“The two most
important words in motion pictures are Billy and Wilder”
– Alfred Hitchcock
“It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell
of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can
sometimes smell like honeysuckle?” – Walter Neff in Double Indemnity
I could have done an entire post by now on how cool Billy
Wilder is, instead of just doing one film at a time, but since I have already
done posts for The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard, and Stalag 17, I’ll just
continue to do his films one at a time. That way I will have something to write
about for some time to come.
One of Wilder’s greats is his third feature, Double
Indemnity. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actress
and Best Picture.
People have been trying to recreate the look, witty patter,
and insightful narration of this classic film noir since its release in 1944. Just
about all film students at some point try their hand at a black-and-white,
moody piece with the feel of John Seitz’s brilliant photography. It is almost a
rite of passage – even for those who have not seen the original film they are
trying to imitate.
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| A shot from Double Indemnity showing Seitz's lighting |
In fact, it’s not just amateurs who try to recreate the feel
of Double Indemnity, but seasoned pros. In 1981, Lawrence Kasdan, screenwriter
of The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark remade the film and
called it Body Heat.
The original screenplay, co-written by Billy Wilder and
Raymond Chandler, is based on a book by James M. Cain, about an insurance
salesman, Walter Neff. Played by Fred Mac Murray in the movie, Neff plans,
along with a woman with whom he is having an affair (played to perfection by
Barbara Stanwyck), to kill her husband for the insurance money. It doesn’t go well.
Wilder knows how to start a film. He does what he can to
pull the audience in as quickly as possible. In Sunset Boulevard he starts with
a dead man in a pool narrating the film, so the audience isn’t watching to see
what happens, but just how it happened. How did this guy end up dead in a pool?
Double Indemnity starts with a car careening, nearly out of
control, down the night street, running red lights and narrowly missing
accidents. This car is in one big hurry. Already we are asking questions – who’s
in that car and why are they in such a hurry?
The car stops at a building, and a man, seen only from the
back at first, is let in by someone who works there. The building is closed, it’s
after hours. The night worker tries to make small-talk with the man, who he
recognizes as Mister Neff, but gets little more than grunts in response.
Sweaty and not feeling well, Walter Neff makes it into his
insurance office, sits down, and pops a cigarette into his mouth. We see that
he only has the use of one arm, the other is injured, and there is a bullet
hole in his suit just above his injured left arm.
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| Fred MacMurray, as Neff, records his confession |
He speaks into his dictaphone (an old-fashioned voice
recorder). As he speaks, he addresses someone named Keys. He confesses to Keys
that he murdered someone named Dietrichson. It
seems Keys suspected murder in this case, but he did not suspect Neff. Shortly
it becomes clear that Keys is an investigator for the same insurance company that
Neff works for.
So…the film kicks off with a confession of murder. In typical
Wilder fashion, he sucks us in quickly and efficiently. Now he has us asking
questions, and, as in his later film Sunset Boulevard, we are not watching to see what happens, but how it
happens.
Neff’s confession to Keys bleeds into the narration for the
rest of the film, as Neff explains what happened. He remembers the first day he
went to Phyllis Dietrichson’s door: “It was a
hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that
street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like
honeysuckle?”
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| MacMurray, Stanwyck and Robinson |
Again, Wilder reminds us that a murder is coming, so we
watch with interest. Neff goes on to explain how he began his affair with Phyllis Dietrichson and how
eventually they plotted to kill Mr. Dietrichson in such a way that it would pay
off double – thus, Double Indemnity.
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| Neff and Keys |
This brings me to the character of Keys, played by the
legendary Edward G. Robinson.
Robinson does an amazing job in this well-written part. Keys is a crack
investigator. For Neff, it’s like trying to get away with murder while working
in the same office as Sherlock Holmes—if Sherlock Holmes was a bulldog. Keys is
scary-smart and is the source of much of the film’s suspense as he threatens
Neff’s chances at getting away with his crime.
In fact, one of the amazing things in this film, and all
Wilder films, is that no one is stupid. None of the major characters becomes conveniently stupid so that they can get into trouble to make the
story happen. Wilder is never lazy that way; he makes everyone smart – as smart
or smarter than the audience. It creates great tension when smart people in a
story are trying to outsmart one another.
I don’t want to say too much about the film after this
because I don’t want to spoil the fun for those of you who haven’t seen it. I
will just say that there is a reason that Wilder is considered one of the best
storytellers in the history of film. And when you watch, it will be clear to
you why Double Indemnity is a classic.
