Scared to face the future, complacent career student

Each Day, A Film
January 4th, 2012

I wasn't sure whether to follow up on yesterday's tease, or to just go with the flow, but let's follow up, because

- I don't want you thinking I'm a tease
- It's a decent excuse for avoiding the "link" format, because I don't have one.

Moving on swiftly, let's talk about Double Indemnity.



Double Indemnity is, for want of a better word, aces. I'm going to abandon any semblance of detached journalistic ethics - even if I could be said to have had them before, but moving right along - and declare a deep, abiding, but mostly platonic love for this film.

Here's the thing; if you ever end up studying film in any kind of academic capacity - or any capacity whatsoever, really - be prepared to watch Citizen Kane. Whether you end up having to watch it once, or many times, you will have to watch it, come rain, shine, or snowfall.



And Citizen Kane is a triumph of filmmaking, a notable achievement in the evolution of the art, and enabled Orson Welles to do all sorts of things. At the same time, if you're anything like me, if there's something that's mandatory to watch, you avoid it like the plague. I did, to begin with, then I stopped, recognised that I would have to do it no matter what, lay back, and thought of England. And it was a fine film. Oh yes.

We're going back to the first year of film studies, here, though, and while there were a lot of films thrown at us in the first year, only a few stick out - there's the classics from the nouvelle vague, the game-changers like The Matrix, the early evolution of stunts by Buster Keaton, and all manner of interesting films.

And then there was Double Indemnity.

Now, Double Indemnity is fascinating from a historical perspective, because it constitutes a pretty impressive go fuck yourself to the Hays Code, the pre-eminent censoring board from the 1930s onwards. The Hays Code - or the Motion Picture Production Code, to give it a longer name - is a curious document, very much of its time, but the gist was basically this: there are good things to show on film and bad things to show on film, and the choice is not difficult to make. Good, healthy, wholesome themes were encouraged; to pick an example totally at random, White Slavery was heartily discouraged. (Note how specific this is, and shudder.)

Film Noir was, functionally, an interesting way of getting around a lot of these conventions. Check out The Asphalt Jungle, for instance, with a central cast of crooks and - shock! - a suicide; there's no way in hell it should really have been released at the time, but it was, thankfully.

Then Double Indemnity came along with sexualised dialogue, an innocent insurance salesman driven to murder, and the craziness of the he-said she-said, all put into a large, sultry and - dare we say it - steamy narrative.

Put it this way;

---

Phyllis: Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He'll be in then.
Walter Neff: Who?
Phyllis: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you?
Walter Neff: Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean.
Phyllis: There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.
Walter Neff: How fast was I going, officer?
Phyllis: I'd say around ninety.
Walter Neff: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
Phyllis: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
Walter Neff: Suppose it doesn't take.
Phyllis: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
Walter Neff: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.
Phyllis: Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.
Walter Neff: That tears it.

All delivered at breakneck speed with knowing glances.

It's time for a confession; I didn't actually pay that much attention to the film the first time I watched it. Put it down to the folly of relative youth, or too much side work going on, but at the time screenings were (a) not mandatory and (b) at a difficult time for those persons based off campus. Such is life; that's why DVDs were invented, and at the time an excellent box-set was on offer for £4.99 with four film noir films, including Double Indemnity, so I watched it - not paying as much attention as I should - and got on with my life.

Then, last year, screenings - while still NOT MANDATORY - were at a much more convenient time. It was downright civilised, in fact; after the lecture, a student could leisurely go to the shop, purchase coffee and noodles, and return in time for a cinematic classic. Or smoke, or, as most people did, leave, but let's not dwell on that.

So a year ago last October - and it's weird to consider how long ago that feels - I settled down with a few fellow students and suitable foodstuffs (which were not hugely liked by the people running the room) and watched the film, and, frankly, loved it. Maybe it was the company, or the room, or the food, or the fact that, actually, the film is pretty damn good, but there you go.

Anyway... This is another post with questionable academic merit, but it's full of love, at least. So... Winning?