Hitch Hiker

This film, in my opinion, portrays two men as being helpless.  The way Lupino portrays them is totally different than the previous film noir, Double Indemnity.  In that film the men of the movie were strong willed and able to think and do for themselves.  In addition, the antagonist of the film was also a man, and it just so happened that this man was the person making the protagonists feel helpless.
Could it be that Lupino was trying to say something throughout this film, like men can be just a vulnerable as women?  Or maybe it was the opposite?  Maybe, Lupino was trying to show how smart a man can be when put into a sticky situation like the one in this movie.  I mean these men were brought to their breaking point and managed to come out on top of the antagonist.  However, they were also shown as being vulnerable, with one of the protagonists even breaking down and crying.  This film is one that really make the viewer think hard about the message the director is trying to get across.
One can also pose the question if this film was done so well then why couldn't other female directors be successful with classical film noirs?  Could it be that the portrayal of men in this film, was seen as a hit on the male figure at the time?  Or could it simply be that women were just not able to direct film as well as a man?  Questions like these are ones that came up for me throughout the entire film and really made me pause and think.

Double Indemnity

The representation of women in the film Double Indemnity was very small, however, the impact they had on the film was quite the opposite.  The characters of Lola and Phyllis Dietrichson are the only two women represented in the film with one having the femme fatale characteristic and the other carrying the typical loving and caring characteristics.  These two women have a strong impact on the male figures in this film that end up creating tension between all characters involved.
Phyllis at the start of the film does not seem any different than the typical housewife of that era.  However, we learn early on that she is only putting up a front in order to manipulate a man, Walter Neff, into doing something he would never have thought of.  Phyllis proposes the idea of taking out an insurance policy on her husband to Walter, who is an insurance salesman.  In addition, she also mentions that she does not want her husband to know about this policy.  After meeting alone with Phyllis for a second time Walter quickly realizes Phyllis' intentions and dismisses them by abruptly ending the meeting and leaving.  However, Phyllis' charming good looks must have gotten to Walter, because he allowed himself to be manipulated by her.  Walter devises a plan that he thinks is fool proof, where he and Phyllis can kill her husband, collect the insurance money from his death and be together forever.  Walter became blinded by Phyllis and allowed himself to get mixed up in something that could have been prevented very early on.
Then there is a sweet girl named Lola, whom is Phyllis' step daughter.  Lola is "in love" with a guy named Nino Zachetti whom her father strongly dislikes.  Lola is mostly insignificant throughout the movie until her father's death towards the end.  At this point she believes that Nino and Phyllis were the ones who planned and killed her father and she tells Walter her theory about Phyllis killing her biological mother.  Just as Walter was manipulated by Phyllis the opposite happens while talking with Lola and realizing that she is the one who has lost everything over ones greed fro money.
I believe that these two different personalities in Double Indemnity act as sort of a yin and yang.  Walter allows himself to be manipulated over something he thinks would be great in Phyllis but then realizes what he has done after hearing what Lola has to say about the entire situation.  Although he is to late in realizing he had made a mistake, Walter does the right thing at the end of the film and admits the truth about the death of Mr. Dietrichson.

M

I see why critics would pay attention to pairs in films and how they compare or contrast to each other.  In this film both the thieves guild and police, albeit for different reasons,  are going for the same prize, the murderer.  However, the two, naturally, take different paths towards achieving this goal.  I think the reason that critics pay attention to these pairs in film is to try and get a better understanding of the main focus of the film.  Like in the case of this film, where although the police and thieves guild are searching for the same person, and for different reasons, in retrospect they are actually taking the limelight off of the murderer himself.  The viewer is getting a better view of the film as a whole and the message it is trying to put across. 

Sherlock Jr.

First off, I would like to say that I did not have high hopes for this movie.  Knowing it would be a silent film turned me off big time because I have seen them before and had found them very boring.  However, this film did the exact opposite, the film brought my attention to the acting styles, and the different camera shots required to make it.  I will be analyzing one of the scenes that particularly caught my attention.  When Keaton himself is running away from the antagonist and hops on a motorcycle.

The way Buster Keaton uses a combination of pan, long and close, establishing, and tracking shots is what makes this scene so special.  He starts it off with an establishing shot to show the audience the lay of the land.  He then goes to a tracking shot and then quickly back to another establishing/long shot to show that the motorcycle is moving at a fast speed and that he is headed off into the distance.  To me it seems that Keaton does this intermission of medium/close shots and establishing/long shots to get a look at what the actor is going through, showing the landscape before the reaction of the actor.  What was also interesting was the use of background images and scenes that were used in during this scene.  I thought it was humorous that a group of men would be in the middle of a park playing tug of war.  It really strikes me and I wonder why Keaton chose to use such an odd background scene in this movie.  Even so with not only that background but also the rest of the scene, the way that Keaton was able to mix these different backgrounds into this scene and make them work for the film is what really caught my eye.

Introduction

Hello fellow bloggers,

My name is Louie Virant and I am a 5th year Criminal Justice major at UC.  I was born in raised in the place where dreams come true, Cleveland, Ohio.  My hobbies include sports whether it is watching them or participating in them, watching films and playing video games.  In addition to being a full time student I work full time as well so the amount of new films I have seen has decreased dramatically.  However, I still enjoy watching the films I have collected throughout the years.  

The reason I took this class was to get a different perspective about watching films as well as to broaden my horizon on the different films out there.  Often times I find myself watching too many present day films and it gets boring, so to hear that we will be watching films from many different decades really excites me.  In addition, I will also enjoy reading the different perspectives all the bloggers have about the movies we will be watching.

Like I previously have said I watch many present day movies (movies of the past 20 years).  My favorite genre can be narrowed down to two different ones, Action/Adventure and Drama.  In addition, to genre I cannot narrow my favorite actor down to any one actor.  However, if I had choose I would say Hugh Jackman, Matt Damon and John Cusack are my top three actors and Hilary Swank, Jodie Foster and Charlize Theron are my top three actresses.  Finally, my top ten list of movies, the one I wrote in class was not accurate because I tried to include different genres.

Top Ten Movie Choices:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Gladiator
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
4. For Love of the Game
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. The Departed
7. Million Dollar Baby
8. Black Hawk Down
9. Good Will Hunting
10. The Dark Knight