Alex Inkster

Analysis of a Noir Opening.

Part 1 http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-untouchables

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNSlyrbcDY

For my second Analysis of an opening I have chosen a Noir movie. The movie that I have chosen is “The untouchables”. I have chosen this because “Silence of the lambs” didn’t have many conventions of a Noir movie but more of a Horror.

The opening of this movie starts with a dark shadows moving across the screen. At first we hear drums and then a harmonica being played. This is used to make the audience know that this is a noir type movie. It could also give some of the audience a nostalgic feel. Then the Score starts to play. This consists of constant soft drumming, a low piano a harmonica and some violins. This is used to make the audience feel like they are in the 1980’s. This is done with the use of Stings from the piano, violin and the harmonica. Then the screen pans up to the title. Once this is done the score then changes tune from a slower pitch to a faster one. This could have been used to indicate the overall tone of the movie. Then the screen slowly backs up away from the title screen. As this is happening the score is also getting quieter and quieter. Once the title disappeared there were a little bit more of the score and then one last hit from the drum which then took it into the first seen. This is known as a sound bridge as it cuts from the opening seen to the fist look at the mob boss. This is a convention of a noir movie as there is usually a mob boss involved.

Once the title screen has ended we have our first glimpse at the mob boss known as Al Capone. We see him from a birds eye view. As the camera zooms in we see background actors who appear to be intervening him, there is also a barber who is giving him a shave. This is also a convention of a noir

movie as the mob boss is portrayed as rich and wealthy. We then hear dialogue from one of the background actors. What he says is “an article which I believe appeared in a newspaper, asked why, since you are, or would seem you are in effect the mayor of Chicago you have not simply been appointed to that position.” This sentence gives the audience a feel for the nature of the mob boss .We then hear some laughter from the other background charters; this is known as ambient sound as it is classed as diegetic sound but can’t be seen. Then there is some dialogue form Al Capone played by Robert De Niro. Toward the end of his dialogue he puts on a sarcastic tone for his last sentence. What he says is “well I’ll tell ya you know it’s touching. Like a lot of things in life we laugh because it’s funny and we laugh because it’s true. Some people say, reformers here say: put that man in jail, what does he think he is doing. Well what

Alex Inkster

I hope I’m doing and here’s where your English paper has got a point is, I’m responding to the will of the people.” This shows that this character is bad as it is said that he should be in jail. This makes the audience a little angry as he is bad and getting away with it.

The camera then cuts to the background actors laughing while they are writing things down from the point of view of Al Capone. This is known as a POV shot. The laughing is known as diegetic sound, this is because the audience and the characters can see and hear the noise. The camera then cuts back to

the close up of Al Capone. There is then some more dialogue from Al Capone, he says “People are gonna drink you know that I know that we all know that, and all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging, what is bootlegging, on a boat is bootlegging on a lakeshore drive it’s known as hospitality. I’m a business man.” This tells the audience that he is selling alcohol at the time of prohibition. This is a convention as it tells the setting of the movie which is in the mid 1980’s. This also gives a little bit of a back story to the character as well, this is also a convention commonly used in Noir films but is told through narration. We then hear some ambient sound as it can be heard by the audience and the character but it can’t be seen on screen. We then hear some more dialogue from a new background actor, he says “And what of your reputation that you control your business through violence, that those who don’t purchase your products are dealt with violently.” This also give a little sense of what this character is like as he uses violence to get what he wants, this is also common is Noir films . While this is being said the barber then goes to shave his face, but then he cuts him on the cheek. The camera then cuts to the barbers reaction and he looks scared. This is because as we know that

Al Capone uses violence and that the barber thinks that he will use violence on him. In this shot cut there is little sound, this is done to build tension. From there, there are several cuts from the Barber back to Al Capone. Then it cuts back to Al Capone, and then says some dialogue. He

says “It’s alright, I grew up in a tough neberhood, and we use to say you can get further with a kind word and a gun then you can with just a kind word” we then hear some ambient sound which is laughter. He then says “And sometimes the reputation follows you, there is violence in Chicago of cores but not by me and not by anybody I employ and I’ll tell you why because it’s not good business.” This gives the audience a feel for what the area of Chicago was like.