Double Indemnity

Despite the noir genre not matching at first with the director of great comedies Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, Avanti!), it is indeed one of his best works. A crime story told in flashback, it tells a tale of insurance agent (Fred MacMurray cast wonderfullly against type, as he was in another Wilder classic, The Apartment) falling for a true femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck at her innocently seductive best). Together they scheme a murder of her husband with the insurance with double indemnity clause as icing on the cake... Towering over most of noirs, the film is crisp in its storytelling and expertly paced, teeming with intelligent dialogues and seasoned with other interesting, albeit small characters, including Stanwyck's stepdaughter and her boyfriend. The role of his lifetime was, however, reserved here for Edward G. Robinson, another insurance agent on the heels of disclosing the wicked scheme. Going out in 1944, the film was nominated for seven Oscars and remains among the best noirs ever, alongside "Laura", "The Maltese Falcon" or later "Chinatown".

great story telling of an age old theme and acceptable acting. Fred, on the face of it, is miscast - he's neither noir nor tough guy. Perhaps because of his very ordinariness, the role works out as the straight guy seduced. The same goes for Stanwyck, who is not the most obvious femme fatale, but she could act. As a result, whether by design or accident, the film conveys the reality of relatively ordinary mortals' infatuations and desires and the lengths they will go to satisfy them. You can read the same stories in certain newspapers on a regular basis.

I bought this film after hearing an afternoon play on BBC radio 4 on the difficulties and foibles of Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler when cooperating to write the screenplay (well worth listening to). The film exceeded my expectations and is a superb piece of period film noir. I had only seen Barbara Stanwyck in Western films and she was outstanding in this- Fred McMurray gave an excellent performance.Even after the difficulties between Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, the screenplay produced a supremely watchable film with very atmospheric photography.

Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson and directed by Billy Wilder, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity is a classic of the Film Noir genre. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is a successful insurance salesman for Pacific All Risk insurance. He falls in love with Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwych) when he meets her on a routine business call. Mrs Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage and wants her husband, Mr Dietrichson (Tom Powers) killed off so she can claim on the insurance (hence the double indemnity of the title). Praised by many critics when first released, Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Academy Awards. It is often cited as an archetype of film noir and as having set the bar for the films that followed in that genre. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1992, Double Indemnity was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1998, it was ranked #38 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century. If you aren't familiar with film noir then this is a great place to start (I would also recommend The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946] [DVD ] and Out Of The Past [DVD] [1947 ] as excellent places to begin). Also of interest may be James M. Cain's original book Double Indemnity .

If there is one movie you should watch if you want to grasp what the Film Noir genre is all about, this is it. It's also a more engaging piece of storytelling than most of what comes out of Hollywood today. The way the movie draws the viewer right into the centre of a conspiracy, almost inviting you to share the guilt of the charming, witty (yet darkly criminal) protagonists is masterful. The two leads are flawless. Edward G. Robertson's supporting role as the obnoxious yet honest insurance boss steals every scene where he appears - and of course as the 'recipient' of the dictaphone 'confession' that functions as a plausibly diegetic voiceover, his shadow looms large even when he is not on screen. The sound and picture quality are both excellent, which is important, since rich high-contrast tones play a significant role in the storytelling, and the dialog is often so rapid that it requires a higher baseline of audio clarity than you'll find on certain other noir discs. However, I docked one star. There are no extras, no commentary, no 'making of' or 'revisiting' doc, not even a simple menu. And very important for some: there are no subtitles/captions or audio descriptions. (Some of that rapid dialog would really benefit from captions!) These omissions (which are clearly enough stated in the amazon product description) might not be a dealbreaker for some, and they no doubt help keep the price low, but I feel that this DVD package doesn't give a celebrated and classic movie the context it truly deserves. If you just want to acquire the movie in reasonable quality at a low price, this disc is fine, but if you want to take a deeper dive, you might prefer to seek out another version, offered with a little more love, and a few more trimmings - and realistically, that means a Blu-Ray edition, such as the Masters of Cinema package.

One of the best movies I've ever seen, suspenseful, fast-paced dialogue, excellent performances and an absolute perfect example of film noir.

This is one of the greatest Black and White Movies that was made in the 40's. If you like old Mysteries filmed with Drama this is the film you don't want to miss.