Film Essays
info
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers: An Unconventional Noir Drama
April 8, 2020
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, released in 1946, is a Noir Drama that breaks from many of its conventions as it redefines the typical personas of central noir characters and discreetly lends from central motifs more associated with westerns and melodramas. In this way, I argue that “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” is a subtle genre chameleon that is able to blend in with other noirs stylistically, while still maintaining a shape that shares the influences of other genres.
To appreciate the film’s modularity in genre, we must first acknowledge its’ predominant Noir conventions. Noir films usually concern themselves with everyman Americans, who work blue collar jobs and are often portrayed as someone who has been raised by the streets (Konecny 145-148). Sam Masterson embodies this archetype, as he is depicted as a former tough army man whose main income is through gambling. The noir lead is usually portrayed as a rough and tumble guy, which is further exemplified in the former army man Sam when he admirably holds his own against the mob fights he finds himself involved in throughout the film. This accentuates his credibility as a rugged everyday American and reinforces the type of character that noir films usually associate with their leads. The femme fatale is another prominent noir motif used in this film. Martha Ivers is the former childhood sweetheart of Sam, who is embroiled in the killing of her aunt. Through her sexual charm and power from her wealth, she attempts to seduce Sam away from his current love interest, Toni. She temporarily succeeds in stealing Sam away and nearly convinces Sam to kill her own husband for her. This embodies the femme fatale’s power over the male noir protagonist as a negative influence that drives him to commit actions that fulfill her own desires (Grossman 19). Being so corrupt and evil, the femme fatale usually represented what was frowned upon concerning women in society, and typically was killed off by the end of the film (Bronfen 107). Martha, likewise, succumbs to her own death by the hands of her own husband.
In terms of the stylistic elements of the film, the aesthetic noir conventions are evident throughout its lighting and location choices. Low key lighting is prominent in various scenes and observed throughout the film to give the film a darker and muggier feel to it. This weighs down the viewer down to the depressive nature that Noirs usually aim to elicit as a result of the general uneasiness World War II inspired within society (Dussere 18). Moreover, the settings that the film takes place in are usually met with the absence of natural or artificial light. In observing the two main locations of the film’s settings, Martha’s mansion is often observed in darkness, while Sam’s hotel room is usually met with the presence of only a few light sources. This made sense given the context of the scenes. The darkness in Martha’s mansion expresses an appropriate mood that resonates with the importance it is given as the place where Martha’s aunt was murdered. The dark hotel room on the other hand spoke to the secret and intimate nature of Sam’s relationship with Toni. Furthermore, it does not look coincidental that most of the film takes place in the gloom of the night. This absence of natural or artificial light in the film gives it an ominous and hazy atmosphere that acts as a foreshadowing backdrop for the typical dreary noir story plot ahead. The only occasions that the typical three star lighting typical of classical Hollywood is encountered are when Toni or Martha are introduced by the camera.
While apparent in its noir influences, the film does not shy away from breaking off of these thematic and stylistic conventions. Unlike most noirs, this film addresses the changing gender social dynamics observed during and after WWII in a more direct way. While men were enlisted in the war and had a difficult time reintegrating into society afterwards, women emerged as the main breadwinners for their respective families as they took the jobs that were left vacant (Walker-Morrison 26). With this said, Noir films reflect this social development by typically having a femme fatale hold a power over the male protagonist in the form of her seductive magnetism against the male protagonist (Walker-Morrison 25). In this film however, the femme fatale Martha is not only a totem for seduction, but also the wealthiest independent owner of the largest operation in Iverstown. She uses her wealth to get her way with Walter, her husband, and to a certain extent, Sam. Her husband’s prominence and standing in the town’s politics is entirely dependent on Martha’s wealth and influence, essentially making Walter entirely reliant on what she provides him. Sam, on the other hand, is also tempted by her wealth as he lives as a washed up gambler and is given the opportunity to partake in this wealth by fulfilling Martha’s devious desires. Taking this into account, the film acknowledges the usual subtext associated with the femme fatale’s overused sexually driven power over men with a more direct representation. It goes straight to the point in addressing it by depicting Martha as the sole maker of her own wealth, effectively and literally embodying the woman’s rise to more prominence within society and family at this juncture in history as a result of their newfound independent wealth. In this way, the film depicts this changing social landscape with the use of a more direct and realistic interpretation beyond the sexualized woman. In fact, this dominant power dynamic that women now had over men was established in the film from its very beginning. The intro of the film starts off with a young Martha and her aunt as matriarchs over men (Walter and Walter’s father) as a result of their wealth. Martha, even as a child, is already shown to be in control of Walter and his father. Walter witnesses Martha murdering her Aunt, but keeps silent because Martha commands it. Likewise, Walter’s father also keeps silent in order to keep in good graces with Martha and her incoming inheritance. Martha’s aunt was also able to control Walter’s father, because she held the wealth and security that would support him and his child. In this way, the femme fatale is given a new meaning in that the woman’s seductive nature and equally her wealth were making them a dangerous force in the Noir and beyond.
