A Filmmaker's Guide to: A Study in Classic Crime

Classic Crime, Film Noir and even Crime-Comedy are always the best genres to watch if you're looking to study plot in the Golden Age of Cinema. Why is that? The plot lines are normally one or more of the following:

- Based on literature

- Composed of various components that are already well-known tropes of the genre

- Contain extreme dialogues in comparison to the crime genre today

When we look at crime films in the golden age, we want to look at how these three things have an impact to the way we understand the film. When the film has been based on a book, the best thing to do would be to study the literature it was adapted from and find out how the book works on to screen through translation and omission. Next, the various components that are tropes well-known to the genre make the study process of film noir and crime easier since humans are apt at noticing patterns. If you can notice a pattern well enough, you can see what the audience is and is not expecting, what they think is well done and what they think is outdated. Finally, the dialogues in golden age films are often far more grand than the ones in our modern day. Dialogues are almost Shakespearean when a character does a speech of any kind and often, we get pulled into the extreme aspects of character and personality. It is perfect for studying the personas of different character archetypes in a crime film.

What we're going to have a look at is 5 Crime Films of the Classic Golden Age that you can watch in order to study these things. I will talk about them, asking questions and identifying some things you should concentrate on in order to get the most out of your viewing experience.

They are in no particular order.

1. The Third Man (1949)

One of my personal all-time favourite films and one of the greatest noir-crime films ever made. If you're planning to study crime films then you really want to concentrate on how adaptation and tropes create something that is really out of the box. The original story by Graham Greene requires apt amounts of study in order to understand how it has been adapted for the screen and then, you would want to fix this together with the way in which the music helps the atmosphere. Finally, there's the scene on the Ferris Wheel when Harry Lime gives the speech about his plans and reasons. This is possibly the most important scene after the one where the dog runs up to Lime in the street.

Concentrate on the stark difference between these two scenes, how the lifting of the Ferris Wheel helps Lime to make his point and how the dog symbolically represents that maybe not everyone is being as truthful as they can about Lime's whereabouts. You could answer the following questions:

- How does the audience get the feeling that Lime is still alive in the scenes before the one where the dog runs up to him in the street?

- How has the book been adapted - what has been altered or omitted for the viewing experience and why?

- How is Lime's character represented through other people before we meet him and how is this reflected in his character upon the Ferris Wheel scene?

2. Gaslight (1944)

Again, this is another one of my personal favourite films and you'll definitely see why when you watch the film. An original plot that has an amazing collection of dialogue, this film is possibly one of the best of its kind to study when we look at how dialogue moves the plot along and how important it is. The scenes you want to focus on include the most important scene in which Ingrid Bergman makes the grand speech about not being able to find the knife near the end of the film, the scene where she thinks she's lost the brooch and the scene in which they are staring at the painting in the house in the first half of the film.

What you're looking for is a change in the style of dialogue between the start, middle and end of the film in Ingrid Bergman. Fortunately for you, her amazing acting makes this simple to do. At the beginning, you'll notice that her style is more reserved, more proper and more polite. In the middle, you should notice her character becoming twisted (please refer to my article on 'characters of twisted humanity' for more information) in the sense that she is unstable, her speech is often choppy and her dialogue lacking natural logic. In the end, she restores herself and the politeness at the beginning fades entirely, causing the twisted character to take out whatever illogical violence is left upon the main character. Here are some questions you could answer when watching the film:

- How does Ingrid Bergman's character evolve and how is this crucial to the movement of the storyline through her dialogue?

- How is Ingrid Bergman's character represented through various 'things' around the house? The movement of these things breaks down her character, but what is the effect of this?

- What are the different meanings of 'gaslight' and how does the meaning change throughout the film with the key scenes discussed in the previous paragraph?

3. Strangers on a Train (1951)

Another great film and possibly one of my favourites by Hitchcock, it is absolutely imperative to study when you're looking at adaptation crime. Adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith (writer of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'), this film has an amazing amount to study including the differentiation between the wants of the two main characters and their actions. We have here what is called the 'devil and angel' complex. One character is the angel and the other is the devil and they are, ultimately, both wanting of the same thing, but neither of them can really have it.

The scene that is most important to focus on is the one in which they meet on the train for the first time. Concentrate on the way in which the dialogue tells you immediately which character is the 'angel' and which is the 'devil'. Then analyse the arguments and reasons behind why they are doing what they do, how this is put forward through dialogue and how their body language creates an impression of them regardless of what they do next.

