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This article is about the 1944 film. For the life insurance clause, see Double indemnity.

Double Indemnity
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder Jack Gage (dialogue director)
Produced by	Buddy G. DeSylva Joseph Sistrom
Written by	Novella: James M. Cain Screenplay: Billy Wilder Raymond Chandler
Narrated by	Fred MacMurray
Starring	Fred MacMurray Barbara Stanwyck Edward G. Robinson
Music by	Miklós Rózsa Victor Schertzinger
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 6, 1944 (U.S.A.)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$927,262
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Double Indemnity (1944) is a film noir starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. The movie was directed and by adapted by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler from the novella of the same title by James M. Cain that first appeared in 1935 as an abridged 8-part serial in Liberty Magazine.Double Indemnity at the Internet Movie Database.

The story was based on a 1927 crime perpetrated by a married Queens woman and her lover. Ruth (Brown) Snyder persuaded her boyfriend Judd Gray to kill her husband Albert, after having her spouse take out a big insurance policy—with a double-indemnity clause. The murderers were quickly identified and arrested.

Plot

The film tells the story of an insurance salesman (MacMurray) who finds himself entwined in a plot to kill a woman\'s husband. A tenacious investigator (Robinson) thinks it\'s foul play and may suspect his co-worker and the recently widowed femme fatale. The title of the film is a reference to a frequently-found provision in many life insurance policies in which an amount double than the normal one is paid to the beneficiary in the event of an unlikely accidental death of the insured (in this case a train accident, usually considered one of the less-frequent causes of death ever). An alternate ending was shot for the film (to appease censors) featuring killer MacMurray going to the gas chamber. This footage is lost but stills of the scene still exist.

Cast

The main characters include:

Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff, a salesman for the Pacific All-Risk insurance company.
Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, an unhappily married wife who seduces Neff.
Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes, a claims adjuster at Pacific All-Risk and friend and colleague of Neff\'s.

Other cast

Porter Hall as Mr. Jackson
Jean Heather as Lola Dietrichson
Tom Powers as Mr. Dietrichson
Byron Barr as Nino Zachetti
Richard Gaines as Edward S. Norton, Jr.
Fortunio Bonanova as Sam Garlopis
John Philliber as Joe Peters

Critical response

Film critic Roger Ebert in his review of the film praises director Wilder and cinematographer Seitz. He wrote, "The photography by John F. Seitz helped develop the noir style of sharp-edged shadows and shots, strange angles and lonely Edward Hopper settings."Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times, film review, December 20, 1998. Last accessed: December 29, 2007.

A review of the film in The New York Times was not positive. Film critic Bosley Crowther found Edward G. Robinson\'s supporting role excellent but also wrote, "Such folks as delight in murder stories for their academic elegance alone should find this one steadily diverting, despite its monotonous pace and length. Indeed, the fans of James M. Cain\'s tough fiction might gloat over it with gleaming joy."Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, September 7, 1944. Last accessed: December 29, 2007.

Elements of film noir

Stanwyck and MacMurray.

Double Indemnity is an excellent example of a genre of films called film noir. Its plot and style contains almost all the elements that make up classic film noir:

Characters commit brutal, vengeful, and often psychopathic acts of violence.
The plot is about how a crime is committed and the story is told from the point of view of the criminal. In the case of Double Indemnity, the plot is literally told by the criminal. The entire plot (except the very first and very last scenes) is told in flashback with a voice-over by Walter Neff, who commits murder and very nearly gets away with it.
Double Indemnity, like many other film noirs, takes a naturalistic view of human nature. This is due in part to the flashback structure of the film. As everything in Double Indemnity described by Neff into the dictating machine clearly happened in the past, and there is no way in the present or future to alter events that occurred in the past, it is evident that the events leading up to the eventual execution of Neff were inevitable and were due mostly to Neff\'s nature as a weak-willed man in the hands of a femme fatale.
Themes illustrating how sexuality and psychology are interwoven emerge.
Moody lighting including Venetian blind effects on the walls and on characters\' faces in some scenes look like bars on a jail and make the characters of Double Indemnity seem as though they are trapped by their human weaknesses and doomed to failure. The cinematographic compositions and the art direction are particularly claustrophobic as well. Characters are often backed into a corner where mobility is impossible (such as in cars or telephone booths).
The main female is used as a love interest and manipulation of the male lead. She is sexually independent and exploits her own sexuality for personal gain: the femme fatale.
Adapted from novels. Usually described as "hard-boiled" detective stories, in which the lead is a usually innocent male led into corruption by the femme fatale and used by her to carry out her wishes in belief that it will secure their love. Eventually the lead figures out the femme fatale\'s true motives.

Adaptation

Other films inspired by the Snyder-Gray murder include The Postman Always Rings Twice (also based on a Cain novel) and Body Heat. Both Postman and Double Indemnity were remade, with Double Indemnity being a "made-for-TV" movie in 1973 starring Richard Crenna, Lee J. Cobb, and Samantha Eggar.

Awards

Double Indemnity was listed at number 38 on the American Film Institute\'s list of the top 100 American films of all time and at number 29 on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the list.

Academy Award Nominations

Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck)
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Best Director (Billy Wilder)
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Sound, recording
Best Writing, Screenplay

Other honors

Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Notable quotes

Walter (MacMurray): It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? Maybe you would have known, Keyes, the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn\'t. I felt like a million.

The following quote was one of 400 nominated quotes in the American Film Institute\'s 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list of the best film quotes in American film history: