Double Indemnity (1944)

An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Billy Wilder (screenplay), Raymond Chandler (screenplay),

Stars:

Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

Top 250 #57 | Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Fred MacMurray	...	Walter Neff
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Phyllis Dietrichson
Edward G. Robinson	...	Barton Keyes
Porter Hall	...	Mr. Jackson
Jean Heather	...	Lola Dietrichson
Tom Powers	...	Mr. Dietrichson
Byron Barr	...	Nino Zachetti
Richard Gaines	...	Edward S. Norton, Jr.
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Sam Garlopis
John Philliber	...	Joe Peters

Storyline

In 1938, Walter Neff, an experienced salesman of the Pacific All Risk Insurance Co., meets the seductive wife of one of his clients, Phyllis Dietrichson, and they have an affair. Phyllis proposes to kill her husband to receive the proceeds of an accident insurance policy and Walter devises a scheme to receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause. When Mr. Dietrichson is found dead on a train-track, the police accept the determination of accidental death. However, the insurance analyst and Walter's best friend Barton Keyes does not buy the story and suspects that Phyllis has murdered her husband with the help of another man.

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Plot Keywords:

insurance | double indemnity | insurance investigator | murder | insurance policy | 

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Taglines:

You Can't Kiss Away A Murder!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [uk]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frau ohne Gewissen

Filming Locations:

1825 N. Kingsley Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$927,262 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 90 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The victim, Mr. Dietrichson, is an oil company executive. Screenplay writer Raymond Chandler was an oil company executive before he became a writer.

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Goofs

After Neff meets with the President of his company, he returns to his apartment and places a folder on the chair to the right of the door. When Keyes comes to the door, after Neff's brief phone conversation, the folder is nowhere to be seen.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Building attendant: Well, hello there, Mr. Neff.

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Connections

Referenced in Jism (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Tangerine"
(1941) (uncredited)
Music by Victor Schertzinger
Played on a radio

User Reviews

Justifiably At The Top Of Most Film Noir Lists

This is one of the best-liked classic films of all time and I am among that large group of fans as well.

Few movies have ever had dialog this entertaining.....at least the conversations between Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. I think it's a big appeal to this movie, except to younger folks who look at it as "cheesy."

I read the book, Double Indemnity written by James Cain, and was surprised that the film's snappy dialog was not in it. This is one of the rare times when the movie was far better than the book. That's not a shock after you find out that literary giant Raymond Chandler and Hall Of Fame director Billy Wilder combined to write the screenplay,

For a murder/suspense story, there is very little action, almost none, yet there are no boring lulls. The three main actors - Stanwyck, MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, are what make this so good.

MacMurray's narration is fun to hear as he tells the story in flashback, from the beginning by dictating into an old Dictaphone to his co-worker Robinson. The latter is almost mesmerizing in his performance, the way he delivers his lines. He can even make a speech about something as boring as insurance and still keep you riveted to the screen.

Stanwyck was no sex symbol (at least to me) but she looked great here in the most seductive of 1940s clothing and, like Robinson, has a distinctive voice and accent that keeps your attention.

This film was the inspiration for the 1980 movie, "Body Heat," starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. That, too, was a very, very good movie....but not many films are in the class of this one.