Noir — From Book to Screen: Two Examples and Bumps on the Way

UPDATE: I pulled this from my post on Ride the Pink Horse because it is more relevant here since this is where I went off the rails.

Since this post on the topic of film noir and noir fiction I realize that I've been looking at this subject all wrong. You shouldn't use a work of noir fiction determine a film's noirness. I really knew better and don't know what I was thinking.

I'm from the school that holds that film noir isn't a genre. Film noir can encompass pretty much any story line, be taken from any established genre: gangster, police drama, romance (particularly Gothic), etc. Rather, film noir embraces a visual style or mood. There is no common definition or agreement as to what constitutes for film noir and if you want to call a film, noir, you can. For the classic period of film noir — where this film falls — we tend to think in terms of black and white and low key lighting, low angles, and other techniques.

Somewhere on the interwebs I read that noir is like pornography — I might not be able to define it but I know it when I see it. I like that.

So, I shouldn't expect that a noir film will match the noir book from which it derives. There are exceptions of course. I think James M. Caine's noir books translate very well into noir films — The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce. As for Dorothy B. Hughes' Ride the Pink Horse, forget it. I don't see how it could be translated to film as she wrote it. On the other hand, another of Hughes books, In a Lonely Place, could easily be turned into a noir film as written if you don't mind your leading man seen as a misogynistic psycho serial killer.

We have to accept that noir means something different in print and on film.

/UPDATE

I have set aside a few books for which I also have the DVD or Blu-Ray and several fall into the noir category. I previously published my look at what is and isn't noir fiction here and this comes into play here.

I have two examples to present. In the first, I conside whether a book of noir fiction can result in a non-noir film.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Woman in the Window (1944)
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, and Dan Duryea.
Directed by Fritz Lang
Based on the book, Once Off Guard by JH Wallis published in 1942

With a cast like this and with Fritz Lang directing you figure this film is naturally going to live up to its noir designation. Let's see what happened.

Brief Summary: Richard Wanley is a psychology professor on his own after sending his family on vacation. Next door to his club where he has gone for the evening, Wanley sees a striking portrait of Alice Reed. Standing near the window is the subject herself, observing passers-by look at her portrait. She strikes up a conversation with Wanley and gets him to go for drinks at her place. While there, a jealous lover arrives and is killed by Wanley after a struggle. Things get worse for Wanley as there is a lot of evidence pointing at him and he finds himself being blackmailed by an associate of the dead man. Wanley attempts to poison the blackmailer and when that fails he takes the remaining poison himself and is seen slumped over in a chair, apparently dead. But, in a film technique called a match cut,  Wainley wakes up and we find that everything has been a dream and club employees were characters in the dream. Outside the club, by the window with a portrait, Wanley is asked for a light by a woman. Startled, Wanley refuses and runs down the street in a panicked reaction to the possibility of his dream coming true.

Until the moment Wanley wakes up, I was enjoying The Women in the Window as a pretty decent little noir film. You have a hapless protagonist who gets involved with a femme fatale which leads to his destruction. He is doomed from the moment he agrees to go for drinks.

After all was revealed to be a dream, ,I wanted to toss the DVD in the microwave on high power. and watch the sparks. What a cheat! Apparently the studio wanted a lighter touch which they got with the slapstick running down the street scene.

What about the book?  Wanley succeeds in killing the blackmailer with a poison that makes the death look like a heart attack. He decides that the only way to preserve his reputation is to kill himself which he does with the same poison he used on the blackmailer. thus making his death appear natural. The ending has a physician friend approached by a woman while standing on the street in front of the portrait. He pegs her as a woman on the hustle, rebuffs her advances, and strolls off down the street.

Verdict: If you stop the film with Wanley slumped in has chair, then you have a pretty good noir film. As far as I'm concerned, the 'it's all a dream" ending takes the film out of the noir category. Film is not noir for me.

In a Lonely Place (1950)
Starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Based on the book In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes published in 1947

Brief Summary: Dix Steele is a Hollywood screenwriter who hasn't had a hit since before the war. He has serious anger issues resulting in violent outbursts. He takes a hatcheck girl, Mildred, home to discuss a book he has been asked to adapt to the screen and which Mildred has read. After Dix decides the book is worthless, he sends Mildred on her way. His arrival with Mildred and her later departure are observed by a neighbor, Laurel. When Mildred turns up dead, Dix is a suspect but Laurel gives him an alibi havind seen Mildred leave.

He and Laurel begin a relationship and Dix appears to be reinvigorated by having Laurel assist him. But Dix's history of violent behavior makes people wonder if Dix might have killed the girl and doubt is sown in Laurel's mind as well. Dix finds out what people are saying and becomes increasing erratic in behavior. In the end, he has a blackout rage moment and he nearly kills Laurel when he finds out that she intends to leave him. Just as he regains control, the police call to tell him that the Mildred's boyfriend has confessed and he is no longer a suspect. Unfortunately, his rage has destroyed his relationship with Laurel.

The film version of this story carries with it a strong incitement of the Hollywood studio system.

What about the book? Dix Steele is a returning WWII pilot who was never happier than when he was in the war. He is also a misogynistic psychopath, serial killer, and rapist. Also, he has killed a Princeton classmate from before the war, moved into his flat, wears his clothes, and drives his car.  He tells everyone he is a writer. As in the film, there is the neighbor Laurel with whom he develops a relationship. Laurel was also a fried of the previous occupant of the flat who was murdered by Dix. A friend from the war is on the police force and investigating a serial killer. Dix arrogantly volunteers to assist in the investigation using his writerly observations to give insight into the killer. Dix sees himself as a superior intellect, toying with the police. But Laurel, and the wife of the detective friend begin to suspect Dix and set a trap for him. As the book ends, Dix is being charged with multiple murders and breaks down and confess to a murder he committed in England during the war.

Hughes wrote beautifully, even poetically, and was able to get into the mind of a serial killer. She shows the psychological cat and mouse game Dix sees himself playing with the police.

Verdict: Both film and book are noir. With the film, Dix is doomed by his uncontrollable rage and finds himself left with nothing. In the book, Dix is doomed by his arrogance and feelings of superiority and lack of self-awareness that others might see through him. So both are noir but I think the book is more noir. Personally, I wish they had given the film a different title, it is so different from the book.

Keywords: noir, crime fiction, film noir