“About Kid Deth,” by Raoul Whitfield was such an action-packed story that every once in awhile, I found myself confused with the characters involved in the story. The main character was Joey Deth. The people in town knew him as “Kid”. It seemed like Kid was always getting himself into situations that he should not have been in. When it came to the plot of this story it started off at a fast pace. He was immediately picked up by a policeman, Lou Rands, that apparently had never been able to get enough on Kid to keep him locked up. There was a man in the car with them, Barney Nasser, whom Kid had seen around before. Barney Nasser was dead. Rands was attempting to frame Kid as a way to get him locked away for good. All of a sudden, Kid and Rands begin to wrestle and shots are fired. These shots are not from Kid and Rands however, they are from across the street which hits Rands and kills him. Frightened, Kid runs down an alleyway to flee the scene. At one o’clock, like he had previously told Rands, he met with a woman, Bess Grotes, at the cellar for their date. The story escalates and Bess gets shot and killed. The rest of the story is a confusing plot which results in many more deaths and killings between the other characters in the story.
I had a little bit of a hard time keeping track of who was who in the story and how they related to the other characters in the cast. It seemed to me that the main characters were Kid and Bess, as the criminals, and Rands and the Nausser brothers, as the law. As in any other noir, the criminal is usually the good guy and the law is considered to be the bad. The story only continued on as a way for Kid to find justice in Bess’ murder. Bess, the femme fatale, was trying to keep Kid safe by not allowing him to go out the back door like they had wanted him to and in turn put herself in danger. What I liked most about this story was that Kid “never carried a rod.” He admits that he never had carried a gun until he found out that a woman had been murdered. I do not see why or how the police force has put him in the category of a criminal. He seems to be the one finding justice, not the cops. Overall, I definitely feel like “About Kid Deth” fits the definition of a film noir.
Questions:
1. Was there a significance to Kid’s last name being “Deth”?
2. What was the real story behind Bess Grote?
3. Did Kid get away with everything in the end and do you think he was truly involved with the rest of the deaths in the story?
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Definition of Film Noir Remains Unknown
After reading the Introduction of “Film Noir Reader” it still remains unclear what the definition of film noir truly is. “Almost every critic has his own definition of film noir, and a personal list of film titles....How many noir elements does it take to make a film noir noir?” This quote said by Paul Schrader, was memorable after reading this introduction because I thought the same thing. It is hard to put a definition on this type of film which many of the critics have said cannot even be considered a genre. Arguing that a genre is something created after-the-fact, how could it not be? I doubt these types of films were titled noirs right from the beginning. If that was the case, what makes any film distinguishable as a particular genre?
When I try to invent my own definition of film noir, it does not just come down to a single sentence or two. There is much more to it than that. Film noir is about the characters and their emotions to those that they come in contact with throughout the film. Film noir is focused around the events that were taken place in America at the time, although it seems like the authors were mainly European. If the name were broken down literally, it would mean dark film. This has to do with the actual lighting of the scenes and shadows that evolve as well as the sometimes dark or even “shady” personality of one or more of the characters.
I would say that noir films are timeless. Even watching them now, fifty or so years after they were first made, they still keep me entertained. I think this is due to the fact that film noir is told from the eye of the criminal rather than the ones protecting the city, the police. This is done using the private detective. It is interesting learning about the crime as an inside source and developing our own ideas of what has happened rather than having to be told, step-by-step, through evidence.
When it comes down to it, I take film noir to be that of realistic drama with a protagonist and antagonist although it it usually difficult to determine who the actual antagonist is until the end. The antagonist may be the women of the story, known as the femme fatale whom is, “frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victim to her own traps” or even the victims themselves. The violence of the film is not typically what keeps the audience intrigued, it is simply the twists and turn of events that draws them in.
Questions:
1. What films do you think are modern day examples of film noir?
2. Is it possible to give a one sentence definition of film noir?
When I try to invent my own definition of film noir, it does not just come down to a single sentence or two. There is much more to it than that. Film noir is about the characters and their emotions to those that they come in contact with throughout the film. Film noir is focused around the events that were taken place in America at the time, although it seems like the authors were mainly European. If the name were broken down literally, it would mean dark film. This has to do with the actual lighting of the scenes and shadows that evolve as well as the sometimes dark or even “shady” personality of one or more of the characters.
I would say that noir films are timeless. Even watching them now, fifty or so years after they were first made, they still keep me entertained. I think this is due to the fact that film noir is told from the eye of the criminal rather than the ones protecting the city, the police. This is done using the private detective. It is interesting learning about the crime as an inside source and developing our own ideas of what has happened rather than having to be told, step-by-step, through evidence.
When it comes down to it, I take film noir to be that of realistic drama with a protagonist and antagonist although it it usually difficult to determine who the actual antagonist is until the end. The antagonist may be the women of the story, known as the femme fatale whom is, “frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victim to her own traps” or even the victims themselves. The violence of the film is not typically what keeps the audience intrigued, it is simply the twists and turn of events that draws them in.
