The Killers Lighting

An aspect of "The Killers" (1946) that intrigued me the most was Robert Siodmak's use of lighting, particularly with the "bad" and "good" guys. Every time we were introduced to a new villain, or the opposition of authority, darkness was that frame's main attribute, and vice versa for the "heroes." For example, when we meet the Swede (Burt Lancaster) for the first time, we don't see his face until the scene is over. He's hidden in the corner of the room on his bed to himself, left dark and mysterious. We do not know him, but by first impression, do we really want to personally know him? He is then, in fact, killed in a blaze of gunfire. We then meet the "good guy," Jim Reardon (Edmund O'Brien). The bright lights in his office almost create a halo around his slicked back hair. He is called to investigate a claim for a minor amount of money, which, in the process, leads him to meet some questionable characters. After every new character he meets, the lights seem to get dimmer and dimmer, until we finally meet Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner) and learn the whole truth about the Swede and his gang. A flashback reveals that Lancaster and his whole gang are planning a ruthless robbery in a dark damp room playing poker. Throughout a series of flashbacks in the film, we are, for the most part, intrigued by Lancaster and led to not know what will become of him, but why? Like in most noir films, he hopelessly falls for the femme fatal. The use of lighting that Siodmak uses is a common theme in noir films; dark light equals bad, bright light equals good. In this case, and in the sense of the characters we meet, there are a lot of gray areas.

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