Manhattan Murder Mystery

How this film uses it

A husband and wife bicker like a sitcom couple. A murder plot builds around them, and the climax is a noir-style shootout in a movie theater. The film moves between marriage comedy, detective story and crime thriller. You are never allowed to settle into one tone.

Where to see it

The elevator. Carol is trapped in the hotel elevator, and when she tries the emergency panel a body drops through the opening.

How this film uses it

Carlo Di Palma used handheld cameras. The movement keeps the apartment scenes loose and makes the chase feel unplanned. You feel like you are right there with the couple.

Where to see it

The apartment arguments. Larry and Carol argue at home while the camera drifts with them.

How this film uses it

Carol's fixation on her neighbor drives every scene. She finds an urn that contradicts his story and keeps investigating. Her friend Ted and then her husband are pulled in. The obsession keeps feeding itself.

Where to see it

The urn. Carol finds a crematory urn that contradicts the neighbor's account of what happened to his wife.

How this film uses it

The shootout in a room of mirrors echoes a similar scene in Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai. It is staged as an homage and still works as part of Larry's escape. Fans of old thrillers get a wink.

Where to see it

The mirror room shootout. Larry dodges gunfire in a hall of mirrors while rescuing Carol.

How this film uses it

Ted records lines from a fake audition for a woman called Helen Moss and splices them into a phone call. It is meant to trick the neighbor Paul into incriminating himself. You hear the trick being assembled, so you know what is fake.

Where to see it

The phone call. Ted stages a fake audition for Helen and cuts the recording into a call meant to lure Paul.