A Place in the Sun (1951)

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t like this movie at all. I felt very disappointed and distracted by various elements of this film, especially the music. It always seemed to be overly dramatic at points in the film that weren’t THAT dramatic, like the instance where George and Alice go to the courthouse to get married. The marriage licensing office is closed due to the Labor Day holiday, and the only thing the director really needed to do was show the sign and then the characters’ reactions to the office being closed. But instead, the camera zoomed into the sign and played some of the most dramatic music I’ve ever heard. It was music I would imagine would be playing if the world were about to end, but really, the marriage license office was just closed for the day. Even though this was meant to be a dramatic film, I just thought the use of drums and string instruments used were too dramatic for it.

I was also extremely disappointed in the lack of character development. For such a lengthy movie, you would think the director would have focused a bit more on certain character development. But at the end of the movie, I felt like I barely knew George, who the movie was entirely about! It was obvious that he led a double life with two girlfriends and was dealing with the consequences of his choices, but it seemed as though he had underlying issues with his mother from whom he was distanced. Every time he would call her, he never seemed like he wanted to talk to her or update her on his life, but it’s never clear why he doesn’t want to talk or what happened in his past that made him and his mother so estranged. It just seemed weird to me that this relationship was never really discussed in depth, and it truly bothered me that the audience never finds out more about his mother.

Elizabeth Taylor’s character of Angela is also not very well developed. It’s clear that she comes from a wealthy family that likes to throw extravagant parties and have a good time, but the audience never really finds out about her personal life. She falls in love with George, at which point she has only known for a few days, and then seems to dedicate herself to him and make him happy. The audience never learns about her personal goals, hopes, dreams, or anything else like that, and I really wanted to know more about her. She seemed almost mysterious, but I hated that we didn’t get a chance to learn more about her. The audience knew much more about her overall family and their lifestyle than they did this main character, and this seriously bothered me.

Although based on a true and tragic story, this movie was a flop for me. I had high hopes for it, but the lack of character development and overuse of overly dramatic music seemed to kill it for me.

Double Indemnity

I was very pleased to discover that I really enjoyed this film. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting to get much from this type of movie because they always seemed so cliche and boring to me. But Double Indemnity kept my attention the entire length of the film and even had me at the edge of my seat at times. I felt like the director and writer of the script did a fantastic job at making this film suspenseful but not scary, which was what really kept me engaged in the movie. But I found the most interesting aspect about this film was how many rules the director broke in terms of following the Motion Picture Code. Originally, it seemed like the code restricted director's from any kind of creativity on-screen. They couldn't even show a married couple laying in bed together; most of the time they had two twin sized beds in their shared bedroom, which is now seen as absurd. The code restricted sex, violence, drugs, and pretty much anything with a negative connotation attached with it. But this movie definitely went against the code. It involved a couple having an affair, suggestive language, and even a planned-out murder. Now, I can understand why the Motion Picture Company created and tried to enforce the code. But sex and violence were things that audiences wanted to see! They viewed going to the movies as a way to escape from reality and see things they wouldn't normally see in everyday life. In that sense, I can also understand why many directors of film noir genre movies made the choice to break the rules of the code and include these things in their films as tools of entertainment. But there are still some things I do not really understand about film noir movies.

After discussing the typical traits of movies that fall into the category of film noir, I was still confused about a few things about this particular movie. Just after the main characters in this film commit the murder and dump the dead body on the railroad tracks, they have problems starting their car. While hearing the engine having trouble starting, I could feel my heart drop into my stomach. Then I realized that I was on the criminal's side because I wanted them to get away with it! Now, I'm pretty sure being sympathetic to a criminal isn't a good thing (and I'm pretty sure it also goes against the code), but I really wanted that car to start! I couldn't really figure out why I was so passionately on their side, but I was wondering if anyone else felt this way? Or better yet, why did the director want the audience to be sympathetic with the criminals of the story?