Episode 443 · Film year 1944

Double Indemnity (1944)

· 1h 47m

Guest Co-Hosts
Kat Ellinger, Keith Gordon
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Artwork for Double Indemnity (1944)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Episode 443 · The Projection Booth
0:00
1h 47m
MP3

Show notes

Noirvember 2019 wraps up with Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944). With a screenplay co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler and based on a story by James M. Cain, the film is one of the seminal works of film noir. It stars Fred MacMurray as fast-talking Walter Neff, an insurance agent who gets played for a dope by a dame. The dame in question, Phyllis Dietrichson, is played by the one and only Barbara Stanwyck. The two cook up an insurance scam to pay off big after they bump off her husband.

Keith Gordon and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss Double Indemnity, its 1973 TV remake, the adult adaptation Eruption (1977), Body Heat (1981), and the Body Heat/Double Indemnity mash-up, Jism (2003).

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck Billy Wilder Edward G Robinson Film Noir Fred MacMurray James M Cain Kat Ellinger Keith Gordon Noirvember Raymond Chandler

Watch

Music credits

  • Soundtrack by Miklos Rosza

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Comments (3)

  1. Anonymous
    Best line ever! "I couldn't hear my own footsteps. It was the walk of a dead man."
  2. Anonymous
    This completely turned me around on Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray when I was a kid who only them from BIG VALLEY, and MY THREE SONS/FLUBBER. I was about 12 when I first saw it (which would be 1979) and was particularly interested because I already loved SOME LIKE IT HOT. I love showing this and then SUNSET BLVD to young people who love film but haven't gotten to Wilder yet. ~Sean Smithson
  3. Anonymous
    I just watched this for the first time. Now I know what Frank Miller was influenced by in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. Phyllis’ death scene is exactly the same as Eva Green’s in Sin City 2.

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