Walter falling for Phyllis

rj,

Well it is a bit troubling to me, but not too much!, that Stanwyck strikes me as problematic in this role when so many love the film.

btw in 1944 I don't think Kim Novak was working.

What a horrible thing, regarding Stanwyck as slutty. As well as the two others. The ones you have on a pedestal have not played angels, themselves.

Neff doesn't have the moral fiber Keyes thinks he does.

I don't think any competition between Neff and Keys happened as a justification in his mind or was even implied, so I wouldnt even address that, I just think thats wrong. As far as doing anything for a hot girl youre in an steamy affair with? Totally 100% believable. Sex and allure drive men at their core in every way. Its evolutionary. So much so that I find your original question kind of strange because I never wondered why he did it at all. Maybe the pace was a bit fast for you, but I might have done the same thing for Phyllis in the same situation. Especially because she knew thats what she wanted and was working towards it. A man will do anything for a hot woman. Whether or not you think she was hot, he thought she was. From the moment he saw her in the bathrobe

My purpose won't be to assail your point, but to examine - in the context of the era in which DI was made - aspects of film convention that led to it.

As the catchphrase in the film's ads said, "from the moment they met, it was murder!" Almost by necessity, an amount of dramatic telescoping, or shorthand if you will, has been employed in filmed fictional narrative, and to which audiences became accustomed: at only their second meeting, Rhett tells Scarlett, "Someday, I want you to say to me the words I heard you say to Ashley Wilkes: 'I love you;'" Fred knows when he first sees Ginger she's the girl for him; even in a franker era decades later, Bonnie resolves herself to a life of crime with Clyde after nothing more than a walk, a soft drink and a burger with him. I'm not sure additional exposition building relationships on the basis of these instant attractions would have benefited the films in which they're represented.

When building such a relationship is the point of the narrative, as in It Happened One Night, for example, that's what gets the focus. But the point of DI was probably best expressed 30 years later in Chinatown: "Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of anything."

This is something Keyes understands. "Those papers are not just forms and statistics and claims for compensation. They're alive. They're packed with drama...with twisted hopes and crooked dreams," he tells Walter. He wants to believe in his friend's best instincts, but has no illusions about the corruptibility of human nature, which even his offhand assumption about Walter's supposed girlfriend "Margie" reflects: "I bet she drinks from the bottle. Why don't you settle down and get married?" And the implication is not to someone like "Margie," but a "good girl" who won't lead him astray...and into trouble.

I've mentioned elsewhere on this board that Wilder and Chandler refashioned the basic premise of James M. Cain's novella into a traditional good-vs-evil struggle for the soul of a man: Keyes and Phyllis are the flesh and blood embodiment of, respectively, the cartoon "angel" and "devil" perched on opposite shoulders, each whispering to the protagonist to ignore the other and follow him.

Another feature of the Wilder/Chandler construction is the high gear in which its flashback structure kicks off the narrative: "I killed him for money...and for a woman." 'Nuff said. This terse explanation of why we're here and why it began leaves only the "how" of getting from point A to B: how a story of corruption, impulsive lust and greed became one of weakness, betrayal and downfall.

As with the examples cited earlier, my guess is that Wilder and Chandler were cognizant of maintaining the focus: although viewers aren't expected to have done the kind of deeds Walter and Phyllis have, lust and greed are urges everyone can understand and accept at face value, and no time is wasted compromising that focus by laying expository groundwork for submitting to those urges. They skip the appetizers and go straight to the main course.



Poe! You are...avenged!