Clichés happen at the end of both films. In Kazan’s film the cliché makes the audience feel good by the way that the good guy wins and the bad guy loses, the line ”lets go to work” is spoken by the work co-ordinator with Jonny Friendly being left on his own on the outside with everybody who has been depressed now in work. This is a utopia for the communist. In Wilder’s film Keys says ”Closer than that” to which Neff replies “I love you too” showing that there is a bond between them and that the fact that it was love that corrupted Neff is ironic. Also Neff was the closest man to Keys and because he was so close, Keys couldn’t see it.
At certain points during the films closed spaces are used to explain the enclosure of the character. When Charlie is speaking to Terry and trying to convince him to take a job, they are in a taxi, a confined space, whereas earlier we looked at the sunny day symbolising the nonchalant freedom.
The conscience and noise is effectively represented in the scene where Terry is confessing his part in the murder of Joey. The noise all the way through from the beginning of his speech to the end gets increasingly intense. It starts off with the steady beat of the workers in the yard, this relates to the heartbeat, it gets louder and louder with intervals of the whistle at certain points as if the gang were silencing him from the docks. There is a peace from the yard for a split second, in which you hear ‘ In God’s name’ said by Terry, which correlates to the priest’s influence on the decision.
The smog, which at the time of the setting compared to the actual time is realistic, gives a low ambience and a heavy feeling. It is as if a burden is being carried from the city with him.
The whole mood established by the setting is then reflected in the character, Walter Neff, the hat, the dark coat and the bullet wound all go into how the character conducted himself and the manner in which he worked. When he visits the femme fatal (Mrs. Dietrichson) he takes off his hat and also lets down his guard and becomes more open. The hat is as if it were a shield to his guilt and his reasonable thinking.
The mood represented in either the scene or the whole film – the purer the character the cleaner the scene. The traits of each character can be stereotyped to that character or that style of character e.g. – Jonny Friendly’s gang all dress, talk and act in the same way. It is a recognition that is made subconsciously by the spectator.
The name of Keys is a motif, quite obviously, symbolising that he can ‘unlock’ the secrets or the lies that some people make up to scam money.
After the fight between Terry Malloy and Jonny Friendly the way his body is beaten and how he walks can be believed to be related to the way Jesus walked his final walk before he was crucified. Terry is always portrayed throughout the film as having, a bit more about him, than the rest of the gang. This is shown by the way he his above the streets with his job – away from the smog, elevated so he is higher than the other people. Also Edie is up there with him making him feel special, he then in the later half of the film speaks to Charlie about how he wasn’t a ‘bum’. There is a train of thought that relates the caged pigeons to him, he should be allowed to fly free but is fed by the gang, and then at the end once he does ‘ fly free’ he informs the police he is compared to a stool pigeon. A dead pigeon is thrown at him, which symbolises that he can never come back to the waterfront but he is free.
The smog, which lays thick upon the city streets in both films, does give a general dampener on the ambience. Both of the characters either go to the top of a building or go to a top floor of the building. There is a belief that through Kazan’s films he uses motifs to make statements against society. The billhook that Marlon Brando carries can be associated with the sickle on the Soviet Union’s flag, representing communism, which is then reinforced with the workers’ union, the shear mass of poor/ordinary men all the same.
The works and the constant drone of the works on the waterfront show the endless repetition of the lives of the workers, especially Terry Malloy. The people on the train as Neff walked through all acknowledged the fact that he had a burden – carried as a crutch, a material sign. The people can sense the burden he carries as they see the crutch – and then speak to him thus, as does the man who is sitting on the back carriage of the train. He speaks to Neff as a friend but is in the dark all the time as if Neff can’t get near to him, and, even though it is strategic Walter always faces the other way never looking at him, as if he is a lower class. When Walter goes to Mrs.Dietrichson’s house, he is greeted by a servant, showing that the family have power and influence, then after going into the porch he has to look up to her yet again showing that he can be controlled, like a predatory bird above its prey before it pounces, as if to be another servant as others were before him. This comes into greater significance later on when he learns she has played the same scandal before.
The hat that has portrayed shadow and a cover to Walter’s emotions can lead to a belief of confinement, how he is being depressed and pushed down by the burden.
Edie has an innocence about her. She wears white, which is a massive contrast to almost every other character in the film, even the priest, who would be thought to be the purest.
The last straw for Terry is when he explains to the girl about the death of her brother and the roar and clamour of the waterfront drown it out as if to silence him. Subsequently he looks over to the sea where Jonny has based himself and sees a ship going out, Jonny’s ship.
The match, the light that is carried with Neff is an allegory that symbolises his presence, his continuation. He, all the way through the film, is the only one that is able to do this and then in his last hour it is passed on to the man that holds the key to his future, his continuation.
Continuation and time are very significant in both films. In Billy Wilder’s film when the actual “murder” is committed he places pieces of card in the phone and the door bell. This can be taken in three different ways, he is doing it for the practical means as he describes in the film, he does it but at the same time stopping the bells as if he is stopping time for the deed to take place and then correcting that when he returns and last, as if to stop the bells being rung at a funeral. This can be related to many different poetic pieces e.g. Jon Dunne – “ For whoever the bell tolls, it tolls for thee” explaining if he kills someone else he is killing himself.
Neff is a tall man, all the way through he stands above Keys as if to be above him away from his clutches but at the end he cannot get away from him nor stand above him, he is below Keys and so he has lost his status, he has lost what was holding him up.
The noise and clamber in both films, at different points, are significant but also the music, which, at some points can be docile, has a considerable influence on the mood and tone, off chords and minor scales are used to describe sadness, loneliness or paranoia. In other times it is a way of introducing a mood to the scene or even film, e.g. intro music of “Double Indemnity” and the outro music in “On the Waterfront” give a satisfaction to the onlooker by the way the scene leads into the music. The music and camera work combined make an effective couple. In the beginning scene of “Double Indemnity” the music is reasonably intense and the camera is very close to him, it is on first person. At this point the audience are trying to work out a plot or are waiting in anticipation for one, which the music introduces.
The theme of both films and almost all other ‘film noir’ films are elaborated versions of the good verses evil battle. Both directors have publicised this in different ways, Kazan by having a good character all the way through and Wilder, through making a bad character confess. All of the techniques used in the films are closely intertwined, each essential to create the atmosphere.