Walter Neff and the Red-Hot Poker: A First Bad Step in Double Indemnity

Drew Cobb

Professor Sinowitz

HONR101C

6 October 2017

Walter Neff and the Red-Hot Poker: A First Bad Step in Double Indemnity

            "I knew I had hold of a red-hot poker, and the time to drop it was before it burned my hand off." This line from Walter Neff symbolizes his awareness of the danger that Phyllis Dietrichson, the femme fatale of Double Indemnity, poses. The first scene in the film that depicts Phyllis' supposed irresistible demeanor and Neff's giving-in to temptation is when she arrives at his house late at night, uninvited, and yet expected, as Neff's narration reveals. This scene is important to the overall film because it represents Neff's first step in the wrong direction, and more importantly emphasizes his awareness of what he is doing by being swooned by Phyllis. Some may argue that Neff was always bound to give into Phyllis’ advances, however, I would argue that Neff at least made attempts to not give in to what Phyllis offered—adultery and crime—and instead tried to “cleanse” himself by removing himself from the situation. This can be seen when he storms out of the Dietrichson household after Phyllis implies her interest in attaining her husband’s accident insurance cash, and also when he stops to have a beer during his meandering drive to “get rid of the sour taste of her iced tea.” These images show Neff’s initial resistance to the deceit and malevolence that Phyllis offers, but the scene at Neff's apartment at night presents the two, for the first time, willing to work together and not only break the law but betray the trust of Phyllis' family and Neff's insurance company, as well as his loyal boss, Keyes. The scene also foreshadows Neff’s control of the situation, despite his choice to give into temptation.

The scene begins with Neff standing at his window, looking outside, and other than the light coming from outside the interior of his apartment is dark with low key lighting and shadows on the walls. Even Neff’s dark pants blend in with the lighting. Such low-key lighting immediately symbolizes a darker tone and atmosphere to the scene, which is representative of Neff’s gradual pull to Phyllis’ side. It can even be observed that he is standing in the brightest spot of the room, as far as we can see, which could symbolize that he is holding onto “the light” and his morality, until Phyllis comes knocking and he turns away to answer the door. The low-key lighting of the scene may also foreshadow Phyllis’ arrival, which seems to be the natural thing for the audience to assume given Neff’s intense mental “back-and-forth,” as he describes himself as being “all twisted up inside.” The panning of the camera can also symbolize Neff’s mental indecision and rumination as he paces back and forth in the room smoking. The darkness of this imagery and the slow, methodical panning of the camera show the mental haze that Neff is in, as if surrounded by temptation, and the scene is set for him to either turn Phyllis away or to invite her in when she arrives.

When the bell rings, Neff’s back is to the door and we see him stop, and his narration reveals that he knows fully well who it is. After Phyllis enters, Neff turns on a light and the two end up standing in the center of the room. 

Here, Wilder uses a medium shot to frame the two, and higher key lighting is used at this point to illuminate the two. Interestingly, the backdrop behind Neff and Phyllis is still very much dark—the room behind them is essentially pitch black. I think the lighting choice here, aside from serving the technical purpose of illuminating the two actors in the scene, also makes them appear heaven-like. Perhaps at this point Neff has already decided that he plans to kiss Phyllis and help her kill her husband—the sudden change in lighting might serve as isolating the two from all else that is going around them. At the end of the day (and the scene), Phyllis and Neff both acknowledge their mutual attraction towards one another, so this lighting may be a symbol of Phyllis’ beauty overtaking Neff and having the two become one, or having something of an alliance to one another. What is also interesting about this scene is the camera angle. The angle changes from a medium shot to a close shot of Neff looking down on Phyllis, which implies he still may have an upper hand of some kind (although it is worth noting that, obviously, Neff is taller than Phyllis). Still, the lighting makes Phyllis look brighter in this scene, which may be a tribute to the “false light” notion that what she is offering to him is “good,” but is really just a temptation.

Neff ends up giving in to the temptation, and in a somewhat awkward scene, as there is little dramatic effect added by the camera angle and the lack of a cut, he kisses her. When she is clinging onto him and they both tell each other they are “crazy” about one another, Wilder uses a low angle shot to capture Neff’s face looking down on Phyllis’. 

One aspect of this shot that I find compelling is that, unlike Out of the Past and other film noirs where the femme fatale ends up killing the main character by the end, Neff ends up killing Phyllis in Double Indemnity, which leads me to believe that the way Neff is shown to be looking down on her and to be overbearing when around her is done to foreshadow his murder of Phyllis—a backpedal on the bad steps he took—to save Mr. Dietrichson’s daughter from death. While a lot of the imagery and lighting of this scene in Neff’s apartment is foreshadowing his continuous, firm hold on the “red hot poker,” there are also undertones that he is in control of the situation, a foreshadowing of him ultimately taking control by the end and killing Phyllis to save the young girl.

In conclusion, the scene in Double Indemnity where Neff sees Phyllis in his apartment contains many undertones of temptation that foreshadow Neff’s eventual digress into bad choices that leads him to commit a murder, as well as become lovers with Phyllis, but there are also undertones of Neff’s consistent power over the femme fatale, unlike other film noirs, which foreshadow his attempt at retribution by the end of the film. While not framing Neff as a hopeless man spiraling out of control and losing himself in the temptation that Phyllis offers, the scene still acts as prelude into Neff’s alliance with Phyllis, topped off with a zoom out of the two on the couch, embraced, followed by a dissolved shot into Neff in the dark, talking to Keyes in the Dictaphone as he confesses the bad choices he made.