Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Double Indemnity is yet another film that I've heard a lot about. I recently was flipping through the extras on my copy of The Usual Suspects and stumbled across a quote by the director, Bryan Singer, saying that Suspects is like Indemnity mixed with Rashomon. With Suspects being one of my favorite films I had to see both and, needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Review:

There are few movies in my life that have made me fall in love with the film just because of the way people speak. Fargo and Sling Blade are the only two that come to mind. But Double Indemnity had this certain charm about it that was intoxicating. The way Walter, played by Fred MacMurray, ends each conversation with Phyllis, Barbara Stanwyck, with "Baby" in a suave and speedy manner is more charming than anything I've heard any James Bond ever say.

Acting wise, the performance by Fred MacMurray is timeless. Just fantastic! Now i'll be teh first to admit that the profuse sweating was a little unnecessary. But if you watch this movie and don't see the nervous, emotional, immoral Walter that Fred MacMurray portrays as anything but amazing, you're dead inside. And how did Barbara Stanwyck not win an Academy Award for her performance? This is one of the more original roles I've seen an actress portray in a film, none the less for a film made in the 1940's!

* Side note, Stanwyck's character ranks up in the top 3 Femme Fatales, behind Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct and Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.  

Again, I'm not a film aficionado but the way the camera angles were shot and how many people we're in a scene at one time (I only counted at most maybe five in a scene at once throughout the entire movie) did make me feel like I was spying on someone. There is a particular scene which caught my eye that I would like to talk about. Walter hiding Phyllis behind the door while talking to Keyes, played by Edward G. Robinson. People say the drugstore scene made them uncomfortable but i think this was the most anxious and uncomfortable scene in the movie. Very rarely do movies today use the simple props, a doorway for instance, to such good use. 

When I overheard people talking about this movie, some said that they had no remorse for the character of Walter which in my opinion is preposterous. There has to be a certain level of forgiveness and sympathy for Walter, otherwise I think his actions throughout the movie are seen as just petty criminal acts and the betrayal by Phyllis at the end will hold no impact. Also, from the reading I found that there was a deleted scene that is "lost in annals of history" showing Walter getting killed in the gas chamber. The studio said it was "too gruesome!!" excuse my French but f*ck that. That would have made this film AMAZING!

Closing Statement:

I cannot in give this film a high enough recommendation. 10 stars out of 10. Simply one of the better crime drama films I've seen in a long time and one of the better Film Noir movies I've ever seen. Fantastic...