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Double Indemnity Overview:

Double Indemnity (1944) was a Crime - Film Noir Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy G. DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom.

The film was based on the serial story of the same name written by James M. Cain published in Liberty Magazine and as a Novel (1936 magazine; 1943 novel).

SYNOPSIS

Perhaps the most famous film noir of all. An insurance salesman (MacMurray) looking for a bigger score than the next whole-life policy and a scheming blond viper with bangs, shades, and an intriguing anklet persuade her husband to sign a policy that pays double to accidental death - an accident they plan to make happen. MacMurray's past tense voice-over adds a rueful, bitterly world-weary tone. The electrifying script was written by Wilder and Chandler, based on the novel by James M. Cain.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Double Indemnity was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1992.

Academy Awards 1944 --- Ceremony Number 17 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActressBarbara StanwyckNominated
Best CinematographyJohn SeitzNominated
Best DirectorBilly WilderNominated
Best Music - ScoringMiklos RozsaNominated
Best PictureParamountNominated
Best WritingBilly Wilder, Raymond ChandlerNominated
See More Oscar Winners

Double Indemnity BlogHub Articles:

Noirvember Day 29: That Double Indemnity Patter

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 29, 2024 From Shadows and Satin

As we make our way to the conclusion of Double Indemnity week, it’s a pleasure to take this opportunity to salute one of the best things about this gem: the exquisite writing. Whether it was one liners, monologues, or dialogues between characters, Double Indemnity served up some of the most delici... Read full article

Noirvember Day 27: Things I’m Thankful – Double Indemnity Edition

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 28, 2024 From Shadows and Satin

It’s my favorite noir and one of my favorite films of all time. So you know there’s lots about Double Indemnity that I’m thankful for. Here are just a few… The opening of the film, which depicts the silhoette of a behatted man on crutches, slowly moving toward us, accompanied... Read full article

Noirvember Day 27: The Double Indemnity Quiz

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 27, 2024 From Shadows and Satin

I love lots of things – baking sweet treats (like tonight’s apple turnovers), reorganizing cabinets, browsing the stacks at my downtown library . . . And taking classic movie quizzes. I hope you do, too, because I’m serving up a super-sized quiz on this week’s focus film, Double ... Read full article

Noirvember Day 25: Trivia Double Indemnity Tidbits

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 25, 2024 From Shadows and Satin

As we enter the last week of this year’s Noirvember celebration, what better time to dive into some trivia on our focus film? Pull up a chair and snack on some trivial tidbits on Double Indemnity . . . The first name of Phyllis’s hapless husband was never spoken. Billy Wilder was nominated for a... Read full article

Noirvember Day 22: I Love Double Indemnity!

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 22, 2024 From Shadows and Satin

It’s Friday, y’all – and you know what that means! It’s time to ring up the ol’ curtain on the fourth and final noir that I’ll be spotlighting during this month. And if you know me at all, you’ve known that one of my focus films this month would have to be my all-time favorite noir (dr... Read full article

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Double Indemnity Quotes:

Walter Neff: Know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? I'll tell ya. 'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya.
Barton Keyes: Closer than that, Walter.
Walter Neff: I love you, too.
Barton Keyes: Now that's enough out of you, Walter. Now get outta here before I throw my desk at you.
[looks in his pocket for a match]
Walter Neff: [takes a match of his own and lights Keyes' cigar] I love you, too.
[voiceover]
Walter Neff: I really did, too, you old crab. Always yelling your head off, always sore at everybody. You never fooled me with your song and dance, not for a second. I kinda always knew that behind all the cigar ashes on your vest was a heart as big as a house.
Walter Neff: It's just like the first time I came here, isn't it? We were talking about automobile insurance, only you were thinking about murder. And I was thinking about that anklet.
Barton Keyes: Well, I get darn sick of tryin' to pick up after a gang of fast-talking salesmen dumb enough to sell life insurance to a guy who sleeps in the same bed with four rattlesnakes.
Walter Neff: I get the general idea. She was a tramp from a long line of tramps.
See More Quotes from Double Indemnity
Double Indemnity Facts
On viewing the film's rushes, production head Buddy G. DeSylva remarked of Barbara Stanwyck's blonde wig, "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington"!
The blonde wig that Barbara Stanwyck is wearing throughout the movie was the idea of Billy Wilder. A month into shooting Wilder suddenly realized how bad it looked, but by then it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. To rationalize this mistake, in later interviews Wilder claimed that the bad-looking wig was intentional.
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
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on October 30, 1950 with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray reprising their film roles.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 16, 1950 with Barbara Stanwyck again reprising her film role.
See More Facts about Double Indemnity >>