Questions:
1. What films do you think are modern day examples of film noir?
2. Is it possible to give a one sentence definition of film noir?
Monday, January 12, 2009
The Maltese Falcon
After watching and reading part of “The Maltese Falcon” I think it can be stated that they are primarily the same with slight differences. I feel that the relationship between Miss Wonderly and Samuel Spade was less romantic in the book than it seemed to be in the film. In the novel, I did not notice any interest on Spade’s part of Miss Wonderly. I believe that Spade had more of the connection with Effie. Also, I think that the film had less intensity then I what I would have thought. This may have been due to the fact that when you are reading something, you have to visually make the story come to life on your own, rather than having someone else do it for you so that all you have to do is watch it.
Another point of “The Maltese Falcon” that I found to be fairly interesting was the character of Samuel Spade himself. The hard-boiled detective seems to have a pretty standard description like Marlowe did in “Red Wind”. From Marlowe’s character, I had taken the detective to be caring, sensitive, witty, dependable, honest, and rather independent. However, when it came to Sam Spade, although he was still the dependable, honest, sarcastic, and witty fellow, he seemed less attached to those involved in the story, like a sort of emotionless man.
By emotionless, I mean that he did not seem shocked or upset when he had discovered that his partner had been murdered. Also, I did not understand why he could not bring himself to tell his partner’s wife of her husband’s death. This seems rather emotionless to me as well. If he were even slightly mourning the death or his partner, whom he should have cared for I would think, I believe he would want to inform her of his death and pay his respects.
I found the memo written by Warner Brothers to the author stating what changes needed to be made to the script in order to have the movie shot without problems with censors, to be interesting. It was interesting, but almost expected, that the film could not be as blunt and vulgar as he had originally portrayed in the story written on paper. I am not sure if the audience at that time was ready to face those things such as: the sexuality, the drinking, the violence, and the gruesomeness.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think that the fact that you have to visually make the story come alive when you are reading makes the movie seem less intense when you actually watch the same scene?
2.Why is it that the aspects of the story that Warner Brothers demanded be taken out seem to be the most entertaining?
Another point of “The Maltese Falcon” that I found to be fairly interesting was the character of Samuel Spade himself. The hard-boiled detective seems to have a pretty standard description like Marlowe did in “Red Wind”. From Marlowe’s character, I had taken the detective to be caring, sensitive, witty, dependable, honest, and rather independent. However, when it came to Sam Spade, although he was still the dependable, honest, sarcastic, and witty fellow, he seemed less attached to those involved in the story, like a sort of emotionless man.
By emotionless, I mean that he did not seem shocked or upset when he had discovered that his partner had been murdered. Also, I did not understand why he could not bring himself to tell his partner’s wife of her husband’s death. This seems rather emotionless to me as well. If he were even slightly mourning the death or his partner, whom he should have cared for I would think, I believe he would want to inform her of his death and pay his respects.
I found the memo written by Warner Brothers to the author stating what changes needed to be made to the script in order to have the movie shot without problems with censors, to be interesting. It was interesting, but almost expected, that the film could not be as blunt and vulgar as he had originally portrayed in the story written on paper. I am not sure if the audience at that time was ready to face those things such as: the sexuality, the drinking, the violence, and the gruesomeness.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think that the fact that you have to visually make the story come alive when you are reading makes the movie seem less intense when you actually watch the same scene?
2.Why is it that the aspects of the story that Warner Brothers demanded be taken out seem to be the most entertaining?
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Red Wind
I thought "Red Wind" was a pretty interesting story. When I first started reading it I found it slightly confusing but I knew I would because most detectives stories are not figured out until the end. Right when I thought I was losing interest, there was another twist in the story. I liked how all of the characters were connected somehow unknowingly, both male and female. In the first scene, where the man known as Waldo was shot, I initially was confused as to why and wondered if there was ever a deeper meaning to the fact that he had left his car running, rather than him just being in a hurry to find Mrs. Barsaley. Even after finishing the story, I still find that questionable. I like how Detective Marlowe took care of his business on his own and it seemed as though he knew, even if he were to discover the truth, he would be able to keep Mrs. Barsaley away from Copernik. Do you think they knew each other beforehand? It was odd that his investigation continued strictly for the purpose of finding these pearls for a women. Then at the end, when he had imitation pearls made so that he could keep the old ones just to throw out into the ocean, was this also for Lola's sake? Maybe he had some attachment to the women from his own personal life, such as trying to forget someone? I am not really sure but I enjoyed reading the story. It all seemed to make sense in the end but I feel as though there may be some more to it.
Foreword
After reading the foreword I can say that I am excited about the rest of the quarter for this class. I feel as though the material that we will read will be highly entertaining and for the most part fast moving. I like the concept of pulp, learning as how it was developed during the time of the depression as a way to partially take those suffering out of a torturing reality. The villain is a comical character because it reminds me of Batman’s character in the Dark Knight when he eventually was seen as the bad guy although he was not causing any harm. Women roles in the pulp seem about right for this time period as they were not thought as being of any importance other than to look pretty. When they talk about detectives and such, are they referring to the times of Sherlock Holmes? I know those were generally black and white films but I do not really understand the meaning of a hard-boiled detective.
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