Genre: Crime/Film-Noir/Thriller Director: Billy Wilder
Producers: Buddy DeSylva, Joseph Sistorm
Writers: James M. Cain (novel); Billy Wilder (screenplay) and Raymond Chandler (screenplay)
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Tom Powers, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, John Philliber; George Anderson (scenes deleted), Al Bridge (scenes deleted), Edward Hearn (scenes deleted), Boyd Irwin (scenes deleted), George Melford (scenes deleted), William O’Leary (scenes deleted), Lee Shumway (scenes deleted)
Music: Miklós Rózsa, Victor Schertzinger
Cinematography: John F. Seitz
Distribution: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: April 24, 1944
Running Time: 107 min
In today’s world of TruTV, Dateline NBC, Forensic Files, and 48 Hours Mystery it seems highly unlikely, even shocking that a movie like Double Indemnity was at one point considered scandalous. But then again it was 1944, in just over a year the G.I.’s would be returning home, and America would be receding into the sheltered suburbia that defined the fifties, and it’s no wonder because Billy Wilder would build his career off of scratching America where it itches. Working with a script co-written by Raymond Chandler and from a novel by James M. Cain, Wilder crafted a film that drew in and shocked audiences, and while the shock factor may have worn off in the close to seventy years since the release of Double Indemnity, it’s a film that continues to draw in audiences, and for good reason.
Double Indemnity follows insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) who leads a successful, but uninteresting life. All this changes when he meets the smoldering Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck), the wife of an oil man who convinces Neff to help her murder her husband so that they can be together and collect the insurance money. Their plan works, but they’ve attracted the attention of Neff’s best friend Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) who just happens to be the claims investigator for the insurance firm Neff works for, and the whole scheme begins to unravel.
Raymond Chandler supposedly showed up drunk and without any knowledge of writing a screenplay. He and Wilder didn’t get along, and there was plenty of conflict. One thing Chandler knew well was how to write dialogue, and the dialogue in Double Indemnity is akin to that of hard-boiled poetry laced with innuendos. What Wilder knew was how to write, and bring to life a story driven by characters. The characters in Double Indemnity are archetypes, but they’re interesting archetypes. Their stories are wrapped in mystery, and Wilder holds back telling us everything about them to keep things more interesting. The film has a heightened level of suspense, once they carry out their crime viewers will be on their seat’s edge with excitement to see how it all unravels. It’s a superb story, told fantastically.
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck have a great screen chemistry, their scene’s together are steamy, but at the same time have a certain chill to them. MacMurray turns himself into a complete ass hole, he delivers his dialogue in a wonderfully hard-boiled manner, but he’s just as adept at acting with his face, subtly showing us the breakdown of his character. Barb Stanwyck dominates her suburban castle with the force of an icy feline, and save for the garish blonde wig, her role of Phyllis remains one of the screen’s most seductive femme fatales. Edward G. Robinson makes a great supporting role turn as Keyes, the private investigator; he’s likeable and brings a dose of humanity to the film.
Billy Wilder was never a director known for flashy visuals, but like many of his mentor Ernst Lubitsch, there’s a certain visual quality to Wilder’s work. Being a film noir Wilder brings out this quality more here, he favors using the depth of space and a more subtle use of film noir’s trademark shadows. Wilder’s camerawork is perfect on so many levels, and Double Indemnity has a very distinct look. The brooding score is fantastic, and is a total original. Double Indemnity is a film directed with a certain sophistication and style that could only belong to Wilder.
Double Indemnity is one of the greatest of all film noirs, tough a cynical, but with a touch of humanity, it still works today because all its various elements come together so perfectly.
No comments:
Post a Comment