Asphalt Jungle at times has the feel of a documentary. It also uses the setting of a modern city to accent the sense of despair and alienation that runs through the story.  The gritty urban landscape is a crucial element in the film, one that impacts the narrative,  and the characters.   Asphalt Jungle is different in that the criminal element is given human dimension.No only is sympathy  created for the gang, but respect is shown  for the way they do their jobs.Instead of painting them as immoral thugs and murderers,they are instilled with human weaknesses, and distinctive behavior that viewers would not expect in a movie about criminals. Additionally, the women in The Asphalt Jungle are not femme fatales, luring men to their doom. Instead, it is their devotion and commitment to these men which bring them bad luck and misery.

Double Indemnity provides excellent examples of the look of film noir. Visual aspects include dark interiors, heavy shadow, high contrast, bars or slashes of, mirrors, fog and rain, odd angles and disorienting compositions, staircases, and various frames within the film frame. Double Indemnity has a circular structure, beginning near the end and telling the story through voice-over and flashback.  Double Indemnity’s plot carries many traits of film noir. It centers on crime, takes place in Los Angeles, and the most crucial scenes occur at night.  In Double Indemnity Phyllis acts as the femme fatale and Walter as the hero .

Out of the Past, is a particularly unique example in the genre of film noir; while most of the shots are lit for night, the shadows are not as prominent. In terms of representing the genre, most of the scenes do not take advantage of the use of shadow that often covers faces and bodies and sometimes, as a result, even distorts a character’s appearance.The film is narrated, focusing mainly upon a flashback to drive the plot forward. In terms of the setting, it is showing a common trait of the genre.Most of the scenes take place in urban locations, despite a few scenes shot in the country, while the nature scenes that are shot even in the calmest places are darkened.

Murder, My Sweet is an interesting film noir as it presents new elements that we haven’t seen in the movies we have watched so far. It starts off withPhilip Marlowe who is accused of murder and we go into a flashback to see how he got into this situation. All the classic material is present: bright lights of the noir city, the quick witted, money-grubbing, playful-at-times protagonist, the beautiful yet manipulative femme fatale, grungy workplace, shadows : all the things we have come used to seeing in the movies we’ve been watching.

1944 was a big year for film noir. Early film noirs  Double Indeminity and Murder, My Sweet were all released near the end of ’44 and all were box office hits.

I’ve never been a fan of black and white films until we watched The Maltese Falcon in class, its old feel really drew me in . When  The Maltese Falcon first appeared on screen, Hollywood’s idea of a detective meant Sherlock Holmes.  Sam Spade introduced a clear alternative to the image of the well-mannered amateur sleuth: the to some extent notorious private eye who solved mysteries as a profession.

The plot to me seemed to follow Spade’s thirst for female attention and breaking the rules.  It was tricky to distinguish whether he was going to allow himself mesmerized by a manipulative female who uses her feminine tricks even obvious weakness and being ditzy to have her way. However in the end he does the right thing by solving the crime, turning in all the criminals including his love interest.