“You Want to Knock Him Off, Don’t You?” “That’s a Horrible Things to Say.”
Being the mystery fan I am, I’ve heard of the film noir classics, including Double Indemnity. Noir isn’t usually my thing, and, honestly, it didn’t sound that interesting, so I passed on it. Until this year when I decided to give it a shot. I should have watched it sooner.
When meet Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), he is going into his insurance office in the middle of the night, obvious wounded. When he sits down, he starts to use his Dictaphone to leave a message for his boss about what has been happening over the last few months.
It’s then he tells the story of stopping by the Dietrichson house one afternoon to try to get them to renew their insurance policy. The wife, Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only one at home, but there is an instant attraction.
Which is why, when Walter learns how unhappy Phyllis is in her marriage, he begins to come up with ways that they can get her out of it, along with a hefty payment from his insurance company. Since he works for the insurance company, he knows exactly what they need to do to pull it off. Can they really do it?
Yes, I’m an accountant, but insurance didn’t strike me as an interesting plot point for the movie. I should have known better. The movie doesn’t truly get bogged down in that. Instead, it uses that to help set up the stakes in the movie, and to keep raising them.
Another reason I didn’t think I’d like the movie is that I don’t like to root for the bad people in a story. Yes, this is noir, and I suspected where the movie was going to go before I started. Still, I got so caught up in the story that I was getting worried for the characters in all the right places. I was conflicted as I was rooting for them even as I didn’t want to be rooting for them. And I loved every second of it. The script is brilliant in its reversals, which drew me in more and more as the story went along.
And the acting was wonderful. I am mostly familiar with Fred MacMurray from his Disney comedies, and obviously, this was a different role from those. I never struggled to believe his character. And Barbara Stanwyck deserved her Oscar nomination. Both of them have very subtle reactions to things that are completely believable and absolutely brilliant. The rest of the cast is just as strong.
The movie did come out in 1944, and there are some elements that are dated by today’s standards. The first is that the movie is filmed in black and white like most classic film noir films are. Don’t let that stop you from what the film. There were a few elements that felt rushed in the screen play, like how quickly Walter and Phyllis were in love. I get it, they had to get the characters there to set up the story. Also, at times the acting was a little over the top. That was the style of the times, I get it. Overall, those moments are few and far between. I still stand behind my praise of the acting.
I don’t know that Double Indemnity is a movie I will watch regularly, but if you are looking for a masterclass in building suspense, this is the film to see. I wish I’d seen it sooner, and I won’t hesitate to see it again.
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