is going to be about because your not giving out the whole story, your actually making very brief and that's what I liked. i think that's also my kind of style. Overall Jeannie great job. Continue writing in this style I find it really good. Good Job.
I agree Phyllis does become a more sympathetic figure after she decides not to fire that second shot. Throughout the novel she seemed very cold-hearted and manipulative but in the film we see a more compassionate side of her when she doesn’t shoot Walter a second time (well as compassionate as someone who just shot someone else can get). I agree with John’s review, Phyllis doesn’t seem to have as many femme fatal characteristics as she does in the book. In the film we know that Phyllis is leading Walter down a wrong path, but throughout the film it seems like it is Walter who is in control of the situation. Walter does seem different in the film he seems more heartless and it was harder to relate to him as it was in the novel. Yes the movie does have a sense of unity because everything seems to end right where it started; in the living room.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said, "Phyllis is not the femme fatal in the film. Well she is but she turns out to be care-ness at the end instead of careless." In the novel we see Phyllis have no mercy on Walter. She shoots him and leaves making it look like Lola or Nino tried to kill him. In the movie she shoots him in the shoulder, not giving him much damage. Instead of shooting him again to kill him she lets him live. Walter is not as kind. He ends up killing her. We do see him have a little sympathy for Nino though. He does not let him go in and take the fall for the murder. He tells him to find Lola and tells him where she is at. I liked reading what you had to say and look forward to reading what you have to say in the future.
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