Double Indemnity

The movie Double Indemnity, with scores by Miklos Rozsa, follows many characteristics of Film Noir. One characteristic of Film noir is one prevailing score with typically a dark and pessimistic mood. The opening music in Double Indemnity is the one prevailing score that is repeated throughout the whole movie, and the score was dark and pessimistic like most film noir scores are. The score had harsh and disjunct melodies, contributing to the dark mood of the music. Also, the orchestral music was not typical orchestra melody that was heard in earlier films. It was more wavering and irregular. The main score helped to transition between scenes, which in this case was typically from Walker's narration into the recorder, to the flashbacks of the scenes that already happened. The underscoring was typically not noticeable until scenes of great dramatic importance happened, like during the murder and when Walter and Phyllis are together in the end and we know that Phyllis has a gun. Also, the music ends loud when Walter falls over. In the scene when Phyllis and Walter are together for the last time, it is the first time diagetic music is heard in the film, which is jazz music from the city. This idea is also a characteristic of film noir because they use jazz music which was coming from the city.
The film also contains a "love" theme, however, it is still darker than most "love" themes seen from the classical movie era which was light, soft, and usually played by violins.