Research - Analysis Five (The Chase)

The Chase

The chase (produced in 1946) is like most film Noirs, being shot in black and white and being made in America. Its regarded as being a dream-like film Noir due to the plot revolving around a penniless world war two veteran who is tormented by bizzare dreams.

Content of the opening

• Starts off with a old fashioned radio playing music (slightly static in sound) over the opening credits (piano). Each credit fades, then another set appears. Producers, directors and actors all feature in the Credits.
• The backing image of the credits is of a beach with palm trees (its a still), the text is white. Maybe this might link to the story?
• When the credits are over it fades to white, then black, and the fades into the opening scene of a Man (black) flipping pancakes on a street stall. (only digetic sound is heard), I put that the man was in brackets because of thinking of why they actually put him in the opening due to the vast amount of racism and discrimination still around in the 1940's.50s, to dig deeper on the issue, I searched in wikipedia about the overall situation of racism at the time. It resulted in a interesting fact which put the situation right within the period of Film Noir, "Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. White Americans were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States) This does connect with how the black man has a potential poorly paid job. 
• Cuts are used between the pancake maker and the first fully established character who is a formally dressed male who is wearing a suite, hat, tie and trousers. There is also a couple of over the shoulder shots.
• The man appears to have dropped his wallet and franticly picks it up and checks its content, his shoes which you see are quite unconventional as they are white, during this sequence the only sound you hear is diegetic