"The Killers"

“The Killers” 1946

In the 1946 film “The Killers”, is constructed through Ernest Hemingway's short story. Director Robert Siodmak was the first person to bring Hemingway's short story to life. The movie in and of itself is very dark and has dark undertones to convey film noir. The definition of a film noir is a style of filmmaking that is characterized by elements such as cynical heroes, stark lighting effects, flashbacks, and intricate plots. Siodmak pinpointed Hemingway's story as a terrific way to bring “The killers” into the film industry. The film is about two men that walk into a diner looking for a man that goes by the name “The Swede.” When the two men find The Swede, he does not put up a fight, but accepts his fate. Later in the film, an investigator questioned his death because he had a life insurance policy. The investigator found that The Swede was in love with a woman who may have lured him into committing a crime. Siodmak used flashbacks to show that swedes boxing career was cut short by a hand injury. This injury prompted his involvement in criminal activity. Moving forward, Siodmak give or take faithfully portrays the short story of Hemmingway's work “The Killers.”

“The Killers” 1964

In this film adaptation of “The killers,” the director Don Siegal takes a different approach to the film. Siegal made the film in the aspect of cynical heroes, with the investigators being the murderers. Thus, correlating with film noir, because cynical heroes are a key factor in the idea of film noir. Siegal strayed away from Siodmaks film adaptation. In Siodmaks film, the investigators were the good guys and so the point of view was from their perspective, but in Siegal's as I mentioned before the investigators were the killers. Moving forward, Siegal did not owe Hemingway or Siodmak a version that directly correlated with their work. In my last blog, we discussed film fidelity and how differing from the original source can add advancing qualities and make it more personalized to the director's style. Moreover, another difference between the two films is that the 1946 film is in black and white, and the 1964 film is in color. This difference is solely because of the 18-year difference between the two films. As time went on, colored movies grew more popular, but in the forties, color would have been ahead of time. However, the difference in color adds value to both films because they both show a different era of time. Some people like myself enjoy colored movies over black and white films, but I can still see the beauty of the older films.

Imagery

In film, imagery is extremely important because it brings the words to life and adds different emotions throughout the film. When imagery is used correctly it creates a new world in film, allowing people to feel the scenery, emotions, and presence of the film. When I sit down to watch a movie, I want to be able to imagine myself in the characters' shoes. This is because it allows me to escape from the reality of my life. Throughout both films, I felt as if I was in their shoes trying to solve the case. One way that Siodmak used extensive imagery was through flashbacks. The flashbacks allow people to know the plot and then discover a brand-new identity within the characters. One instance in “The Killers” 1946 version is that the flashback of The Swedes hand injury, for the reason that it conveyed a message to the audience. That message is that the past always becomes the present, no matter the circumstances. In my eyes, this was an immensely powerful message because it proves that actions have consequences, and those consequences can lead to unwarranted things. Therefore, this results in why imagery is so powerful within the film industry because it can create hidden messages and symbols that you do not realize until you genuinely analyze the film.

Narration

Narration and literature are two completely different aspects in film, but they both play a role within the other. This is because the language that is used throughout the film is being narrated by the different characters. When Hemmingway authored his short story, he carefully articulated every word, emotion, and description to convey different messages throughout the entire story. This is not an easy task to do because it takes an enormous amount of time and effort. Now, to bring those authored words to life is an even harder task, this is because the director needs to understand every aspect of the story if they want to capture the essence of the original story. In Siodmaks version, he was very faithful to the language that Hemmingway expressed because he wanted to demonstrate the reality of the story. Moving forward, in Siegal's version it was a different manner of how he portrayed Hemmingway's words. In this manner Siegal displayed the language through more violence to show a more dramatic affect. However, both directors used extensive language and thought throughout their film even though they possessed different tactics.

Point of view

As mentioned previously throughout this blog, I have shown the difference between how both directors went about filming “The Killers” authored by Ernest Hemmingway. Considering everything that I have mentioned, I would like to take a deeper dive into the different points of view and show the importance of both directors' stylistic choices. Firstly, I will start with the earlier version directed by Robert Siodmak. In Siodmaks version, the point of view was originally from the two hitmen and after they killed The Swede, after the killing, it shifted into the investigators point of view. As you watch this film, you become invested in if the investigator is going to catch the hit men. Siodmak did this to pull you into the thrill of each scene. In contrast to Siodmaks adaptation, Siegal took a dissimilar approach. In Siegal's approach, he wanted the two hitmen to be the investigators and never strayed from their point of view. Siegal did this by having the investigators solve the crime that they created themselves. He also used a small number of flashbacks and made the focus of the plot in the present time. In comparison, however, both directors made their films from the point of view of the investigation and how the murder was going to be solved. Both films were carefully articulated in creating the perfect points of views of each character.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both films were directed perfectly to show the creativity and effort that went into creating a short story into a film noir. Like I mentioned before, it is not an easy task to bring someone else work into real life, so the fact that Siegal and Siodmak had the courage to convey Hemmingway's short story through point of view, narration, and imagery was impeccable. Hemmingway also set his story up to become a film, and we can see this because many films were created through his work. The way that the words of Hemmingway were brought to life is extraordinary to me because that type of talent does not come easily. Overall, both adaptations of “The Killers” were carefully created and brought to life through the film industry.