Unlike most noirs, the film also does not kill off the lead, but brings fair justice to both the protagonists and antagonists. By the conclusion of the film, Sam ends up alive and well as he drives west with Toni without any lingering repercussions. This positive outcome that Sam benefits from speaks to his uncharacteristically heroic actions that he partakes in during the film. Usually depicted as depraved of moral character, the Noir lead is barely described as heroic and is usually defeated by his enemies by the end of the film to ultimately succumb to his death or an equally unhappy fate (Belton 210). He splits with Martha (along with the money and power associated with her), when he realizes that he does not love her as amicably as he can and without any strings attached. He also refuses to murder Walter, who was knocked unconscious after falling a trip of stairs. In both cases, he would have been awarded with affection, power and money, but refuses to do so despite the magnitude of the temptations. He does not heedlessly commit any crime throughout the film, which shows his uncharacteristically moral character that the Noir lead usually is lacking in (Konecny 145-148). The film does admittedly paint him as a scoundrel that noirs usually associate with the lead, but these notable moral choices that Sam pursues establish him as a man with more principle than the usual noir protagonist. On the other hand, the malicious couple of Martha and Walter, who have gotten away with murder and also unjustly inflict harm onto Sam, suffer an uglier fatal fate. Martha is shot by her own husband, who then kills himself. With this said, this noir film brings a firm and fair judgement to its characters. Instead of the usual “narration from the grave” that the noir partakes in like Sunset boulevard, we see Sam justly rewarded for his heroic character that noir leads usually don’t possess or are rewarded for.
It is also notable to mention that the film can be said to borrow conventions from the Western genre. The protagonist Sam can be identified as a modern cowboy of the noir, who similarly represents a contemporary wilderness himself. Like a cowboy, he doesn’t play by the rules of society. He does not have a secure job, is trained to fight and to survive beyond the confines of society from being part of the army, and has no permanent home as he moves from place to place. He is detached from civilization and is as wild as one can be in such a modern setting, which appropriately evokes the essence of the western’s cowboy. Just like the cowboy, he also finds himself back in the society of Iverstown in the same way the cowboy stumbles back into civilization to deal with a force that is disturbing it (Matheson 898). Sam is thrusted back into the Iverstown society to deal with the injustices that Martha had spurred. In this way, the film contains the same central binary that Westerns usually hold between the wild and civilization of the wild and civilization (Coëgnaerts and Kravanja 30-32 ). Sam is the cowboy who represents the wild, while Iverstown (and by extension Martha and Walter), the town he originally grew up in, represents civilization. Like the cowboy, it is up to Sam to put Martha’s injustices in the Iverstown society right, despite being someone who represents its opposite. Also in line with western genre themes, Sam also explicitly shares the same desire found in the characters of westerns to head west into the frontier. He tells Toni of his intention to head further west, but his car broke down and needs to repair it. Sam looks west for more opportunity in the wilder world beyond Iverstown in the same way the myth of the frontier in the Western plays a role in the desire to explore and colonize the wild west for more opportunity and adventure (Carter 163). This reference to the Western genre is even evident in the overtly western dialogue, as Sam refers to his alcoholic father as getting himself drunk in saloons rather than a bar. Moreover, in the same way Westerns typically conclude with the protagonist cowboy once again retreating from the warmth of civilization and back into the wild (Matheson 898). By the end of the film, Sam does the same and once more leaves the town where he grew up, driving west with Toni for the opportunity and adventure that the frontier comparatively promised. Like the cowboy, Sam refuses join the civilized society of which he oppositely represents, despite the comforts and security it offers. Sam is too detached from society (a runaway child, gambler, former army man) to find himself reintegrated into it. The thematic representation of women in Westerns are also reflected in the women of this film. Women in Westerns represent agents of civilization and its comforts that keep the male protagonist from heading back into the wild (Matheson 902). The wealthy Martha Ivers acts as a contemporary parallel for this as she tempts Sam to stay in Iverstown with the promise of the comforts of civilization in the form of societal wealth, power, and recognition instead of going back on the road west.
