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Double Indemnity

Rating

Director

Billy Wilder

Screenplay

Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler (Novel: James M. Cain)

Length

1h 47m

Starring

Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Tom Powers, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, John Philliber

MPAA Rating

Passed (National Board of Review)

Basic Plot

An insurance agent devises a plan to bilk his company for a beautiful woman.

Review

Since “L.A. Confidential” scored big with critics, film noir has been back in vogue and in demand. However, it hasn’t always been so. Film noir began in earnest after the depression with a need for cheap films. Because they were often filmed at night and in modern settings, expenses were definitely limited. Another reason was that many directors who made these films had European backgrounds where they carried a more pessimistic view into their films.

“Double Indemnity” is no exception. It takes most of the traditional noir elements and blends them into a fast paced murder mystery where we already know who did it, just not exactly how.

Fred MacMurray is Walter Neff, an insurance agent who ranks among the best in his office. One afternoon, he is sent to the home of an oil entrepreneur, Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers) who accidentally let his insurance coverage lapse. Mr. Dietrichson isn’t there, but his beautiful, younger wife, Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck), is. After a bit of banter, Phyllis asks Neff if she can take out an accidental death policy on her husband. Neff refuses initially because he thinks all she wants is to kill her husband and bilk the insurance company out of money.

After thinking it over, he changes his mind and decides to help her commit the crime. Only they have to be careful so they can fool his boss, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), the claims agent. Their plan to collect double indemnity goes off without a hitch. Or does it? That much I can’t tell you without giving away most of the movie. I can say that there are plenty of things to get in the way including the Dietrichsons’ daughter Lola.

I’ve always enjoyed a mystery where the murderer isn’t known, but right from the start, we hear Neff speaking into a Dictaphone telling the entire story. Perhaps films have changed since then, but even the greats of the time period provided a large amount of suspense. Who can forget the pivotal courtroom scene in “Witness for the Prosecution,” the final moments of “Gaslight” or even the identity of Rosebud in the final moments of “Citizen Kane.”

What disappoints most about the film is that the suspense really isn’t there. This is a shock coming from Billy Wilder who directed the marvelous “Witness for the Prosecution.” It’s also hard to picture Fred MacMurray as anyone other than the father on “My Three Sons,” which didn’t exist at the time.

Even with its drawbacks, it can still be an enjoyable film. Robinson is hysterically cynical and trusting while Stanwyck is wickedly seductive.

“Double Indemnity” is a largely uneven film that works in the end. Anyone looking for film noir can look no further, but if you’re looking for tons of suspense, check out Wilder’s other mystery classic.

Review Written

April 20, 1999