Assurance sur la mort

Author James M. Cain virtually created a new genre with his extra-tough, sin-blackened, and sex-drenched novels--and they were so successful with the public that not even 1940s Hollywood could resist. The result was three of the most famous films of that decade: MILDRED PIERCE, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Although POSTMAN is probably the better film, INDEMNITY is the most famous--possibly due to the story's truly psychotic edge, which is given full life by Barbara Stanwyck in one of her most celebrated performances.

Like POSTMAN, INDEMNITY offers the story of a married woman who plots with her lover to murder her husband. Given MacMurray's typically "good guy" image, I didn't expect to believe him in the role of Walter Neff in the role of skirt-hungry Walter Neff--but MacMurray's performance is exceptionally good here, and all the more effective because it so completely unexpected. But while MacMurray has most of the screen time, it is really Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson who dominate the film. Stanwyck is truly memorable here, and gives us a woman who seems at once sexed-up and completely frigid, at once completely natural and absolutely artificial. It is a remarkable and often disturbing effect. Robinson, who endured decades of type-casting, is equally good as the blustery, slightly comic, and absolutely honest insurance man whose job it is to ferret out suspicious claims; it is largely due to his performance, which gives the film a moral center, that we are able to buy into the otherwise off-beat performances that drive the action.

This was one of director Billy Wilder's first major hits, and he deserves considerable credit for making the weird elements of the story work as a whole, keeping the film smartly paced, and heaping it up with atmosphere. So influential that its impact would be difficult to over-estimate, DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a touchstone for the entire film noir genre. Recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

No need to recap the plot or echo consensus points.

From the minute he sees her slinking down the stairs in that spangled ankle bracelet, he's hooked. Walter Neff's already boarded that long, lonely trolley down the one-way track. Yes indeed, sultry Phyllis appears to be just the ticket he's been looking for. Great noir classic. All in all, Neff should have paid attention to that other member of the oddball triangle. Old man Keyes may be a born cynic, but despite himself, he's a father figure looking for a son to take his place, and warning Neff about the "Margie's" of the world. What he doesn't know is that this "Margie" definitely doesn't drink out of a bottle. What's more, Neff's already chosen to ride with the flashy crowd, get out of that dumpy apartment, and get into Phyllis's vicious little insurance swindle. As Keyes tellingly remarks, "You're not smarter than the rest, Walter, just a little taller." I like to think that Walter finally realizes his folly in that brilliant final scene, even if it is too late. Still, the film's cynical veneer is misleading. Because beneath all the deceits, betrayals, and ironies, lies a lighted match and one of the odder father-son relationships in Hollywood annals.

Barbara Stanwyck changed the trajectory of her career with her ruthless, icy performance here. Fred MacMurray, however, would never again allow himself to duplicate anything similar to Walter Neff's troubled, doomed portrayal again on screen. Playing against their dark alliance, it is left to Edward G. Robinson to win the audience over as he struggles to shed light on the insurance fraud and murder. This script should be studied by anyone who plans to write for TV or movies. Note the significant changes Wilder and Chandler made from James Cain's original novel - changes Cain admitted were improvements. Especially worthy of mention is the level of artistry displayed in the final minutes when, after an hour and a half of of bitter nastiness, Wilder gives us just the smallest spoonful of sugar that wraps everything up perfectly. There's almost something criminal when evil is such a treat to watch.

This is one of the best-liked classic films of all time and I am among that large group of fans as well.

Few movies have ever had dialog this entertaining.....at least the conversations between Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. I think it's a big appeal to this movie, except to younger folks who look at it as "cheesy."

I read the book, Double Indemnity written by James Cain, and was surprised that the film's snappy dialog was not in it. This is one of the rare times when the movie was far better than the book. That's not a shock after you find out that literary giant Raymond Chandler and Hall Of Fame director Billy Wilder combined to write the screenplay,

For a murder/suspense story, there is very little action, almost none, yet there are no boring lulls. The three main actors - Stanwyck, MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, are what make this so good.

MacMurray's narration is fun to hear as he tells the story in flashback, from the beginning by dictating into an old Dictaphone to his co-worker Robinson. The latter is almost mesmerizing in his performance, the way he delivers his lines. He can even make a speech about something as boring as insurance and still keep you riveted to the screen.

Stanwyck was no sex symbol (at least to me) but she looked great here in the most seductive of 1940s clothing and, like Robinson, has a distinctive voice and accent that keeps your attention.

This film was the inspiration for the 1980 movie, "Body Heat," starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. That, too, was a very, very good movie....but not many films are in the class of this one.

The best film adaptation of a James M. Cain novel ever made (neither version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" even comes close). The script, by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, is flawless. Wilder's direction is masterful. The cast is phenomenal, with Fred McMurray as a smart-talking but naive chump, Edward G. Robinson as a shrewd and relentless insurance investigator, and Barbara Stanwyck (her very best performance ever, IMO) as a scheming wife who wants her inconvenient husband out of the way.

The smartly-written dialogue still snaps and crackles and the suspense has lost none of its edge in the 70-plus years since the film was made. This is as fine a thriller as you'll ever see and a film that truly deserves being called a classic.