I am not any fan of boxing but while I am watching the film noir, The Setup, I am so tensed with whether Stoker Thompson will win or lose. I found the audience were extremely tensed not only that they bet on Nelson to win, it‘s the thirst for blood. Even, the fat man, Little Boy and the lady that is with him, and the couple are tensed. All the audiences are shouting for Nelson. On the other hand, Stoker Thompson is facing an opponent that is much younger and heavily favored, Tiger Nelson. Everybody expects Stoker to lose. His manager thinks Stoker will lose so he made a setup. He takes money from the gangster, Little Boy, without telling Stoker about it. Stoker’s self-esteem doesn’t allow himself to lose. He wants to show the crowd that he can win even he is older.

There is a long moment of silence without dialogue for Julie and the camera purposely show the time on view. After Stoker and his wife, Julie, had an argument Stoker should quit the game, Stoker went out. The camera goes to the clock in the table shows 9:16 and Julie is in the room looking at the ticket. The camera goes back to Julie with Julie in the table and the clock again is on view shows 9:35. Then Julie goes out to walk around. The camera purposely shows the time so audiences have an idea of how long the time has passed. At the end, the camera slowly change from a medium shot to long shot to the street clock says 10:16. The story takes an hour to happen and Julie walked for 41 minutes.

Murder, My Sweet starts in a strange camera angles in the darkness with a lamp where police usually shines at the criminal. This portray a sense darkness and mysterious. Then, Marlowe narrates what had happened to his client and the jade. The femme fatale, Helen Grayle is a tramp that marries to a high society man but she is always cheap and manipulated. Its seems she wants to turn Marlowe into a criminal. Compare to the femme fatale in Double Indemnity, the femme fatale in the Murder, My Sweet never success in seducing Marlowe to achieve her goal. As always, the main character in the noir film is a clever and slick person that able to make things straight at the end of the movie.

In the noir film, “Double Indemnity,” Walter Neff is a smart, hard working sales man. Until, he visits his client, Mr. Dietrichson, to remind him that his automobile insurance have to be renew. Instead of Mr. Dietrichson, he meet Phyllis. She is a femme fatale in the film, which is defined as totally attractive and leads the protagonist into danger for what she wants. Phyllis wants Neff to kill her husband so she can get the insurance money. Neff refuses but because his lust for her he agrees to.

In contrast to the “Maltose Falcon,” “Double Indemnity” is more interesting because the film starts with Neff is wounded and he confess in his office. The flashback style of the film give the audiences at glimpse of what happened. It made the audiences want to know what is the story behind it. However, I like Spade better than Neff because lust doesn’t fool Spade and he is slick. He fools his enemies back.