Double Indemnity

Perhaps the single best example of a film noir movie, _Double Indemnity_ (1944), stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. Based on a novel written by James Cain, the screenplay was co-written by Billy Wilder and the amazing Raymond Chandler. Set in 1938 California, the story is based on the true-life 1927 murder of a married Queens, New York woman's husband who was killed by the woman's boyfriend after she took out a large insurance policy that contained a double-indemnity clause. In this movie, Phyllis Dietrichson (played by Stanwyck) takes out a life insurance policy on her husband with the help of insurance salesman-soon-to-be-turned-murderer Walter Neff (played by MacMurray). Robinson plays Barton Keyes, Neff's co-worker and a very suspicious claims adjuster who suspects Phyllis Dietrichson might have had something to do with her husband's sudden death. This movie is an hour and forty-seven minutes of pure movie love. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards [Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Director, Best Writing-Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Recording, and Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)], though it won none.

Very well done film noir from the 1940s with great performances by Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson along with good photography and direction from Billy Wilder. I've seen this one before but it's been at least 20 years though coincidentally, a scene from this was in a movie I recently watched (another re-watch) in Femme Fatale. **4.5/5**

So poor old Tom Powers is married to the cold and calculating "Phyllis" (Barbara Stanwyck). When she starts to have an affair with his charismatic insurance broker "Walter" (Fred MacMurray) the two alight on a cunning plan to dispose of him and to claim the life insurance money. Being in the know about these things, "Walter" figures out a way in which they can double the payout. With their hands still rubbing together, the man's body is found on a railway track and when the police believe it accidental, the cash rolls in. All looks good until one of his colleagues "Keyes" (Edward G. Robinson) smells a rat - and he starts to stick his very sensitive nose in. I always felt Barbara Stanwyck was a very under-rated actress - she is terrific here, as is the under-stated Robinson. Even the usually unremarkable MacMurray turns in an strong performance as Billy Wilder, with some great intense photography and wonderfully potent dialogue pulls the threads of this clever and menacing drama together. The always reliable Miklós Rósza creates a score that really works well with the accumulating tension as we head towards a denouement that keeps us on our toes right til the end. This is a great film.