Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie
Review: "Double Indemnity" leads all the rest in the noir genre. The movie is everything a movie should be. Fred MacMurray gives a surprisingly great performance as a semi-sleazy insurance agent who seems, at the beginning, a basically honest guy....until he meets Stanwyck's femme fatale, Phyllis Dietrichson. Stanwyck is cold, calculating, clever, and incredibly sexy, in a trampy sort of way. If I were wired differently, I don't think I could resist her any better than MacMurray's Walter Neff did. You can cut her sensuality with a knife. The dialogue is fast, sharp, and, frankly, amazing. You feel as if you've grabbed onto a rollercoaster and are just barely able to hang on. And Edgar G. Robinson's character, Keyes, is equally brilliant. Seldom have I seen a movie as total, as complete, and as well crafted as this one is. Frankly, although Neff and Dietrichson are heels, I found myself rooting for them to actually succeed at their murderous deed. The stepdaughter, representing innocence and morality - Phyllis Dietrichson's opposite - irritated me. I was so blown away by the appealing rottenness ("We're both rotten," Phyllis mutters) of Neff and Dietrichson that I simply couldn't dislike them. I purchased this movie after checking out the local library's copy. And I don't buy many movies. This one is superb. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor. Then you'll understand why people like me say, with all our hearts, "They just don't make good movies anymore, like they used to." And you might agree.
Rating:
Summary: STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE....
Review: Few film noirs from the 40's are as somber and dark in tone as this classic adaptation of the James M.Cain novel written for the screen by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Wilder's and Chandler's script is sarcastic and loaded with double entendre. As directed by Wilder, "Double Indemnity" is also a sarcastic and ironic look at insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) who makes a fateful last house call on a lapsed car insurance policy. There he encounters Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) a femme fatale lying in wait for the right sucker. That sucker is Neff. One look at her sexy ankle chain and he's hooked. She wants to bump off her aging tightwad husband and collect some loot in the process. So, Neff concocts an accident policy with a double indemnity clause guaranteeing double payment in the event of a fatal accident. No problem. After tricking the man into signing it, Phyllis arranges a train trip for him and Neff finishes the job with a "fall" from said train. No problem. When time comes for Phyllis to collect, BIG problem. That being Neff's inscrutable boss Keyes (Edward G.Robinson) whose stomach ulcer always acts up whenever he detects a ruse. Then Neff discovers Phyllis is even more low-down than she let on. She's murdered before and she's a tramp to boot. The performances in "Double Indemnity" are so natural that it seems almost contemporary. Robinson is superb as Keyes---chomping the cheap cigar and griping about everything. MacMurray is miles away from his good guy image in "My Three Sons" on TV. Stanwyck is sultry and sexy (in a blonde wig) as Phyllis with her lips and eyes glistening with wicked deceit. Miklos Rosza's score is gloom and doom crime drama perfect and keeps you in check that things are bad and will only get worse. This is certainly downbeat film noir---a dark netherworld of LA story with no happy ending but a less entertaining film would be hard to find. My DVD from Image is a good print but I would love to see this reissued in an even better package. It is SO worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Actually makes sense!
Review: It's said that Double Indemnity novel author James M. Cain was so pleased with this adaptation of his work that he embraced co-writer/director Billy Wilder at the end of the premier. If you're jazzed about noir films, you can scarcely do better than this one. It crackles with Raymond Chandler's sharp wit (he's the other screen writer) as well as Billy Wilder's, well, sharp wit, and that masterful knack Wilder had for a perfectly polished script. This one's just a suspenseful ride from beginning to end. And unlike most noir films, it actually makes sense!
