Ryan Fosgreen
Prof. Simon
Cine 105 Film 2: Mise-en-Scene and Cinematography in “The Untouchables. When Al Capone was introduced the mise-en-scene was shown by him receiving a wet shave which was a popular service to receive back in the twenties. He was having his shoes polished and reporters were asking questions. Al Capone’s opening shot was a high angle shot from directly above. We know Capone is wealthy and holds a lot of power when the reporter says ‘some say you are the mayor of Chicago’. We also learn that Capone has a criminal background when he openly admits that he is a business man who took advantage of prohibition. Ness was introduced in his home with his wife the mise-en-scene again reflects the twenties when you see his furniture and clothing. He was wearing a suit with a vest and eventually a brim hat as well which accurately captures the apparel worn in the twenties. Elliott Ness is introduced as a caring individual disgusted by the rising crime in Chicago. It is easily seen that he is not corrupt and wants to clean up the streets of Chicago. Malone was introduced on a bridge passing by and confronting Elliott for littering. The police uniform worn by Malone was old fashioned especially the hat he wore, he also carried a wooden baton like the police used to carry in the early nineteen-hundreds. A low angle shot is used when you see Ness on the bridge at first but then it merges into an equal level shot once Ness and Malone begin conversing. The use of rack focus is a good example of a moving camera shot. This can be seen when Ness is confronting Malone on the bridge after a comment Malone made about littering. The camera shot was moving with the two and was focusing on Malone when he was talking and then refocusing on Ness when he was talking. This was done to emphasize who was speaking and to draw more attention to a specific character at that point in time. A good point of view shot was when Nitti was outside of Malone’s house planning to ambush him. The entire scene was put together to show the viewer what Nitti was seeing and to make the scene more suspensful they also added to the suspense by adding in the eerie music. The mise-en-scene in the movie were used to make the viewer feel like the time period was actually the nineteen-twenties. They effectively capture that by filming in areas that still had the appearance that cities had in that time, they used clothing and vehicles. All the men wore suits and were clean cut and most of the movie didn’t show women other than in the home which shows that at that time period women held less rights. The camera angles used throughout the film were used to add suspense to the film or to add emphasis on a specific character and their thoughts or feelings.