The “Dead On” Opening Sequences of D.O.A.

By

Derek Franke

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“..Perhaps one of cinema’s most innovative opening sequences…" Rudolph Mate's D.O.A. (1950) opens with the lead character, Bigelow (Edmund O’Brien), walking down the seemingly never-ending hallway of a police station into the homicide office to report a murder-ironically, his own. In his review of the film, the BBC's David Wood considers this “perhaps one of cinema’s most innovative opening sequences" (par. 1). Indeed, Bigelow’s marching-like walk, down the hall lit by a long series of artificial ceiling lights, a track towards a mysterious beginning. The “Homicide Division” sign on the office door tell us that it might involve a murder. Once inside, Bigelow is among men of authority, and the lighting created an anxious and shadowy world. O’Brien introduces himself as Frank Bigelow, a last name portentous of the luminous poison, “big glow,” something revealed later as the cause of his impending death. Bigelow then recounts his demise through a flashback of a series of events that eventually led him to the police station. I agree with Wood's assessment and will further argue that the opening sequences were central to an exquisitely crafted unfolding and ending of a tale of an everyman, the decisions he made, and the consequences of his actions.

“I’m here to report a murder.” The beginning of D.O.A, with Bigelow walking towards his death, in actuality leads to the conclusion of the film (Image1).

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Mate, the director, positions the audience’s point of view from the back of Bigelow, essentially putting the viewer in his shoes. The hallway to the protagonist’s death is dimly lit with artificial light. He’s walking alone, crossing dark shadows, and he’s about to enter a door. Once inside the Homicide Division office, the audience is drawn into the tale of an ordinary guy, an accountant, and his inevitable demise. Bigelow asked to see “the man in charge,” perhaps alluding to a higher power, one that may be able to provide answers. But he’s here to report a murder and to tell his story. Mate uses a flashback to recount the details of Bigelow’s plight and ultimately to the protagonist revealing the truth about what happened. Bigelow tells the police chief that his story involves “people” and that he lives in a “little” town. Paula, his fiancé, is introduced into the story, and that Bigelow is about to take a trip to get away from his ordinary life, an ordered state of affair.

“You’re going to explain my life away!” Bigelow should have been content with things back home. But straying off the beaten path brings only trouble. Trouble can be deadly and learning about the truth can be horrifying (Image 2).

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The doctor, a bearer of the truth, is wearing white. “I don’t think you understand, Bigelow. You’ve been murdered!” said the Doctor. Bigelow has been punished, sentenced to death, and he doesn’t know why or how. He is surrounded, trapped by the unbearable news, dazed and confused (Image 3).

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The flashback is an interesting way of unfolding the story, instead of a sequential telling of the narrative. It serves as a dramatic intersection between the beginning of the story and the ending. Here Bigelow, the flashback story teller, is at the center, between doctor wearing black, and another wearing white, in a tight shot. Bigelow’s walk down the hallway at the beginning was dark and at the end, when tells the story, the audience is enlightened with the truth.

“Honesty is the best policy.” In this case, the truth brings chaos, and Bigelow needs to understand who did him in and why would anyone give him a luminous poison (Image 4).

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He has lost control of his life, free will, and the only thing to do is run away from the dark truth towards a white truth (Image 5).

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But it’s impossible to run away from your own shadow or fate. Bigelow cannot escape from this fact. Thus, Mate begins Bigelow’s journey towards discovering the truth, desperate to find the answers, with time running out. The audience is taken for a roller coaster of a ride.

“All I did was notarized one little paper-one paper out of hundreds.” Bigelow’s search for the truth leads to treacherous confrontations with gangsters and the uncovering of details involving an affair between a Mrs. Phillips and her husband’s employee Halliday, a plot of suicide-murder of Mr. Phillips, and a shipment of iridium in which Bigelow notarized the bill of sale, later revealed as his death warrant. Bigelow survived several brushes with death being fired at by a nameless gunman. As a one-man show, he has to get tough, gun in hand, in order to face the dark, bitter, truth, discovering one clue at a time (Image 6).

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No one is helping him with exception of his Paula. Paula, the one person that he wanted to briefly escape from, was there, even when he was uncomfortably trapped at gunpoint by the men who were involved with his murder(Image 7).

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Paula was there providing “clues” throughout his search for answers. Here Mate has the two thugs forcing Bigelow to talk to his girl. Why did he leave her? He should have stayed put in his little town. If he felt trapped before, this is even worse, the lost of physical control.

“He’s not afraid. Look in his eyes.” The agents of death in D.O.A. come in several forms. At the beginning, Bigelow discovers that a luminous poison will kill him. In the

search for his killer, the goons come out of the wood work, real characters. One of them is

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Chester the psychopath whose job is to speed up Bigelow’s death (Image 8).

Bigelow already has a luminous poison in his gut but a bullet will bring him to his death faster. He was questioned whether he is “soft in the belly.” The moment of impending death is in artificially lit room. The shadow of an agent of evil is the background to the left. Bigelow wanted to find the truth. Well the truth is going to hit him in the gut from the outside too. Mate now has the goons take Bigelow for a ride to his death. But Bigelow is still a tough guy.

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“I miss you. I’ll be home soon.” Mate can’t end Bigelow’s tale on just a ride to the grave. He has Bigelow escape from the goons and ends up on a bus (Image 9).

There’s concern on his face. Bigelow and the audience have been on dangerous and scary ride, narrowly escaping death’s grip. It is illusory because his death was inevitable. The journey brings him to direct confrontation with his killer (Image 10).

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The place of confrontation is inside, darkly lit, high ceiling, metallic. No one will see the color of the sky in here. It was meant to be this way. The noir world is dark and murky. A wayward individual will be punished or made to confront the consequences of his or her action. The place is lit by artificial lights, rows of them, just like the hallway in the police station. Only this time the audience’s point of view is from the killer’s. Bigelow is now facing his killer. The row of lights on the right wall resembles the light on the ceiling of the police station. It is just as if Bigelow walked towards two destinations. This walk was the one that lead him to his killer. The one in the beginning was to report his death and the realization that he should have been with Paula.

“Stamp it ‘D.O.A.’” The opening sequences were central to D.O.A. and instead of telling the story from beginning to the end, Mate leads the audience to the realization that it is essentially the end of the movie. Bigelow has found, confronted, and killed the person that poisoned him in a gun fight. He’s now about to tell the authority what happened to him. The sequences established a context for the viewer of a story that is about to be revealed by the protagonist. It created a twist of a victim telling a story of his own murder thus drawing the viewer into the tale. The flashback is an interesting way of unfolding the story instead of a sequential telling of the story. It serves as a dramatic intersection between Bigelow’s present and

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his past. It is through these innovative opening sequences that Mate successfully created a recurring loop, tying the beginning of a story to its conclusion. That’s just dead on!

Image 11: Paula!

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Image 12: D.O.A.

Works Cited:

D.O.A (1950) Review by David Wood. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/02/26/doa_1950_review.shtml

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