Rating: 
Summary: Legendary Thriller deserves quality transfer
Review: this legendary thriller is one of the greatest and most influential and most imitated films in motion picture history. the dialogue is intelligent, the plot is engrossing and the cast stellar. one question: why is the DVD transfer of this great film of very inferior quality. artifacts are rampant throughout. the picture is very grainy through most of the film. so much could have been done with this film. it is certainly among those films that deserved the special treatment but appears as though the distributers and studio used the first negative available for the transfer. very disappointing DVD. i don't usually purchase a second DVD version of any film, but the transfer on this one was so inferior, i'll make exception here.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the quintessential film noir classic
Review: If you wanted to provide the perfect introduction to film noir, this would be the film. Contrary to what many believe, not every black and white murder mystery is film noir. Instead, film noir embraces a number of themes and techniques to produce a unique kind of film. "Film noir" could, of course, be translated as dark or black film. The reference is not merely to the darkness of the images onscreen, the promiscuous use of shadow, but to the moral ambiguity involved. Film noir typically features stark black and white photography, with sometimes alarming, garish bright surfaces contrasted with pitch black shadows. The cinematographer for DOUBLE INDEMNITY was John Seitz, who filmed other film noir classics, including THIS GUN FOR HIRE and THE BIG CLOCK, as well as SUNSET BOULEVARD, which while not film noir shared some of its elements. He frames nearly every scene with darkness and shadows, such as Walter Neff's face as he dictates, with the surrounding blackness. Even Barbara Stanwyck's blonde wig was intended to increase the contrast between shadow and light (the wig is one of the lone weaknesses in the film, and everyone realized this during the shooting, but too many scenes were in the can by the time everyone agreed the wig was a mistake).Film noir is also characterized by profound moral ambiguity. In DOUBLE INDEMNITY, the two principles are not merely not good, they are thoroughly bad. Fraud, murder, adultery, and cruelty lie at the heart of the film. Nor is there honor here among thieves. Both Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson know each other all too well. Because of what they have done together, Neff doesn't know whether Phyllis is telling the truth near the end when she claims she is not being unfaithful to him. No good film noir fails to have a femme fatale, and DOUBLE INDEMNITY has the greatest of them all. Barbara Stanwyck is my favorite actress, but what I like most about her is her amazing versatility. She excelled in just about any part she undertook, and was as great in comedy as she was in drama. But while a great comedienne, other actresses could match her in comedic performances. But absolutely no one can touch Barbara Stanwyck in film noir. Part of the reason is the powerful combination of great passion, emotional complexity, unclear loyalties, and enormous intelligence that she communicates. And let's not forget sexiness. For those who grew up watching her on THE BIG VALLEY or DYNASTY, seeing her descend the staircase in this film, the camera focusing on her ankle bracelet, unaware of just how sexy she was as a younger actress, can provide a visceral shock. Billy Wilder did a magnificent job directing this film, and many of the scenes as he filmed them are classic. I have already mentioned the famous shot of Stanwyck's ankle. Another is the wonderful blocking of the scene where Edward G. Robinson's character comes to visit Fred MacMurray and leaves just as Barbara Stanwyck comes up to the latter's door, forcing her to hide between the wall and the open door while the other two finish their conversation. Or the great scene after the murder when the car almost doesn't start. Or the great device of the entire story being related by the dying Neff into a Dictaphone. One fascinating aspect of Billy Wilder's career is that he produced perhaps the three greatest films that in any way dealt with insurance companies: this film, THE FORTUNE COOKIE, and THE APARTMENT. I don't know if this was coincidence or reflects some deep personal concern Wilder had with the insurance industry.
Rating:
Summary: "I wonder if you wonder."
Review: This is the best film noir I have ever seen. It's about an insurance agant, Neff (Fred MacMurry), who falls for a married woman, Phyllis(Barbra Stanwyck) when they conspire to murder her husband to collect the "double indemnity" from his insurance policy.The actors are wonderful, especially E.G. Robinson, who plays Neff's boss and close friend, Keyes. The movie begins with Neff confessing to Keyes(via a recording), and tells the rest of the story in flashbacks.
The dialouge is what stands out especially. It's full of Billy Wilder's wonderful banter. My favorite part in the whole movie is when Neff first meets Phyllis. They make plans for him to come back to get her husbands signature on the documents, and he asks her if she'll be there when he comes back. "I wonder if I know what you mean." says Phyllis. "I wonder if you wonder." replies Neff. This is just one example of Wilder's genius, but I could name many more. This movie is just wonderful from begining to end, and I think everyone should see it!.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Film
Review: Double Indemnity is one of Hollywood's greatest movies ever. It has everything a great movie needs, great acting, superb direction, a brilliant theme and lots of tension. The only problem with this movie is that it is slow in the beginning but it then picks up once the two protagonists or should I say antagonists execute their devious plot. Edward G.Robinson steals the show with his witty character. Fred McMaurray is pretty annoying with his accent and way of speaking but all round great acting! One of those movies which inspire filmmakers and set new standards. You have to see this!
Rating:
Summary: just great
Review: The first five stars film noir, and maybe the best. Dialogue, character development, photography, music, art direction: five stars for all these items. Wlider at his very best.
