Double Indemnity is Film Noir at its Best
One of my favorite films of all time is Double Indemnity. It came out in 1944 but is still a great film that you can catch a couple of times a year on Turner Classic Movies. It stars Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff, an insurance salesman and Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, the femme fatale who plots with Neff to murder Stanwyck’s husband in order to collect a sizable insurance policy. The only problem is that Fred MacMurray’s boss, played by Edward G. Robinson, is an aggressive insurance claims investigator who can always tell when something is not right with a claim.
The script reads like a love story, where Phyllis and Neff experience love at first sight. They fall in love, but she cannot leave her husband so they create this plan to murder him. Their love blossoms through the creation of the plan. Greed, however, begins to be a factor. They decide to have Phyllis’ husband become the victim of a train accident because it triggers the insurance policy’s “double indemnity” clause, which doubles the payoff from the insurance company. Eventually each lover questions whether the other truly loves them or whether their motivation was just greed all along. Was it love or a business transaction? Neff seems to be in love at first sight, while we question whether Phyllis loves Neff or she’s just using him to get a big insurance payout. Eventually they each find the answer.
The characters are dark with almost no redeeming qualities. According to Turner Classic Movies, Barbara Stanwyck had second thoughts about taking the part because her character had no likable qualities at all. The director, however, was confident that she could play the part. He wasn’t wrong. She was nominated for an Oscar for her performance and this opened up other opportunities for her playing darker characters.
After making Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray went on to become known for playing the traditional “nice guy” roles. He played in several Disney movies such as The Absent-Minded Professor or The Shaggy Dog. He eventually became America’s father figure in the television series My Three Sons. The role of Walter Neff is definitely a different direction for him and it is fascinating to see him play a murderer. His character Walter Neff can be difficult to sympathize with. Neff falls in love at first sight with his client’s wife, Phyllis. He can’t get her out of his mind. He meets with her again and she eventually suggests selling a life insurance policy on her husband without him knowing it. While Neff knows it’s wrong, he goes along with it. His ego and arrogance convince him that he can commit the perfect crime. As an insurance salesman, Neff knows how to maximize the profit from a false claim and can coach Phyllis to counteract the insurance company’s strategy to challenge the claim. Eventually Neff is led into this downward spiral of murder and greed. Ultimately, it’s hard to have pity for either of these characters as they both chose greed over love.
Edward G. Robinson, as usual, is a scene stealer. His character, Barton Keyes, the claims investigator, is classic. He plays a man who relishes the thrill of investigating insurance claims and taking them apart. To him, each claim is a cadaver and he is the coroner who takes the claim apart to see what really happened. Keyes pressures the lovers into panicking, thus stressing their relationship. Keyes, however, is also Neff’s friend and trusts him. This leads to Neff benefiting from his relationship with Keyes when Keyes refuses to consider Neff as an accomplice in the insurance scheme.
An interesting aspect of the movie is that it takes place in Los Angeles. While the city is beautiful during the day, the movie paints Los Angeles as menacing after dark. At night, many of the shady characters in the film appear. The audience questions their motives, as we gradually realize that everyone seems to be hiding something sinister. Even the home of Phyllis and her husband is dark and oppressive.
If you haven’t watched this movie, it’s a must-see.
TF’s Notes: In the movie, the insurance company ignores a medical examiner’s finding that the death was accidental. In reality, it is very difficult to get a medical examiner to change their opinion. Also, the mere fact that the medical examiner will testify as an expert – meaning he did the autopsy but has no allegiance to the insurance company or the dead man’s widow – will be a huge burden for the insurance company to overcome.