Double Indemnity: Pure, Hard-Boiled Pulp

To most, Billy Wilder is best known for his comedies such as Some Like it Hot and The Apartment, but it was his noir film Double Indemnity from 1944 that established him as a director to be reckoned with. The enigma that hooks you and reels you in is the relationship between the two central characters. There's the icy sexual tension and steamy exchanges of words, but they genuinely don't seem to like each other that much.

The man is Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray). Neff is an insurance salesman and an incredibly successful one at that. He's bored and after excitement in his life. The woman is Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck). She's a gorgeous housewife with something of a dubious history as she met her current husband after murdering his wife—at least according to her stepdaughter. Neff calls round her house one day wanting her husband to renew his car insurance. He's not home, but she is. She's aware of her great beauty, and dressed in nothing but a towel she hypnotises Neff with her desirability and has him in her grip from that point on. Walter does not hide the fact that he was immediately attracted to her and wants to pursue her further.

As it's scripted by renowned author of The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity is pure, hard-boiled pulp. As anyone familiar with Chandler's works knows, he writes great dialogue and his transition to screen is effortless, despite the fact he had no idea how to construct a screenplay before beginning work on the film. Based on a novel by James M Cain, Chandler and Wilder made numerous changes to the story such as bringing more focus to the relationship between Neff and his boss and telling the story in flashback, narrated by Neff.

The plot itself is fairly straightforward. Dietrichson convinces Neff to sell her husband a double indemnity policy and to then 'accidentally' kill him so she can pocket the large sum of money. By this stage, Walter has already fallen into her web and agrees to go along with the plan. Dietrichson's motivation appears to be that she's bored of her ordinary life, which is hardly motivation at all.

Neff's desire to be part of such a crime is a little more complicated. There's no way he can be driven by greed, he has a comfortable job. And lust doesn't appear to be the driving factor either as despite the obvious sexual tension, the two are rather cold towards each other. Walter constantly calls Phyllis 'baby' as if she's simply an object for which he can gain excitement from. He doesn't mean baby in the passionate sense, he uses the word as a means of objectification, as a label to avoid getting too attached.

There is no genuine emotion shared between the two, they use each other as a means to an end, and nothing more. Double Indemnity is from the 40's so we wouldn't have seen them making love, but we are never once given the sense that these two people have been intimate with each other.

The second primary relationship in the film is between Neff and his boss, Keyes (Edward G Robinson).

He's like a father figure to Walter and values him on both a personal and professional level. He's an intelligent, suspicious man and is intent on figuring out whether or not the late Mr. Dietrichson was murdered. This leads to a slightly ironic tension between the two men as Keyes confides in Neff about his feelings and almost catches Walter and Phyllis together. It's impossible to say whether Keyes suspects Neff, which only adds to the mystery, but on a personal note, I would guess he does.

Double Indemnity is typical of many noir conventions. The main character is not a criminal but a man lured by temptation into crime. The crime itself is a thrill to the characters. Love is merely a pretence to the relationship. And, of course, there is a moralistic ending.

Wilder deservedly has the reputation as one of American cinema's great heroes. Few had careers that were so diverse, and he worked with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Klaus Kinski. Double Indemnity is a perfect example of the great man's talents—an effortlessly drawn noir masterpiece that has completely transcended time.