 |
Jack Vincennes in Captain Dudley Smith's house questioning him
about Rollo Tomasi in L.A. Confidential.
|
 |
| Walter Neff gives a hand to Barton Keys as he tries to puzzle out who killed Mr. Dietrichson in Double Indemnity. |
In two iconic Noir films, Double Indemnity and L.A. Confidential, masterful film work able to singularly express the power behind characters can be found. In this blog, two examples of the aforementioned scenes can be viewed and enjoyed in all their glory. In the first picture, Walter Neff is seen offering a lit match to his boss, Barton Keys, to light his cigar. A common gesture throughout the movie, this instance is significant because of the circumstances behind the scene, and the power struggle is shown in the way the camera was worked. Unknown to Barton Keys, Walter Neff has committed murder and tax fraud, killing the husband of his new love, Phyllis Dietrichson and is now hoping to collect the money and get away with Phyllis. Barton Keys is in charge of identifying and charging tax fraud and is currently in the process of determining what has happened. At this point, Walter Neff is in control, with no signs pointing to his guilt, he is seen relaxed. However at the same time, the camera is angled up from an area below the actors with Barton Keys sitting down and Walter Neff standing. With the initial height difference and the addition of the camera angle, Walter Neff appears to tower over his boss, making Barton Keys all but insignificant. From the camera angle and set up of the frame alone, his current power over the situation is clear even though this power struggle is unknown to Barton Keys at this time. Similarly, in the clip from L.A. Confidential, Jack Vincennes is seen sitting down with the camera behind him angled up at his boss, Dudley Smith. Once again, there is a power struggle shown in the picture, created by the set up of the scene and the camera angle. In the case of the scene from L.A. Confidential, Jack Vincennes is following up on a murder case he believes in unsolved. Coming upon a key piece of information, he brings the news to his boss, Dudley Smith, in hope of uncovering more facts. However, it turns out that Dudley Smith is in fact behind the incorrectly solved murder, and the information revealed by Jack Vincennes ultimately leads to Dudley Smith murdering Jack Vincennes as well. Very similarly paralleled to the picture from Double Indemnity, the man sitting down, or the man lacking power in the current situation, is not yet aware of any power struggle. Ignorant to the involvement of the other men in the picture, Jack Vincennes and Barton Keys are both relaxed in the picture, but from the figures seemingly towering over them, it becomes clear to the viewer that there is a power dynamic in play. The man standing, towering above, is in control and is more aware of the situation brought to them than is known by the characters. These two pictures are examples of a film makers successful attempt to show this power dynamic and the underlying intricacies without blatantly stating them in the movie, and in both cases, this is done very well.
