Film Noir Comparison

L.A. Confidential Shot

Double Indemnity

Above are two shots from two different film noir movies.  The first is from L.A. Confidential, a neo-noir film from 1997, and the second is from Double Indemnity, a film noir from 1944.  A common element in film noir movies is the idea of the purity and innocence of a small town versus the evilness of a big city.  Both of these movies toy with this idea.

In the first shot from L.A. Confidential, we see for the first time a picture of Lynn Bracken's room.  Prior to this, the film kind of sets her up as a "femme fatale," an evil seductive woman, but here, we see a much different picture.  This shot of her bedroom shows us her soft side, with the embroidered pillows, the nice curtains, and the fancy table.  This is not the bedroom that you would expect a hooker to have.  The most interesting detail of this picture is the Arizona pillow.  On this, you can see that the presumably small town of Bisbee, Arizona is labeled, implying that this is her hometown.  This gives the viewer the idea that deep down, she is just an innocent small town girl, as opposed to Phyllis from Double Indemnity, who is from Los Angeles.

The shot below, which is a long shot from Double Indemnity, also features a small town person.  The man in the middle is from Medford, Oregon.  How do we know that?  Well, he says it in almost every sentence, so clearly the film makers want us to know that detail.  In this shot, he is sitting down and looking up at Mr. Keyes, showing respect.  He is dressed formally and is holding a cigar in one hand and paperwork in the other.  All these details show is that this guy is trustworthy and well intentioned.  Walter Neff, on the other hand, who lives in and is likely from Los Angeles, is standing behind, looking nervous and covering his face.  He clearly feels guilty and his hiding something.

These two shots support the notion that living in a big city corrupts people, whereas there is something more pure about being from a small town.