Nods to Double Indemnity?

Yes, I know. Now before you start to berate me for such preposterous nonsense, let me just explain why I say this. I remember on a screening of Double Indemnity (1944) (which I'll call DI from here on out) on some channel I used to watch in Lawton, Oklahoma. It was that station which introduced the brilliance of classic film to me. They mentioned some trivia. It was said that DI was the first film to cast of shadow from blinds onto a subject. They used the blinds quite clearly here which is rather amusing since during that time period drapes were popular.

Also, DI was based on a book, which was very loosely based on a real case. Yeah, very, VERY loosely. Now I can't remember which used the ploy, but either the book or the real case had the femme fatale trying on hats of mourning in a playful manner. I'm pretty sure it was the real woman and not the book character. Unless it's both, which it may be. I've read the book and read about the real one but it's been a good long while.

Did anyone else catch these things? I took a look and these two films only share two people http://www.imdb.com/search/name?roles=tt0036775,tt0039504 so it seems pretty clear that it's not creative similarity.

It is true that films are made by trends. One film does something unique and and then films follow in their footsteps. However the hat thing makes this more than just a trend, it feels deliberate.

Has anyone else noticed? Were there some that I missed, if you did?

Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O