The difference is that this opening asks less micro/macro questions and does less priming. The action in this opening is identical to that of Body and Soul: the events leading up to the big fight. Before arriving at the set up point Steve’s voice-over cues the flashback. Like Body and Soul, this opening acts as a teaser, introducing the principal characters and priming us with micro & macro questions: If Steve and Slim are adversaries why have they planned a heist together? What are Anna’s real motives? As planned, Steve is driving the armored truck. Anna has designs to run off with Steve after the heist, planned for the next evening. Steve and Slim, apparent enemies, have planned a heist together. This opening introduces the three principal characters: Steve (Burt Lancaster), an armored truck guard, Slim (Dan Duryea), an unsavory gambler/criminal and Anna (Yvonne De Carlo), Slim’s wife and Steve’s lover. It primes us with two key macro questions: Who is Ben and how did he die? and Why is his relationship with his mother and wife so strained? The motivation is primarily narrational.īody and Soul deviates slightly from the A B A flashback structure by repeating the opening shot of the film as a cue back to the present. He awakens from his disturbed sleeping yelling the name “Ben.” The remaining of the opening sets up a slew of boxing film conventions: the practice ring, the bar/cafe, the weigh in, the pre-game visit in the dressing room by the slickly dressed gambler, and the entourage (fans, manager, trainer, cut man). John Garfield (Charlie Davis) is seen lying on a bed. The camera cranes screen right past tree tops and down to the window of a house.
The swaying punching bag, ropes, and corner poles cast dark shadows on the canvas.
A deserted outdoor boxing ring is captured in high angle. The film begins with an impressive opening shot. (Although we later find out that Sam did not witness the murder.) The film flashforwards to 1946. It becomes a shared secret by the three characters. The lengthy prologue introduces the principal characters as adolescents and establishes their personalities: Barbara Stanwyck (Martha Ivers)/vindictive and domineering, Kirk Douglas (Walter O’neil)/ meek and submissive, and Van Heflin (Sam Masterson)/tough and independent. The film begins in “Iverstown” circa 1928. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946) The visual tone of extreme chiaroscuro is set in the opening, along with a major macro question: Why are Marlowe’s eyes bandaged (seen at extreme right of image below)?
The opening consists of an immediately established prologue (a police interrogation) leading to the bulk of the film, the flashback. The flashback challenges the A B A structure because there aren’t any obvious visual cues, only Joseph Cotton’s voice-over narration.
After the titles we return to the large man walking along a dark street.
#KEY LARGO MOVIE LENGTH SERIES#
The camera cranes up to a second story window and remains static while a large man is seen going through a series of actions: placing a record on a turntable, combing his hair, placing a gun in his suit pocket, putting on a hat and coat and leaving the room. The opening is a pre-credit sequence shot. For purposes of expediency and space, for the next series of films I have collapsed the distinction I used in Part 1 between “Description” and “Interpretation and Insights” into a briefer, less detailed analysis in which I will describe the openings in more general terms of action and event and highlight important points. My goal in Part 2 is to expand on the number of case study films included in my analysis of film noir openings. Film Noir: A Study in Narrative Openings, Part 2īy Donato Totaro Volume 11, Issue 10 / October 2007 27 minutes (6710 words)
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