The next scene you want to concentrate on is when the 'angel' character takes the gun down to the father of the 'devil' character and how this shakes the dynamics of the film, creating tension but also creating what I like to call 'audience intuition'. We know he isn't going to kill him but why do we know that and how can we be so sure that nothing will happen based on his actions and dialogue alone.

Finally, you want to focus on the scene at the carousel. This is possibly one of the most important scenes for understanding the way in which the characters operate alongside each other and what has ultimately been scratching against each other like tectonic plates, comes out as a blast of extremities and violence. Here are some questions that you probably want to answer whilst watching the film in order to understand this complex better:

- How are we introduced to the two main characters upon the very first impression? What are they doing and how does this give us the answer to who is who in the 'devil and angel' complex almost instantly?

- How does the carousel scene make us notice the various parts of the plot line where one character was manipulated by the other?

- How does the dialogue during the tennis scene build up on the tension from the previous scenes of the film very quickly in comparison to other, maybe more plot-relevant parts? What impact does this have over the main character and how do we see them now?

4. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Another incredible film that everyone should see before they die. I think that this film, unlike the others, can fall into all three of the categories that we have discussed in the opening paragraph. Let's take a look at how and why this is done before going through the questions.

This film is based on a book by Dashiell Hammett and stays pretty close to the storyline, if not changing and omitting certain things from the narrative. Sam Spade is the character you want to focus on from the very opening of the film. The entire plot is seen through the way in which this character operates with his partner in the office and with the woman he suspects of being a criminal. This part of the adaptation stays faithful to the book but also makes the film better understood by its audience because now, we have a character to rely on and latch on to.

The second thing we have is the fact that the film honestly contains tropes that are widely used throughout crime film history. For example: we have the detective who falls almost in love with a woman he also suspects and therefore, is divided. Then we have the fact that the partner dies and we don't know how. Finally, we have this almost tense breakage point between the detective and the item of the 'maltese falcon' in which they have to make this final decision on what actually happened without getting any bit of information wrong or mixed up. It works for the film because at this time, we are mostly relying on the character of Sam Spade anyway, so whatever he says by this point, we as an audience are going to believe.

Finally, we have these moments of extreme dialogue in which the character of Sam Spade discusses with his lover/suspect the possibilities of the case. Think about it: if these conversations did not happen then the audience would not be able to pinpoint exactly where the case was going and why. The reason for these conversations are because the audience needs to know and the suspect requires to stay one step ahead of the detective. Its only when this stops happening that he can truly get to arresting someone. Now, let's take a look at these questions:

- How does Sam Spade operate as a character? What does he initially do which creates a dependence upon him in the audience?

- How does the majority of the plot rely on the speech and dialogue between the characters of Sam Spade and the woman he suspects?

- What kinds of symbols represent the suspects and how they operate in the story? (Think about: money and banknotes)

5. Rear Window (1954)

Another Hitchcock film in the list - "Rear Window" is an absolute classic if you want to study how the basics of dialogue work in the crime and noir film world. There are many things to study here and many scenes of focus - the simplicity of the film itself and yet, how complex the dialogues need to be in order to depict character without the character physically doing very much is something that Alfred Hitchcock is very well known for. Here we see it more than ever.

The first scene you want to focus on is during the starting of the movie in which we see a pan shot of the main character's walls and photographs of extreme nature hanging from them. This tells us that the character not only has an interest in photography, but he's probably the one who took those photos. It comes in massive play during the latter half of the film. You need to notice not only the photos but what the photos are off, how they are off-set against the background of his wall colour and why they are so extreme in their natures.

The next scene you want to concentrate on is the one where the man keeps walking back and forth from his house with a suitcase. This is very important because this is the scene which not only makes the audience question the nature of the man across the way, but also makes us see the true intentions of the main character. It gives us a glance into both lives whilst only really relying on one for the key information about the other.

Finally, the last scene you want to focus on is when Lisa gets arrested. This is very important because not only does it heighten the tension, but by this point the main character is in peril and the ending of the movie is near. Since there is very little to say it is closing, the audience are practically baffled by how this will work and why. The different symbolisms should point you in the correct direction in understanding the motives behind the characters more. Let's have a look at these questions then:

- How does the main character build throughout the film? What do we learn about him, how and why are these things relevant as to why he is looking out of the window at the man with the suitcase?

- How are the characters positioned within the apartment complex and why is this of prime importance as to how the storyline plays out?

- What does Lisa symbolise and how is her arrest actually the pinnacle of tension in the movie?