This book called, "Double Indemnity" by James M. Cain, is a great book so far. I see how it is going to be a very good example of Film Noir. Mr. Huff is the main character who plays as a insurance agent who is selling insurance to Mr. Nirdlinger. In the beginning of the story he is in Hollywoodland because he is going to sell this guy a renewal of his insurance. When he gets to the house all I can think is that it is at night and a little cloudy and gloomy. He says, "I came to this House of Death." It seems that the house looks really dark but as he goes on to further explain it, "it looks like a normal Spanish house with white walls." The setting of the story is kind of dark and creepy.
Mr. Huff goes to the door and the maid answers and makes it really hard for him to talk to Mr. Nirdlinger. When he goes in to talk to him he goes to talk to his wife, she is teasing him with the idea of selling but holding back enough to make him want to keep on trying. He goes back the next day because Mrs. Nirdlinger invited him to come over around 7 pm after dinner. She calls him later in the day tells him to come around 230 pm. When he gets there she has on a tight dress and looks dressed up. Her maid is gone and is trying to get into his pants. They kissed. It gives the feeling of him being the smooth talking guy that is messing around with other women. He is a insurance guy who dressed with a hat and is a smooth talking guy who can woow all of the girls.
Later on they start to talk about how they like each other and Mr. Huff tells Mrs. Nirdlinger that he knows she is planning on talking out a life insurance policy on her husband and then killing him. Not only does he tell her that he knows but he also wants to help her pull it off. They are planning on running away together with the $50,000 that they will get when they kill him on the train. I wonder how after he is dead how it all turns out for them.
I find it kind of cool that they are all having affairs but they let you figure it out. No one is just taking clothes off and trying to be super slutty but they are leaving everything to the imagination. The old ways of doing things is just so different then now. It is funny that she didn't want to just divorce him but why not just kill him right?
The first words that came to my mind when I finished reading your blog entry was riviting. Once I started I couldn't stop until I got to the end. You have a way with words that just grabs a person's attention and just holds on to it. Your work just flowed from one sentance to the next. If I had not read this book yet, based on your description I would go and get me a copy to read. It just sounds that good to me. You give such strong details of Mr. Huff's and Phyllis' interactions with each other. Good Job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and you make some really key good points, pointing out the qualities of a film noir that the novel has. When I first started to read the novel I knew it was going to be a twist with collecting the insurance money but i thought that Phyllis was just going to be in on it. But then I kind of got the since that Mr. Huff was going to be in on it too. There relationship confuses me. He makes it seem like he's doing for a woman but states in the novel on page 16 that he treats her like an alley cat.So their interaction is kind of off to me. But the novel diffidently fits into a film noir.
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