Double Indemnity

One thing I love about film noir is its unrepentant darkness. It takes nerve to tell a story about bad people doing bad things and not leaven it with anything as trite as a happy ending. In film noir, the bad guys are as dark and wormy as the underside of a river rock, the women are sexy and cold with cash register hearts, and the good guys, if there are any, are conflicted, dangerous, and morally ambiguous to say the least. And no one is sorry for any of it. In our day of increased sensitivity and thoughtfulness, it’s refreshing to dip a toe into these stylish, violent stories of unleashed greed, lust, and ambition.

One of the earliest noir films is also one of the best – 1944’s Double Indemnity. Directed by Billy Wilder and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson, Double Indemnity is the story of Walter Neff, an upstanding insurance agent and Phyllis Deitrichson, the sweet, loyal wife of one of Neff’s clients. Except Neff is not upstanding and Phyllis is anything but sweet and loyal. The two begin an affair and then conspire to kill her husband so they can collect his life insurance. Specifically, if Mr. Dietrichson happens to die in an accident on a train, then the double indemnity clause of his policy comes into play and the payout is doubled. So Walter and Phyllis tryst in secret and try to figure out how to get the old man to croak on a train. These are not nice people.

 

The scene where Neff and Phyllis first meet is one of the best and most memorable in American movies. Walter drops by the Dietrichson house to renew a policy and finds Phyllis at home alone wrapped only in a towel having just come in from sunbathing. Their flirtatious, rough-edged banter written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler has the two characters testing one another to see who might be up for an affair and who might be up for murder. The dialogue in that scene is pure noir – it’s smart, sexy, and dangerous - and it’s deliriously fun to watch these two seemingly normal characters begin their mutual downward spiral into darkness.

That scene is one of several from the film that have been imitated, paid homage to, and just plain ripped off repeatedly in the 70 plus years since its release. You may not have seen Double Indemnity itself, but it’s a sure bet that you’ve seen something inspired by it. 

 

Much of the film’s power comes from its two leads – MacMurray, who later went on to be a squeaky clean TV dad on My Three Sons, looks like a really decent guy but had the acting chops to reveal a man rotten from within. Stanwyck is like a cold glass of water on hot day – provided the water is laced with cyanide. She’s acidic, sexy, and unhinged. We know from the beginning that she’s trouble, but like Neff, we can’t stay away.

 

The climax of Double Indemnity takes place in an almost pitch black room as Walter and Phyllis confront each other over their various betrayals. It’s an appropriate visual metaphor for film noir in general – a hapless, corrupt man and a powerful, cold woman sniping at each other in the dark, both of them aiming for the heart. It’s the same room where the two first met, where they had both come in from the sun before beginning their unapologetic descent into darkness together.

If you haven’t seen Double Indemnity, you should. Park the minivan, take a break from your upstanding life and hang out with liars, cheaters, con artists, and thugs for a while. Say hello to Phyllis while you’re there. You’ll be surprised how much fun you’ll have.

This review originally appeared on Q90.1 Delta College Quality Public Radio. For more information, go to www.deltabroadcasting.org.