CTCS 469: The Genius of Billy Wilder
Part 2 of Notebook (due July 1st)
Professor: Dr. Drew Casper
TA: Isaac Rooks
Jinghan Mao
Tel: 608-770-1992
5)
The Lost Weekend (1945) shows six “noir” style thematic and formal components that are discussed by Professor Casper in his book Postwar Hollywood 1946—1962. First of all, there are two visual narrative flashbacks in the film. According to Casper, the narrative flashback is “an indication not only of the use of the past to explain the present, but also an indication of the compulsion to repeat, the mark of a neurotic person” (Casper, 360). Thus, the first time when the narrative flashback in The Lost Weekend appears, it uses the past to explain the present—about how Don Birnam (Ray Milland), …show more content…
Finally, Helen changes Don. Next, the formal strategy in film noir “stressed female’s eyes and lips which were accompanied by a good deal of business, drawing attention to the mouth and lips. Fingernails were painted. Extremely stylized female hairdos were character signposts. Female clothes emphasized legs and come to the fifties, breasts. Men’s clothes often had a rumpled look about them, with ties at half mast that went hand in hand with unshaven faces and tousled hair” (Casper, 364). In this film, both Helen and Gloria (Doris Dowling) share Casper’s point—their make ups bring out their eyes and lips. Both of the have painted fingernails, Helen has the neutral color and Gloria has the cerise color. Different fingernails’ colors actually reveal the different traits of characters. What a detailed setting here we see in the film! Both of them have beautiful hairdos and both of their outfits are just beautiful. If one remembers the first outfit Gloria wears upon her first appearance in the bar, one would notice the outfit emphasized both her legs and her breasts. Since The Lost Weekend is made in the mid-1940s and according to Casper, this film shows the transition from 1940s to 1950s, that the transition from the focus on legs to the focus on breasts. And our leading guy Don also confirms Casper’s point. His clothes do look rumpled, and he does have the unshaven face and tousled hair. Furthermore, according to Casper’s lecture, the repetition of the …show more content…
Billy Wilder, the director ties his characters in a web, where they bump into each other and cause a lot of chaos and complexity. This chaos is a chain reaction, which makes the complications sighted, more complexed for the viewers to stay connected to the movie till the end. A famous singer stopping at the gas station, meeting a lyricist who wants a voice to sing his song, lyricist is working with another guy who has a beautiful wife that he does not want the famous singer to meet and hires an imitator wife to do the job, but all this hiding could not keep the singer away to meet the wife in the end, these situations take the breath away of the viewers. As complicated as it looks, the complexities further give rise to other complex situations that keep on going till the movie
Part 2 of Notebook (due July 1st)
Professor: Dr. Drew Casper
TA: Isaac Rooks
Jinghan Mao
Tel: 608-770-1992
5)
The Lost Weekend (1945) shows six “noir” style thematic and formal components that are discussed by Professor Casper in his book Postwar Hollywood 1946—1962. First of all, there are two visual narrative flashbacks in the film. According to Casper, the narrative flashback is “an indication not only of the use of the past to explain the present, but also an indication of the compulsion to repeat, the mark of a neurotic person” (Casper, 360). Thus, the first time when the narrative flashback in The Lost Weekend appears, it uses the past to explain the present—about how Don Birnam (Ray Milland), …show more content…
Finally, Helen changes Don. Next, the formal strategy in film noir “stressed female’s eyes and lips which were accompanied by a good deal of business, drawing attention to the mouth and lips. Fingernails were painted. Extremely stylized female hairdos were character signposts. Female clothes emphasized legs and come to the fifties, breasts. Men’s clothes often had a rumpled look about them, with ties at half mast that went hand in hand with unshaven faces and tousled hair” (Casper, 364). In this film, both Helen and Gloria (Doris Dowling) share Casper’s point—their make ups bring out their eyes and lips. Both of the have painted fingernails, Helen has the neutral color and Gloria has the cerise color. Different fingernails’ colors actually reveal the different traits of characters. What a detailed setting here we see in the film! Both of them have beautiful hairdos and both of their outfits are just beautiful. If one remembers the first outfit Gloria wears upon her first appearance in the bar, one would notice the outfit emphasized both her legs and her breasts. Since The Lost Weekend is made in the mid-1940s and according to Casper, this film shows the transition from 1940s to 1950s, that the transition from the focus on legs to the focus on breasts. And our leading guy Don also confirms Casper’s point. His clothes do look rumpled, and he does have the unshaven face and tousled hair. Furthermore, according to Casper’s lecture, the repetition of the …show more content…
Billy Wilder, the director ties his characters in a web, where they bump into each other and cause a lot of chaos and complexity. This chaos is a chain reaction, which makes the complications sighted, more complexed for the viewers to stay connected to the movie till the end. A famous singer stopping at the gas station, meeting a lyricist who wants a voice to sing his song, lyricist is working with another guy who has a beautiful wife that he does not want the famous singer to meet and hires an imitator wife to do the job, but all this hiding could not keep the singer away to meet the wife in the end, these situations take the breath away of the viewers. As complicated as it looks, the complexities further give rise to other complex situations that keep on going till the movie