Melodramatic elements in the film are also present primarily through the inclusion of Toni. Toni acts as the emotional force of the story, in which the use of mise-en-scene and sound are utilized to fully express the emotions she’s feeling throughout the film. Her gaze to the camera is often met with soft and bright lighting to highlight her features, and also met with darkness when she becomes aware of Sam’s affair with Martha. In line with melodramatic elements, her emotions, whether happy or sad, match the lighting presented upon her. Moreover, closeups are sparingly used on anyone but her in the film to fully capture the magnitude of the moment to her emotions. Sweeping romantic music is often played in her presence with Sam, which further emphasizes the emotions aroused with their use of mise-en-scene. Through these melodramatic elements in mise-en-scene and sound, their connection with one another is successfully suggested as more than platonic without the use of dialogue. In these aspects, the melodrama of the film feels organic through the inclusion of Toni. In changing the style of the lighting and music to highlight Toni’s emotion and situation, it allows for the film to exhibit melodramatic elements with Toni as its’ vessel despite its noir overtones.
Overall, an examination of this film shows an elegance in the way it discreetly integrates various new and old elements to redefine the Noir in a unique way. Whether intentional or not, it forms an entertaining product that seamlessly introduces new elements to it and makes use of themes usually prevalent in other genres to give it a distinct identity over the prototypical Noir film.
Bibliography
Belton, John. American cinema/American Culture. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2017.
Bronfen, Elisabeth. "Femme Fatale: Negotiations of Tragic Desire." New Literary History, vol. 35, no. 1, 2004, pp. 103-116.
Carter, Matthew. Myth of the Western: New Perspectives on Hollywood's Frontier Narrative. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2014, doi:10.3366/edinburgh/ 9780748685585.001.0001.
Coegnaerts, Maarten and Kravanja, Peter. “On the Embodiment of Binary Oppositions in Cinema: The Containment Schema in John Ford's Westerns.” Image and Narrative, vol. 15, no. 1, 2014, pp. 30-43.
Dussere, Erik. "Out of the Past, into the Supermarket: CONSUMING FILM NOIR." Film Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 1, 2006, pp. 16-27.
Grossman, Julie. "Film Noir's "Femme Fatales" Hard-Boiled Women: Moving Beyond Gender Fantasies." Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 24, no. 1, 2007, pp. 19-30.
Konecny, Brandon. "Noir Protagonists and Conspiring Nightscapes." Film International, vol. 14, no. 1, 2016, pp. 145-150.
Matheson, Sue. "The West–Hardboiled: Adaptations of Film Noir Elements, Existentialism, and Ethics in John Wayne's Westerns." The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 38, no. 5, 2005, pp. 888-910.
Walker-Morrison, Deborah. "Sex Ratio, Socio-Sexuality, and the Emergence of the Femme Fatale in Classic French and American Film Noir." Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television, vol. 45, no. 1, 2015, pp. 25.