B Film Noir and Detour

The B film noir was characterized in the reader as the films produced between 1941 and 1953. The directors had a very low budget with which a film was to be made from. Because of the little amount of money they had to spend on the production of the film, montages became important for the directors. A montage was a clip from another forgotten film that was then taken by the production company and turned into a new scene for the B film.

The lighting sequences became a matter of being able to shoot the film at certain times and for only certain lengths of time. The entire film was to be between fifty-five and seventy five minutes long. This was not only due to the fact that they had a small budget; the audience did not have much time to watch the film either. However, the small budget did play a role in the development of the plot. The producer would compensate complicated plots and sometimes
even realism for the low budget.

When the television and Technicolor era began, film noir was slowly fading away. By 1949 there was over one million television receivers in the United States and by 1953 there were thirty-two million. Because of the high contrast lighting of film noirs and the low contrast range of television receivers, it was difficult to attract an audience.

B films were characterized differently from A film due to the lack of color on screen. An A film was differentiated by color, production value, 3D, wide screens, and epic themes. The A film was more appealing to watch which meant that film noir, for the most part, went out of style.

After watching most of Detour I would say that for the most part it resembles any other film noir that we have seen. I thought that the scene in the rain when Al gets out of the car to put the top on was unrealistic. He walks over to the side door, opens it up, Charles falls out, and is dead? I do not get it. How did he die? Al then takes Charles’ clothes, money, and suitcase so that he can get all the way to Los Angeles to see his beloved Sue. Sue is the damsel in distress in the film and Vera is the femme fatale. Although it seems like Vera is trying to keep Al out of trouble, when the relationship of her and Charles are considered, it can be said that she was his downfall.

Questions:

1. Did Charles really just die from falling out of the car?

2. Does Sue really love Al?