Double Indemnity (1944)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

James M. Cain (novel)
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

24 April 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

It's Love And Murder At First Sight !

Plot:

An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

Plot Keywords:

Insurance | Murder | Insurance Investigator | Insurance Salesman | Insurance Agent

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Fred MacMurray	...	Walter Neff
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Phyllis Dietrichson
Edward G. Robinson	...	Barton Keyes
Porter Hall	...	Mr. Jackson
Jean Heather	...	Lola Dietrichson
Tom Powers	...	Mr. Dietrichson
Byron Barr	...	Nino Zachetti
Richard Gaines	...	Edward S. Norton, Jr.
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Sam Garlopis
John Philliber	...	Joe Peters
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Anderson	...	Warden at Execution (scenes deleted)
Al Bridge	...	Execution Chamber Guard (scenes deleted)
Edward Hearn	...	Warden's Secretary (scenes deleted)
Boyd Irwin	...	First Doctor at Execution (scenes deleted)
George Melford	...	Second Doctor at Execution (scenes deleted)
William O'Leary	...	Chaplain at Execution (scenes deleted)
Lee Shumway	...	Door Guard at Execution (scenes deleted)
James Adamson	...	Pullman Porter (uncredited)
John Berry	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Betty Farrington	...	Nettie, Dietrichsons' Maid (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Norton's Secretary (uncredited)
Miriam Franklin	...	Keyes' Secretary (uncredited)
Harold Garrison	...	Redcap (uncredited)
Eddie Hall	...	Man in Drug Store (uncredited)
Teala Loring	...	Pacific All-Risk Telephone Operator (uncredited)
George Magrill	...	Man (uncredited)
Sam McDaniel	...	Charlie, Garage Attendant (uncredited)
Billy Mitchell	...	Pullman Porter (uncredited)
Clarence Muse	...	Man (uncredited)
Constance Purdy	...	Fat Shopper in Market (uncredited)
Dick Rush	...	Pullman Conductor (uncredited)
Floyd Shackelford	...	Pullman Porter (uncredited)
Oscar Smith	...	Pullman Porter (uncredited)
Douglas Spencer	...	Louis L. ('Lou') Schwartz (uncredited)

Directed by
Billy Wilder

Writing credits
James M. Cain		(novel "Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind")
Billy Wilder		(screenplay) and
Raymond Chandler		(screenplay)

Produced by
Buddy G. DeSylva	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Joseph Sistrom	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Miklós Rózsa		(as Miklos Rozsa)

Cinematography by
John F. Seitz		(as John Seitz)

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Bertram C. Granger		(as Bertram Granger)

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Al Trosin	....	assistant production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Stanley Cooley	....	sound recordist
Walter Oberst	....	sound recordist
Loren L. Ryder	....	sound recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography

Camera and Electrical Department
Ed Henderson	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Walter McLeod	....	key grip (uncredited)
Otto Pierce	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Harlow Stengel	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Paul Tranz	....	dolly grip (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Doane Harrison	....	editorial supervisor
Lee Hall	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Victor Schertzinger	....	composer: song "Tangerine"
Eugene Zador	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Jack Gage	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Nancy Lee	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Dorothy Staton	....	stand-in: Ms. Stanwyck (uncredited)
John R. Woolfenden	....	publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1946) (France) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Paramount Pictures (1945) (Finland) (theatrical)
• 4 Front Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Atlantic Film (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (2000) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV) (1978) (Finland) (TV)
• Pan Vision Oy (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Studios Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• YLE Teema (2007) (Finland) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2001) (Finland) (TV)

Runtime:

107 min | Argentina:110 min | Canada:90 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Germany:16 | Norway:16 | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | USA:Approved | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

1825 N. Kingsley Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Neff meets with the President of his company, he returns to his apartment and places a folder on the chair to the right of the door. When Keyes comes to the door, after Neff's brief phone conversation, the folder is nowhere to be seen.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Building attendant: Well, hello there, Mr. Neff.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La mala educación (2004)

Soundtrack:

Tangerine

It fits together like a watch

I've now seen this movie 14 times in 25 years, at all times of the year, in all moods, sober or not etc - but always at night. I recorded my copy off TV in 1987 so I can only imagine what a remaster would do for it. With an atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife it never fails to engross and enchant me, and although it's been dated for 40 years or more still seems relevant and watchable today. TV, answer phones, recordable CD/DVD, memory sticks and the internet have all come between us and yet I can still watch Fred MacMurray speaking into a Dictaphone without a qualm. Who wears a hat in California nowadays? Who buys beer whilst driving! Lift attendants have gone but I can still believe in Charlie working and laughing away in the garage past 11 at night.

Woman and man agree to murder woman's husband but on the way to the cemetery they face grilling by insurance company. I think everything has been said before on the IMDb - by those who think it's one of the best films ever made! To those who simply think the main problem is that it's dated I wish you could see the TV commercials that dug into DI back in '87 - what a hoot - and compare. I've just noticed the print TCM UK is showing in 2005 is lip-synced out, very wobbly Rosza music track, fading and ageing fast - worse than my 1987 video tape (maybe logically). They're supposed to be encouraging people to enjoy the classics but they won't do that with such inferior screening copies. Dear TCM UK, this is an impressive iconic film - it deserves a billion dollar remaster authorised by the Library of Congress, not repeatedly trotting out unimpressive cheap worn dupes to fill those 2 hour slots.

Everything about DI from the acting, production, direction, and music is superbly dignified and is as "close to perfection" as human beings are probably allowed to get with this form of Art - especially with the more limited technology at their disposal in '44. When most films from now are long forgotten and dated DI will still be getting re-runs on TV and art-house cinemas - God and remasters willing - that is the fact of it.

Fortunia Bonanova certainly was fortunate to have appeared in bit parts in 2 of the best films ever made - Citizen Kane the other.