Double Idemnity 1944

There are several elements that caught my attention when watching the movie that really made the film really enjoyable and satisfying to watch. An element that was all the way throughout the movie was the lighting of the match; I enjoyed that not only because of the bad ass way in which he lit the match with his own fingers but because it was kind of symbolic in a way. He has to light Keyes cigarette through out the movie because Keyes never has a match, which I think he says in one scene, is because he doesn’t trust it going off in his pocket. Which I found interesting because I think that shows Walter being a bit more “daring” and more willing to “play with fire” in comparison to Keyes; Walter is the one willing to take a chance on breaking the law while Keyes is not willing to take the chance of the consequences at all. Then at the end of the movie Keyes has to light Walter’s cigarette because he is too weak and can longer control the flame. This is extremely significant because that’s the moment when you know Neff is going to die; he’s defeated, and there is no saving him and makes a really great ending.
And I personally love watching movies where its plot is centered on a certain crime that’s been committed. Although this was one of the first movies to do the insurance fraud killing the husband, it has become a huge cliche and a bit predicable but because they “Tarantino-ed” it (by showing the ending first and then going back to explain how they got there) I think it works really well. I loved how it was all set up like that, with the car speeding in the first shot and him going to the office for the confessional, where it goes into the meat of the movie as a flashback with the confession as a voice over explaining what’s going on in his point of view, and how it ends with Keyes coming in the end of the confessional. I think because of that layout of the movie I was still interested and was constantly wondering what had happened to him and what was going to happen to him.
I think this is a great example of film noir, and really worked for the plot and keeping you intrigued throughout the entire movie. You have the women fatale that manipulates the men around her paired with the easily gullible love sick man, who both commit a crime and are being tracked by an investigator ( in this case the insurance company, instead of a detective but with definite detective qualities). It also had the noir dark low-key lighting and shadowing all the way through out the movie, which I thought was perfect for this movie, because it set the mood of the scenes which were mostly mysterious, dark in nature, suspenseful, and created tension in some cases; which pushes your interest in what is going to happen to these characters. And it ends on a bleak note, where the “bad guys” die but you feel a bit of sympathy, remorse and satisfaction at the same time. It’s a great example of film noir but I think just a great film altogether, I love the dynamic with the characters, the fast paced dialogue, the film style, the plot, down to the shot sequence and lighting; everything compliments each other very well. I love the fact that it’s a classic film, where a lot of elements in it have become cliches but I feel like I could watch this over and over and still enjoy the suspense and tension that builds every time the story is told.