Film Review: Double Indemnity (1944)

7 months ago

(source: tmdb.org)

Film genres don’t have founding dates. They don’t start as genres, but as trends, and this was the case with film noir, which was first recognised as genre by Nino Frank and other French film critics, who, being deprived of Hollywood films during WW2 occupation, were more likely to notice something new when their cinemas were flooded following Liberation. Actual parameters of the genre are still matter of debate, including the actual first film noir. However, the first film noir to be universally recognised as such and later serving as template for the other classic pieces of the genre was Double Indemnity, 1944 crime drama directed by Billy Wilder, known as one of the most important and the most influential works of Classic Hollywood.

The film is based on the eponymous 1943 novel by James M. Cain, inspired by real life case of Ruth Snyder, New York woman who in 1928 got executed for murder of her husband Albert, which she had committed with her lover Henry Judd Grey in order to collect husband’s insurance policy. The very same case also inspired Cain to write 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice who would also become basis for classic films. The film version of Double Indemnity is set in California and the plot begins on July 16th 1938. After erratically driving on the streets of Los Angeles late at night insurance salesman Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray) arrives to his company office, takes dictaphone and, visibly hurt, begins to dictate his confession to Barton Keyes (played by Edward G. Robinson), his boss, friend and mentor. The plot through flashback goes one year earlier and shows how Neff came to the home of Dietrichson (played by Tom Powers), an oil executive, to remind him to renew car insurance policies. Dietrichson isn’t here but his alluring wife Phyllis (played by Barbara Stanwyck) is. Neff and Phyllis immediately begin to flirt with each other and soon realise that they are hopelessly attracted not only to each other, but also to Dietrichson’s money. Neff is at first reluctant, but then uses his knowledge of insurance procedures to come with a plan that they will allow them to start new life together. He tricks Dietrichson into signing insurance policy with double indemnity clause which would result with hefty sum paid to Phyliss in case of accidental death. Then he and Phyliss murder Dietrichson and dispose his body in a way that looks like he fell from the train during business trip. At first, the death is ruled as an accident, but Neff has to deal with Keyes, who is highly experienced adjuster with great talent for revealing insurance frauds. Keyes, partly in order to prevent his company to pay insurance, and partly due to his instinct, suspects that something is very wrong with the case and that Dietrichson might be victim of murder. Neff and Phyliss are forced to avoid each other in order to stave off any suspicion. Neff becomes increasingly paranoid and begins to feel that Phyliss might have an agenda of her own.

Double Indemnity features most iconic components of film noir formula in almost textbook fashion – main anti-heroic character presented as ordinary man driven to crime by succumbing to forces of lust and greed beyond his control; diabolically manipulative and irresistible femme fatale; story told through cynical voice-over; black and white cinematography that provides not only atmosphere of doom but also a sharp contrast between facade of sunny prosperous mid 20th Century America and the underbelly of depravity and corruption in its houses, offices or night time streets. The film was directed by Billy Wilder, Austrian immigrant who had gained rich and valuable experience as screenwriter in Classic Hollywood and whose work as director was even more impressive. Wilder was, however, experienced enough to realise that such film would need scriptwriter with the skills even greater than his. Cain’s original story was floated in Hollywood studios in mid 1930s, but none of the studios dared to touch it, fearing that its sleazy content wouldn’t be accepted by fanatical censors of Hays Office and their interpretation of MPAA Production. A decade later, with Second World War going on and scriptwriters developing new way to allow “problematic” content to slip between the cracks, Double Indemnity became filmable. Wilder brought Raymond Chandler, former private detective and famed author of “hard boiled” crime fiction, to write the script. Wilder and Chandler clashed on the set, often due to Chandler’s alcoholism (which would serve as an inspiration for main character in Wilder’s next film, Oscar-winning drama The Lost Weekend). Yet, those clashes ultimately produced one of the greatest scripts of its time, with sharp dialogue, memorable dialogue, effective plot with great pace. Thanks to Chandler’s script and Wilder’s brilliant direction Double Indemnity, despite set eighty years ago, looks like a very modern, almost timeless story and it isn’t surprising that it was, in one way or another, retold many different times, not only through other film noirs, but also through its more modern incarnations, the most notable being its spiritual 1981 remake Body Heat.

Much of the film success can be attributed to inspired casting. Fred MacMurray, who plays the main character, was initially reluctant to take the role that was very different from those he had played before, being protagonist of light comedies, and those who would play later and earn fame as grandfatherly figure in popular television shows. MacMurray plays Neff as an attractive but not too glamorous man, whose relatively good looks would allow him to seduce women and relatively good intelligence would allow him to sell insurance policies to naive customers, but who can’t fill emptiness created by lack of morals. Neff is doomed from the start and only the open confession of his crimes and certainty of his demise allows audience to sympathise with him despite his acts being despicable. Neff not only cheats and murders, but also goes even further, by trying to manipulate or even seduce Lola (played by Jean Heather), Dietrichson’s teenage daughter from first marriage, and who would ultimately prove the catalyst for violent and predictably tragic finale. Neff’s sleaziness is well-matched by sleaziness of character played by Barbara Stanwyck, actress who, until that time, made career playing conventional heroines. Phyllis is seductive, vampish but hardly glamorous, with her obviously false and bad wig being clear signal that she might not be what she pretends her. Her evil and self-confessed “rottenness” becomes that black hole that would bring almost all people around her to her doom, including her husband, Neff and, finally herself. Characters of Neff and Phyliss seem perfect for each other, and pairing of MacMurray with Stanwick is one of the most effective in history of Hollywood. The audience in 1940s, just as now, would have problems accepting such rottenness without some sort of moral anchor and it is provided by Edward G. Robinson, 1930s Hollywood star who by that time graciously accepted transformation into character actor. Keyes is portrayed as an intelligent, efficient man who is completely dedicated to his job at the expense of family and who treats Neff as his surrogate son, resulting in his otherwise sociopathic employee feeling genuine friendship and affection for his boss. Three main actors are well-matched by the rest of the cast, as well as brilliant cinematographer John F. Seitz and composer Miklos Rozsa who provided very good score. Double Indemnity with its black-and-white photography and implicit depictions of sex and violence might have problems to attract some of today’s viewers, but those who give it a chance will be rewarded with genre-defining classic.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)