DOUBLE INDEMNITY
(1944)With Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather
Directed by Billy Wilder
Black and White
Reviewed by JL
Film noir is regarded as a genre (if it can be called a genre, but
that's an argument for another time) that flourished during the
post-World War II era, but several earlier films indicate that the
seeds of noir were planted and beginning to sprout during the war
years. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942),
and
LAURA (1944) were early examples of films that could have fit right in
with the pessimistic crime potboilers of the late '40s and
'50s.
Among the best-known and most highly regarded of such films from this
early period is Billy Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY, which, along with THE
POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1948), contained the most prototypical of
noir plotlines: that of a young and nubile wife, married to an infirm
or elderly (i.e., impotent) husband, who plots with her lover to kill
the husband and collect insurance money or an inheritance.
The story has been recycled,
with variations,
several times, but it was never told more effectively than in DOUBLE
INDEMNITY. Fred MacMurray, always at his best when playing
creeps
and scoundrels, is the poor sap smitten with lust for spider woman
Barbara Stanwyck; Edward G. Robinson is MacMurray's boss, a crack
insurance investigator who figures things out, but who stands by and
lets tragic fate run its course. All three leads deliver some
of
the best performances of their careers. 
- JL
Film Noir Edward G. Robinson Billy Wilder The Stuff You Gotta Watch
REMAKE
Double Indemnity (1973) (TV)
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2008 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee