PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Double Indemnity (Directors Suite) (1944)

Double Indemnity (Directors Suite) (1944)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 8-Nov-2006

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Mystery Menu Audio
Introduction-By Robert Osborne, Film Historian
Audio Commentary-Geoff Mayer, Reader & Ass. Prof. Cinema Studies La Trobe Uni
Featurette-The Best Of Film Noir: A Documentary
Featurette-Hollywood Remembers: Barbara Stanwyck
Featurette-Hollywood Remembers: Fred MacMurray
Featurette-Hollywood Remembers: Edward G Robinson
Booklet-Essay By Dr Wendy Haslem, Lect. In Cinema Studies Uni. Melb
Audio Commentary-Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1944
Running Time 103:15
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Billy Wilder
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Fred MacMurray
Barbara Stanwyck
Edward G. Robinson
Porter Hall
Jean Heather
Tom Powers
Byron Barr
Richard Gaines
Fortunio Bonanova
Case Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI $29.95 Music Miklós Rózsa
Victor Schertzinger


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.44:1
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   

You want to know who killed Dietrichson? Hold tight to that cheap cigar of yours, Keyes.
I killed Dietrichson - me, Walter Neff, insurance salesman, 35 years old, unmarried, no visible scars... (He glances down at his shoulder wound.) - until a while ago, that is.
Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money and for a woman.
I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?'

Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity

    In 1944 Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity was released to an unsuspecting public. It represented something of a paradigm shift in cinema. Prior to that time Hollywood films about crime were either gangster stories (Little Caesar), showing the rise and fall of a crime lord, or detective stories (The Maltese Falcon) where the focus is on the gumshoe trying to solve the crime. In Double Indemnity the criminals are at front and centre of the story. We follow them as they meticulously plan and execute a murder, then watch as the investigation tears them apart.

    Not everyone was happy with this shift in focus. The New York Times review said:

    "Such folks as delight in murder stories for their academic elegance alone should find this one steadily diverting, despite its monotonous pace and length. Indeed, the fans of James M. Cain's tough fiction might gloat over it with gleaming joy."

    In any event films were never the same and a new type of cinema, later dubbed film noir, was born or at least brought into the mainstream. Double Indemnity is justly regarded as a cornerstone of film noir. It has all the hallmarks of that genre; dangerous dames, tough but ultimately malleable men, expressionistic lighting and mood and a sharp and darkly witty script.

    The plot for Double Indemnity is pure noir. Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, a hard-talking insurance salesman. He is confident, brash and probably an enthusiastic womaniser. As the film begins he stumbles into his office at the insurance company with a gunshot wound and begins a long confession. So as soon as the film begins we know there has been lust, murder and betrayal. Double Indemnity is not a whodunit it's a whydunit. It's a technique Wilder would follow again in Sunset Boulevard six years later.

    Whilst doing the rounds of his clients Neff meets the new Mrs Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck. Standing at the top of a staircase wrapping a cloak around herself to cover up after sunbathing, she is a vision to behold and Neff is taken in. He is there to sell insurance to her husband but gradually over the course of a few meetings Phyllis explains that her married life to the wealthy Dietrichson is unhappy. She wants out, but she has no money. Plus, Dietrichson has various types of property insurance but no life cover.

    Neff thinks he is in control but the wily Phyllis is leading him by the nose. The two form a plan to get Dietrichson to sign a form for life cover and then bump him off in such a way that the double indemnity provisions of the policy come into effect. The plan works perfectly.

    Well, almost. For Neff's boss and mentor is Barton Keyes, played by Edward G Robinson, a cigar chomping tough claims investigator who has a little man inside him that tells him when a claim stinks. Right now his little man is screaming loudly. Neff is in the strange position of having the claims investigation play out before his very eyes.

    With Keyes on the trail the killers are under constant pressure and paranoia and tension builds as we wonder who will live and who will die as the stakes get higher and higher.

    The script for Double Indemnity came from a novella by pulp novelist James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice). Although he personally disputed the connection, most students of the film attribute the story to the real-life case of Ruth Snyder, who conspired with her lover to bump off her husband for money only to wind up in 'old sparky'. Billy Wilder turned it into a screenplay with the help of another hard-boiled crime novelist, Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely) .

    Apparently Wilder was shocked by the drunken Chandler and the co-writing process almost ground to a halt. As it happened the teaming was perfect. Wilder gave the story structure and drive and Chandler provided the witty, gritty dialogue.

    Chandler was no story teller but he knew his words. MacMurray and the cast spat them out with gleeful abandon. Some may remember the famous story that Howard Hawks wrote to Chandler whilst working on the film adaptation of The Big Sleep to find out who killed one of the minor characters. Chandler's response was "I don't know!".

