Double Indemnity
Double Indemnity
Directed by Billy Wilder, who teamed with Raymond Chandler to adapt James M. Cain’s classic novel, this twisted tale of love and murder set the bar for film noir. Fred MacMurray stars as a hardened insurance investigator who falls for a married woman (Barbara Stanwyck). The pair conspires to get Stanwyck’s character out of her marriage and both of them into a fortune, but with disastrous results. The film received seven nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress (Stanwyck), and for the black-and-white cinematography of John Seitz (The Lost Weekend, Sunset Blvd.), which finds the stark visual equivalent of Wilder’s witty bleak sensibility.
DIRECTED BY: Billy Wilder. WRITTEN BY: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler. WITH: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall. 1944. 106 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. New print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
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