Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

mise-en-scène. As the film progresses, and the protagonist Frank pieces together the true
story, it resolves itself almost like a Gothic melodrama, with a more traditional perspective
on human wrongdoing and weakness.
Woolrich was a crime writer who saw many of his stories turned into film noir
screenplays, perhaps more than any other crime novelist, and many of his stories were also
adapted during the forties for Suspense 11 and other drama radio programmes. Woolrich’s
life philosophy was particularly latent in noir productions, such as Harold Clurman’s
Deadline at Dawn (1946) and John Farrow’s Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948). The
former, like Street of Chance, also captures the quiet desolation of the night time people in
New York City. The film is actually filled with those odd personalities for whom Woolrich
seemed to have such an affection and affinity. By virtue of the mise-en-scène and
Musuraca’s RKO-style of shadowy lighting, Woolrich’s narrative (writing under the name
William Irish) makes this a classic film noir.
The scene below (fig. 10) reflects this perfect combination of features:. Alex
Winkley (Bill Williams) and June Goth (Susan Hayward) go to return some money that
Alex found in his pocket the night before, while drunk, and which apparently belongs to
Edna Bartelli (Lola Lane)When they arrive at Edna’s apartment they find her dead on the
floor. She is half lit by the only light in the room, a lamp that has been tumbled over in the
middle of the table. The young sailor and the dancer are both looking down at her, their
faces look serene and perplexed at the same time, but above all, the photography catches
their disorienting gaze, as a reminder of the gloomy and fearful events that will follow.
11 Suspense was an incredibly popular radio mystery programme that was on the air for more than twenty-two
years and featured many leading Hollywood actors of that time.
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