Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck
Director: Billy Wilder
Screenplay: Raymond Chandler
Running time: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Film Noir/Crime/Thriller
CRITIQUE:
The spirit of film noirs lurk beneath the ominous shadows, stylistic use of light and shade, and almost inscrutable plots. Under the artsy-fartsy facade of black and white, there is one recurring theme in all sorts of shades, mostly prowling into the dark fringes of human morality. Greed, adultery, lasciviousness, betrayal, contempt – you name it, film noirs have it. Such is the case of Billy Wilder’s supremo Double Indemnity, a milestone in its genre, one of the earliest of its form, for it proudly presents the elements in an alluring concoction of noir gold. Or perhaps noir black. Recent film noirs consider this as its elixir. Albeit influenced by the works of Lang in the German expressionist movements, Wilder, in his fine dexterity, makes this one his own form.
Unusually intriguing, this gives portrait to the corporate world in a territory normally habited by shady detectives and sceptic journos. Fred MacMurray’s Walter Neff is an insurance broker in this indemnity-scam-driven plot, conniving with Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson to murder her husband and get a quick buck out of it. But in the world of Raymond Chandler, in scripting duties with hardened dialogue and infinite wisecracks, nothing goes to plan. This results to a complex examination of unchecked passions and the art of betrayal, impelled to iconic status by an equally iconic performance by Stanwyck, capturing the sinister hearts and souls of cinematic femme fatales. Whilst MacMurray is riveting as Neff, perfectly restrained with balance and precision, embodied in his confessional voice, it is Stanwyck that steals the whole show. This evil bitch is an intelligent schemer but also ridden with human flaws. She uses seductiveness as her weapon and beneath her heavy-looking lashes is manipulation. This is a character endlessly replicated yet never duplicated.
VERDICT:
This deliciously evil and passionate tale of greed and betrayal is perhaps one of the darkest yet finest pieces in film noir form. Stanwyck shines like a beacon, but it is Wilder’s direction that is the genre’s trailblazer.
RATING: A+
Unusually intriguing, this gives portrait to the corporate world in a territory normally habited by shady detectives and sceptic journos. Fred MacMurray’s Walter Neff is an insurance broker in this indemnity-scam-driven plot, conniving with Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson to murder her husband and get a quick buck out of it. But in the world of Raymond Chandler, in scripting duties with hardened dialogue and infinite wisecracks, nothing goes to plan. This results to a complex examination of unchecked passions and the art of betrayal, impelled to iconic status by an equally iconic performance by Stanwyck, capturing the sinister hearts and souls of cinematic femme fatales. Whilst MacMurray is riveting as Neff, perfectly restrained with balance and precision, embodied in his confessional voice, it is Stanwyck that steals the whole show. This evil bitch is an intelligent schemer but also ridden with human flaws. She uses seductiveness as her weapon and beneath her heavy-looking lashes is manipulation. This is a character endlessly replicated yet never duplicated.
VERDICT:
This deliciously evil and passionate tale of greed and betrayal is perhaps one of the darkest yet finest pieces in film noir form. Stanwyck shines like a beacon, but it is Wilder’s direction that is the genre’s trailblazer.
RATING: A+