Rating:
Summary: Wilder Strikes "Noir" Gold
Review: This film hits the screen like a well trained Olympic runner with comfortable shoes who can feel the gold around his neck before his heels are even in the blocks. It's what they call "film noir," because from the opening frames you know that the guy doing the talking is looking at a no-win situation, that he's going to lose and lose big. Oh, sure, he knows it now; everything you're about to see has already happened, his goose has already been cooked, and now he's going to tell you about it, let you in on what went down, how it went south and why. He'll even give you the heads up on the irony of the whole thing right out of the chute, how like our Olympic runner he could feel the gold in his hand before the ink on the insurance paper was even dry-- yeah, that's right it was an insurance scam, see, and a good one too-- all the bases were covered and checked for chinks, but in the end-- and here's where the irony comes in-- in the end, he didn't get the money and he didn't even get the girl who put the whole thing in motion. "Double Indemnity," a classic "noir" thriller in anybody's book, was directed by Billy Wilder, a guy who knows all the ins and outs, ups and downs and double shuffles of the business better than a short jockey on a tall horse. He's the "go to" guy in a game like this, because he knows all the angles, he knows the lingo and more than that, he has the insights to make it play out like it was the real deal; this guy knows what makes people tick, what motivates them and it's an ace up his sleeve that he plays like a trump card when the chips are down or even if a stack or two looks like they're about to go over. He knows the whole layout, from top to bottom and side to side because he wrote the script along with another guy you might have heard about, Raymond Chandler, another member of the club who just happens to know his way around the block and back again. This is a guy who doesn't need a road map to tell him which way to go; he's the guy who "invented" the map. And when a couple of the boys like Wilder and Chandler get together to make it up and put it down, it's as good as in the can, especially when they're getting the skinny in the first place from James M. Cain, who it just so happens wrote the novel this movie's based on. Besides which, they got the names Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck down on the dotted lines, the ones that count, the ones that say they're the ones who are the stars of the picture, see? Let's face it, that's like having Ruth, Mantle and Mays in the outfield at the same time with Sandy Koufax on the mound and Don Drysdale warming up behind him in the bull pen. The opposition might as well climb back on the bus and take the long ride on the short pier, because Wilder's team already has the big "W" next to their name in the box score. Like I said before, and I'm going to say it again because if there's one thing I've learned during my time on the planet it's that sometimes people just don't listen, or maybe there's some things they just don't want to hear. But like I was saying, this story's about an insurance scam, a dirty deal that all starts when Mr. Walter Neff (MacMurray), a salesman with a head a couple of sizes too big for his hat, makes a house call and runs into a dame, and not just any dame; her name is Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), a woman with the kind of beauty that stops traffic, turns heads and makes monkeys out of guys like Neff, guys that think they got it knocked when all the time they're standing in quicksand and don't even know it till they're in up to their ears and gasping for that last breath. But that's the name of the game; Neff isn't the first guy to find his tiller on the wrong side of the mule because of a pretty face, moist lips and the sweet smell of perfume that sells it all like the siren's song, and he won't be the last to have the deal closed by promises of something that never will be and never has been, though it's victims are heaped along the side of the carefree highway like mounds of bark dust just waiting to be spread or lost in the wind. Maybe that's not a pretty picture, but everything can't be a glossy print on Kodak paper, and you can take that to the bank because history's full of stories like this. Let's face it, Monet didn't have good eyesight, Van Gogh was down an ear and neither Mona nor her sister Lisa knew how to smile. And when a pair like Walter and Phyllis get together to cook a stew, there's always a Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) waiting in the wings for them to screw up, take a wrong step or flash a tell that attracts a guy with a nose for fraud like a metal rod drawing lightening. It takes some real "pros" to play the game at this level, and that's Wilder's team all right; but he needed some support to win this big, and he got it from the likes of Porter Hall (Mr. Jackson), Jean Heather (Lola), Tom Powers (Mr. Dietrichson) and Byron Barr (Nino). This film will give you the kind of ride a Six Flags park could only dream of, and that's what makes "Double Indemnity" one you're going to remember like a first kiss on a warm night in summer.
Rating:
Summary: A film noir masterpiece...
Review: Double Indemnity is a film noir masterpiece - chilling, dark, and very suspenseful. It features a great script with many memorable lines (for instance - "But I was wrong. You're not smarter, you're just a little taller."), an interesting plot with many good twists, and fantastic performances from two classic stars (especially Stanwyck, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the evil wife). Basically, Double Indemnity is about a less-than-brilliant insurance salesman, Walter Neff(Fred MacMurray), who falls for a beautiful married woman (Barbara Stanwyck) who wants to use him to get rid of her husband for the insurance money (hence the title, Double Indemnity). Although he resists her at first, Neff soon falls for the scheming woman and decides to help her plan the perfect murder. The movie itself starts after the murder has been completed with Neff leaving a message for his boss confessing what occurred and then goes back in time to the beginning of the scheme. Double Indemnity is a great film - the idea behind it, interesting in itself, was brilliantly executed by the legendary director Billy Wilder. Consequently, Indemnity is a true film noir classic and must-see!
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