Double Indemnity (1944)

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

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

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 | Insurance Investigator | Murder | 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)

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

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:

The character Walter Neff was originally named Walter Ness, but director/writer Billy Wilder found out that there was a man living in Beverly Hills named Walter Ness who was actually an insurance salesman. To avoid being sued for defamation of character, they changed the name. In the novel, his name is Walter Huff, and Dietrichson is Nirdlinger

Goofs:

Factual errors: The door to Neff's apartment opens away from, rather than toward, the apartment. This was a violation of the Los Angeles Fire Code. (Billy Wilder knew this, but could not change the door because of the crucial scene where Phyllis is hiding behind the door in the hallway.)

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Rules of Film Noir (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Tangerine

A film noir masterpiece that received no less than seven Oscar nominations…

There were some superb thrillers coming out of Hollywood in the forties which did not rely on the private eye conventions – but somehow the best of them were spread throughout by the same cynicism, the same realism, the same ruthless suspense…

Best of all was Wilder's "Double Identity." It was based on a real-life assassination in New York in 1927, when a wife and her lover killed the husband for his insurance money…

In the film, a near-breaking-point tension was reached and sustained in the passion of an insurance salesman and a passionately sensual femme fatale – an intense desire for each other and for money; in the murder of the poor husband; and in their useless attempts to escape the ability of a fast-talking investigator…