You learn a lot about a noir character by their coffee: sugar? cream? more whiskey than caffeine?
I’m cataloging every noir scene where coffee plays a role — rote and ritual, soul-dark or cream and sugar, served from dingy diners to shiny penthouses.
When Lt. Leonard Diamond is told to ‘calm down’ about a murder being covered up, he decides to do something notoriously soothing for frayed nerves: make a cup of coffee.
You can see by the discarded topper (bottom of frame by his elbow, below) and the mini-stove that Diamond favours a siphon pot brew; impeccable taste.
Now, get a load of those SHADOWS! Stark and gorgeous, from the overbearing shadow of Police Capt. Peterson (and his cigar) on the back wall, to the coffee carafe throwing shade and light-glimmers onto Diamond as he pours.
Note Peterson already has a cuppa, and liberally drinks from it — he’s not hindered by his conscience, or ghosts of old flames.
Diamond making himself a cup of joe gives him something with his hands, as well as a way to avoid making eye contact with Peterson.
But after Diamond' has doctored the coffee with cream (twice, the more busy to make himself seem) and sugar (which he crushes first for good measure), Capt. Peterson brings up his ex-girlfriend . . . and suddenly Diamond has lost any desire for coffee at all.