Double Indemnity
Walter rings the doorbell. The disgruntled maid appears. Walter pushes the door and steps inside. The lady of the house steps out at the top of the stairs wearing a headband and a towel. Walter has come about her husband’s auto insurance renewal. He wouldn’t want something to happen when they weren’t… “fully covered.” She smiles and invites him in.
Thus begins the flashback of a man - a cigarette smoking, heavy breathing, sweating man - with blood spreading across his suit jacket from a bullet hole in his shoulder.
The voiceover sets the tone for this film noir movie. Deadpan like much of the dialogue, the voice is passionless and defeated.
Walter Neff has worked in the insurance business for eleven years. He attempts to anticipate the angles people could use to file fraudulent claims. He plays with ideas of how to beat the system, never consciously admitting that he would actually execute one of his plans…
…until he meets Phyllis Dietrichson. Having dressed, she descends the stairs. In her living room Walter notices “a honey of an anklet” encircling her leg. The conversation of double entendres continues. She invites him to return the following evening.
But Mrs. Dietrichson calls and leaves a message for Walter requesting that the appointment be changed to an afternoon visit. Alone in the house they soon shift to first names. Phyllis asks about taking out a policy on her husband without his knowledge of it. Walter sees the implications and tells her that it can’t be done. He walks out.
Walter tries to distract himself from thoughts of this woman and her scheme, but he knows it isn’t over between them. He wants the woman and he wants the money.
This is film noir at its finest. The movie is Double Indemnity; the anti-hero is Fred MacMurray; the femme fatale is Barbara Stanwyck. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, film noir, originally produced in black and white photography, featured dark shadowy scenes in which the light source decreases and the level of sinister music increases in reflection of the increased degree of wickedness.
As day gives way to night Walter returns to a dark apartment. Caught up in assessing his options, Walter neglects to turn on the lights and, in darkness, makes his decision. He hears a knock on the door. Between kisses and sips of bourbon, Walter and Phyllis discuss how to execute a plan to collect the money from the double indemnity clause of her husband’s secret accident policy. Walter works out all the details.
But something happens to complicate matters and delay plans.
Back at the office, Keyes, a twenty-six year veteran of the company and claims manager, asks Walter to consider accepting a position as his assistant. When Walter declines the offer, Keyes tells Walter, “I picked you for the job, not because I think you‘re so darn smart, but because I thought you were a shade less dumb than the rest of the outfit.”
He stops to smoke before continuing, “Guess I was wrong, you’re not smarter, Walter, you’re just a little taller.”
In this dark and lustful story of premeditated crime there comes a time when the anti-hero is given the chance to stop and reconsider. Plans go awry; the voice of conscience, in this case Walter’s friend, Keyes, beckons the perpetrator to redirect his goals. But Walter doesn’t want a desk job; besides part of the challenge is to outsmart Keyes and his uncanny sixth sense.
Walter and Phyllis get a lucky break and execute the plan perfectly - or so they think. But once the deed is done a sense of doom overcomes Walter. Keyes nearly catches them together in Walters apartment. Walter learns that Phyllis has not been truthful with him. Keyes determines that the death was not an accident. But he’s on the wrong track.
Phyllis becomes unreasonable. Walter gets desperate. Late at night in the deep shadows of Phyllis’s darkened living room they learn how their plans have diverged. Shots ring out. Endearments and veiled motives come to an end. The truth must be faced.
A cigarette will help Walter steady his nerves.
A versatile prop, the cigarette plays a prominent role in film noir movies. Lighting a cigarette before a remark can bring anticipation to a statement; striking a match in a dark room can light up an expressive face; taking a draw from a cigarette can bring solace to a haggard and injured character. The last scene in this movie displays a creative use of the cigarette. Be sure to watch closely.
This film noir movie demonstrates how the seeds of crime can find fertile soil in the fantasies and desires of another. It’s the story of how one ordinary man can choose the wrong priorities in pursuit of the coveted prize and get caught in the grave consequences that he so carelessly dismissed.
We walk away from this masterpiece with a greater appreciation for the craft of movie making. The collaboration of superb writing, directing, acting, and cinematography result in a movie recognized as one of Hollywood’s most unexpected successes.
The screenplay for Double Indemnity was written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, who adapted it from the novel of the same title, written by James M Cain. Billy Wilder directed the film.
Double Indemnity received Oscar nominations for Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Sound; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Barbara Stanwyck received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress