Double Indemnity (1944)

Double Indemnity

Call No: PS3505.A3113 D6 1997

I enjoy Billy Wilder’s films. There’s something about their openness and ability to capture human emotion at its finest that I love watching. I was talking about Billy Wilder to my uncle over the break. When he asked what I thought of Double Indemnity, he was shocked to find out that a self-proclaimed fan like me hadn’t seen it. It was one of Wilder’s masterpieces. Having watched the film, I see what he means.

When insurance salesman Walter Neff becomes entangled with the married Phyllis Dietrichson, the two plan to kill off her husband and walk away with $100,000, the payoff on Mr. Dietrichson’s insurance policy courtesy of the double indemnity clause, a special kind of clause that rewards double what the policy is worth. But when Walter’s mentor and brilliant boss Barton Keyes suspects the death was foul play, Walter must play both sides against the middle in an effort to try and stay ahead.

This film is an excellent example of tension and suspense done right. Like The Usual Suspects and 12 Angry Men, the main events have already happened. The story of how the characters arrived at this point begins with a bang. Part of the reason for the success of this is due to the small trinity of main players involved. Fred MacMurray, known to many for his work in the older live-action Disney films and the show My Three Sons, plays the smooth and charismatic salesman who ends up in way over his head. Although cocky at times, MacMurray manages to play Walter as a sympathetic pawn rather than a sadistic mastermind. We become attached to Walter and fear for him, stuck in the middle as two opposing sides lock him in battle: on the one side, his close friend and boss Barton Keyes, made exceptional by the acting of Edward G. Robinson (on whom Chief Wiggum’s voice from The Simpsons is based). On the other hand, a seductive and manipulative Phyllis, whose performance by Stanwyck set the standard for the perfect femme fatale.

Walter is (literally) caught in the middle.

What also contributes to the excellence of this film is the story itself. Billy Wilder is a master of two things: (1) the human condition, and (2) dialogue. When Wilder fled from Austria to the States during the war, he couldn’t speak any English. He taught himself through conversation and by listening to how people speak, through their tone and sentence construction. He also knows what moves people, what drives them to commit murder or revenge, feel jealousy and love. This comes across in a number of his works, and is supplied for through his rich dialogue. Having both written and directed this picture, Wilder is able to bring his words to screen the way he wants to, without having to worry about anything getting lost in translation.

The only downfall to the film comes in the form of some of the hackneyed and almost cheesy dialogue and voiceover work that isn’t characteristic of Wilder’s previous films. It is characteristic of crime and pulp fiction write Raymond Chandler, who wrote the screenplay with him. Having seen other Wilder films and knowing the style and quality of dialogue, Chandler’s influence and places in this script are easy to spot. While some may find the lines eye-roll worthy, I feel it makes Wilder’s scripting all the more exceptional, even though someone of Wilder’s talent hardly needs help.