In most detective fiction written before the 1930’s, police officers played subordinate roles – but the World Wars changed that. Transformations in American society contributed to new concerns about crime, rising levels of violence and acute attention to the role of police. The spy hero was made redundant by the collapse of the Soviet Union and thriller writers needed something to fill the void. Rather than detection, the crime narratives focused on moments of moral decision making and were conveyed from the point of view of protagonists who were police detectives or government agents. A broader interest in exploring psychological motivation also found its niche in US film and was visually and narratively distinct from that of the 1930’s.
Film Noir - Double Indemnity Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is almost like a basic outline for the Film Noir genre. Film noir settings normally take place in city streets, railway stations, the underground, warehouses or even bars. These atmospheres create a scary feeling and with the big amount of space, it leaves many hidden mysteries or secrets. Other genres can be based nearly anywhere and still create the same impression, but with the use of equal lighting on the setting and characters the impression of Film Noir is made. The many Film Noir conventions through characters is seen in Double Indemnity.
Yes, I can relate but it was a fiction movie about vampires and Abraham Lincoln as a vampire sleigher. ( A movie about an alternate life they claimed he lived.) I am not sure if that counts, but if in some strange case it did then no, it wouldn't cast doubt on Diamond's claim because the vampire situation was just one time, Diamond proclaimed a prevalent amount of times when a more materially advanced society defeated a less materially advanced society. Terms I Learned: 1. prudence:
The elements of film noir, like the use of black and white, ads to the authentic nature of the film, almost touching on the style of a documentary. The use of black and white is purposely done, because at this time, it was possible to make films in colour. Not only does the black white give the film that realistic raw look on the docks, but also the use of the grainy, unclear filter that creates a poverty, dirty look over the film. Not only do the film noir elements give the film authenticity, but also the fact that the film is based on Malcolm Johnson’s Pulitzer Prize winning articles that expose the waterfront corruption and the film is shot on location in Hoboken, New Jersey. Although Terry, the protagonist, overthrows the philosophy of D’n’D (dumb and deaf) and becomes a conscientious person, he is partially responsible for his fate.
It is different because in the movie the glass isn’t shot up on the trucks, but instead they were covered in blood. Also while watching the movie we see that the site of the drug deal was not far into the desert. In the novel it says that Llewyn Moss is somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so you can see that they over exaggerated in the novel a bit. In the novel No Country for Old Men the author did a better job at creating suspense than in the movie. In the novel, suspense is demonstrated a lot more then in the movie because in the movie they don’t spend much time explaining how the characters are feeling at certain points.
But Scarface wasn’t the only gangster movie at the time. They also had Bad Company, The Hatchet Man, and City Streets. “The studio had its greatest success with its cycle of classic horror films.”(Dirks) Horror films were one of the first modern horror movies beginning with Dracula. Then other horror movies came along such as Frankenstein and The Mummy which both came out in 1932. Music was another way people got away from the bad times.
Two world renown short stories, “The Killers,” by Ernest Hemingway and “It had to be Murder,” by Cornell Woolrich, are original novels that were later then adapted into major motion pictures. “Rear Window,” is a 1954 American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based upon the short story “It had to be Murder.” This film was not only considered by many filmgoers and critiques to be the one of Hitchcock’s best, but was also considered one of the best short story to film adaptations. Although the film has major differences between itself and the novel, Hitchcock’s adaptation was very well done. With many difficulties upon changing a novel that is completely internalized within the main character’s, Jeffries, mind, the point of view is seen and spoken to the readers on his internal thoughts and gives a suspenseful taste in that he is completely immobile and can only see and hear that of which can be seen from his apartment balcony. In the sense that the readers must travel on a journey in Jeffries’ point of view, there is an intimate connection that the readers can easily obtain while moviegoers must receive near the end of the film after attaching themselves to the story upon being passive onlookers.
Film noir did much the same thing for the post-war era, in that the tone and mood of film noir are apropos of how things really are, a sense of reality, not distorted, but conveyed by expressionist techniques and convoluted plot lines. The mindset of an isolated teenager in high school closely resembles the isolation and
Although “Goodfellas” was taken in a broad sense from a real event that happened in the 1970s: The Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy Airport, some of this cinematic giant was fictitious. “The Godfather” on the other hand was totally fictional with overtones of what life was and is like in the Mafia. The movie Goodfellas which was written by Martin Scorsese was filmed in 1990 and according to Dana Renga, author of the book Mafia Movies: A Reader, she wrote that, “Ultimately, my goal is to Demonstrate how Goodfellas represents a pivotal change in mafia film genre, paving the way for a new kind of gangster film”(142). In this film the main character, Henry Hill, was from a lower middle class Irish-Italian family. His father worked as a mailman and his mother was a stay a home mom.
When America entered World War I, the Bureau’s work was increased again. They took sole responsibility for the Espionage, Selective Service and Sabotage Acts, and assisted the Department of Labor by investigating enemy aliens. The FBI of the 1920s focused on stopping gangsters and enforcing Prohibition. The 1920s to the 1930s were often referred to as the “lawless years” because of the gangsters running amuck across America, and the disregard for Prohibition, which made it illegal to sell or import alcohol. The Bureau had limited success using its narrow jurisdiction to investigate some of the “gangster era” criminals.