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Mar 6, 2018 · Although a “black and white” film actually consists of an infinite amount of gray shades, the real purpose of the disuse of colors is to set the depressing mood before the sad events even begin. Shadows are magnified because they are one of the only colors used in the movie.
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In many ways, Woody Allens quote encompasses all the main elements that make Billy Wilders Double Indemnity (Paramount Pictures, USA, 1944) a masterpiece. Anchored in the film noirs aestheticism, its low-key lighting, oppressive music, sharp dialogues and breathtaking performances achieve to make this film an unavoidable classic.
It is essential to understand the characteristics of film noirs aesthetic to appreciate Double Indemnitys richness. The term has first been used in 1946 by French critics to describe the rise of crime dramas in Hollywood that explored sexual motivations and growing cynicism. Its low-key black and white style is significantly recognizable, influence...
Much has been said about the use of low-key lighting in film noir. Like painters, cinematographers create an effect of chiaroscuro, and darkness tends to dominate the shot composition. Double Indemnity seems to be sculpted by light (and absence of light), anchoring the movie within the film noir tradition. The credits and the opening sequence of th...
In film noir, lighting implicitly develops key points around the story and the protagonists. It hides them from the audiences sight, and wraps the plot in enigmas and secret crimes. Yet Double Indemnity adds in an extra layer of complexity lighting also reveals the hidden evils within the characters. Thus, it is used as a narrative feature which p...
This world of obscurity is also conveyed through the sharp-witted dialogues and the neurotic soundtrack that contribute to the films grandeur. Wilder and Raymond Chandler produced jazzy dialogues, with a dark sense of humour. The actors say their lines promptly: they fight each other through speedy cross-talks. Yet Walter and Phyllis both use speec...
Wilders direction is impeccable, and actors play their role with dexterity and intelligence. The choice of cast has contributed to the films popularity: Barbara Stanwyck was the highest paid actress in America at the time, and Edward G. Robinson had been a star since the successful Little Caesar. Fred MacMurray was more famous in light comedies, bu...
Wilders ingenious craftsmanship of lighting, sound, dialogue and performance succeeds in making the film a real chef doeuvre. All the cinematographic qualities of Double Indemnity contributed to its enormous impact on film history: everyone remembers these beautiful black-and-white shots, like lonely Edward Hopper settings, and the actors brillianc...
Blakeney, Catherine, An Analysis of Billy Wilders Double Indemnity, StudentPulse (2009) accessed the 13/02/2014 Gemünden, Gerd, A foreign affair: Billy Wilders American Films (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008) Hanson, Helen and ORawe, Catherine, The femme fatale: images, histories and contexts (Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK ; New York : Palgrave Mac...
Jan 1, 2024 · The Best Black and White Films in Cinematography. In photography school, students are usually urged to master black-and-white shooting (especially film development) before moving to color, but not so in filmmaking. With the latter, black and white is a tool reserved only for the masters.
- Persona (1966) Persona is a 1966 Swedish psychological drama film, written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Famed stage stress Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann) suffers a moment of blankness during a performance and the next day lapses into total silence.
- A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) This Iranian vampire Western was created by Ana Lily Amirpour, and it’s had international success since its release in 2014, starring Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Dominic Rains.
- Rumble Fish (1983) Rumble Fish is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the 1975 novel Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola.
- Killer’s Kiss (1955) Killer’s Kiss is a 1955 American crime film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Kubrick and Howard Sackler. Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith), a New York City boxer aging out of his profession, meets dancer Gloria Price (Irene Kane), and they begin a romance.
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940) John Steinbeck’s iconic 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel finds the perfect director to adapt it in the great John Ford. bringing the Joad clan to life during the Dust Bowl-era in a film of unforgettable passion and power.
- The Third Man (1949) Something of a compendium of film noir technique, Carol Reed’s The Third Man is, as New York Times movie critic Bosley Crowther wrote “a brilliantly packaged bag of cinematic tricks, [showing Reed’s] whole range of inventive genius for making the camera expound.
- Rashômon (1950) This lyrical and legendary masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa tells the judiciously straight-forward tale of Tajōmaru, a bandit (Toshiro Mifune) who’s charged with murdering a Samurai (Masayuki Mori) and then raped his wife (Machiko Kyo).
- Manhattan (1979) Filmed in beautiful black-and-white and 2.35:1 widescreen by Gordon Willis, writer-director Woody Allen’s valentine to New York City is a visual feast.
Dec 28, 2017 · Easily the most innovative studio picture of its time, and the most visually astonishing black-and-white movie from the Golden Age, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane changed cinema for the betterment of all and, from a technical aspect at any rate, has aged incredibly well.
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Oct 26, 2021 · There are two key elements to the structure of the film: color coding and temporal sequencing. Some scenes are shot in black-and-white (BW) and others are shot in color. There is an interaction...
