• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.273-282
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• 2022

The narrative of the film, Sweet Smell of Success has a multi-layered structure. In Clifford Odets's scenario work, numerous lines for the main plot and subplots repeated a cycle of creation, decomposition, deletion, and modification to enhance the density of the story. As a result, whenever an actor spoke a line or paused, an action or an event that would trigger another line was created, giving depth and persuasiveness to the character's performance. The music of Sweet Smell of Success has multi-layered elements. The non-diegetic music was covered by the orchestral pieces performed by Elmer Bernstein's big band orchestra and the jazz pieces performed by Fred Katz's combo band. The diegetic music was mostly covered by the jazz pieces performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. The practical task of the film music was to reinforce or supplement the effect of the narrative driver, and the additional task was to realize the estrangement effect and the aesthetics of stagnation. The possibility and significance of intertextuality of subplots and double sound of this film are not simply confined to the limits of the film noir genre.