    It can take a while for modern ears to become accustomed to the poetry of noir dialogue which has been much parodied over the years. Once you do the effect is intoxicating. This is a world of dames and saps, treachery and sex. As the commentaries point out, the novella was seen as daring if not crude and Wilder had to tread carefully to avoid censorship. As it is, Neff's pre-occupation with Phyllis' anklet gives the film a fetishistic quality and the atmosphere is always somewhat sordid.

    Wilder directs the film with an awareness of every nuance. With his cinematographer he creates the perfect noir look. Lots of light and dark, shadows and bars of light coming through Venetian blinds. According to the commentary, he even had aluminium filings put in the air to give a dusty look to the Dietrichson house - a House of the Dead as Cain called it. The cast is superlative. MacMurray, who for some will always be the dad in TV's My Three Sons, gives the best performance of his career. He played way against type and rarely returned to the cad role. Surprisingly he was not nominated for an Oscar. Stanwyck, as the cold-hearted Phyllis, put into effect everything she had to create a watchable yet rotten character. She, like MacMurray, was unwilling at first to do the part as it could have been career suicide for them both, but Wilder apparently convinced her by challenging her with "Are you an actress?". Last but definitely not least, Edward G. Robinson as the tough Keyes gives another performance which ranks as a career best. He too was apparently unwilling to do the part, having only ever had top billing in the last ten years. Wilder got him in and the rest is history. He provides the film with its moral centre.

    Double Indemnity was a great success upon it's release, as audiences revelled in the shocking story. That shock value has dissipated for the modern audience, particularly when films like Hannibal create a debonair, romantic lead out of a serial-killing cannibal! Still it is a joy to watch for the dialogue and the look of the film alone.

    Double Indemnity was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Film. It won none as the Bing Crosby comedy Going My Way swept the field.

    A great film, Double Indemnity deserves your investment.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Double Indemnity is presented in a 1.44:1 transfer that is consistent with its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio.

    The cover boasts that this is a fully restored print. This raises the perennial question of what those words precisely mean. I tend to use the Casablanca restoration (using the Lowry process) as a benchmark for the restoration of old black and white movies. That is a frame by frame digital restoration which sees the final product cleaned of all print damage, excessive grain and artefacts of all types.

    Double Indemnity is not a restoration which meets the lofty standards of Casablanca, but by any other standard it is pretty good. There is evidence of minor artefacts throughout and noticeable variation in the level of grain at various points. Still, it probably looks better than it has for twenty years or more and I feel somewhat churlish demanding more from a film which is not only 60 years old, but has previously struggled to get any Region 4 release.

    There are several good features of the transfer. The black levels are of a depth required for a noir thriller and the black and white camerawork is permitted to shine through. The level of light in the film is generally consistent although some scenes display some flickering.

    Despite the artefacts there is no evidence of print damage.

    There are no subtitles, which proves a bit of an annoyance when listening to the commentaries.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sound for Double Indemnity is English Dolby 2.0 running at 224Kb/s. The soundtrack is a little tired and worn and there is noticeable hiss.

    The music of Miklos Rosza is a strong companion to the film. Apparently, it was seen as lacking melodramatic themes at the time and being too discordant and harsh. Heard today it is just right - loud and brash with a main theme that to me echoes a long walk to the gas chamber.

    Audio sync is fine. Most importantly, dialogue is clear and apart from the hiss there are no physical defects with the soundtrack.

    All in all, this is a good sound transfer without being exceptional.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu Audio

    A screen in silhouette of Stanwyck looking menacing, accompanied by the Rosza theme.

Introduction

    Film historian Robert Osborne provides an introduction to the film. Though nice to see once, it doesn't really add to the film. Most would agree it needs no introduction at all. This is to be contrasted with the introduction to La regle du jou by director Jean Renoir on the Umbrella release of last year which had the ring of authenticity about it.

Audio Commentary-Geoff Mayer

    There are two audio commentaries on the DVD. They tend to complement each other as one approaches the film from more of a technical viewpoint and the other from a personal viewpoint.

    Geoff Mayer is a Reader and Associate Professor at Latrobe University. He tells us that he has written an Encyclopaedia of Film Noir which is due to be published in 2007. If his book is as detailed and informative as his commentary then it should be a quality read. Mayer covers just about every aspect of the film and film noir in his commentary. He has a detailed knowledge of Noir and also a real acquaintance with the book upon which the film is based. He is able to point out the numerous differences between the two and also give a nice back-story to the actors in the film, leading up to and after their experience in this film. Most importantly he draws out the ways in which Wilder, a clever but not radical film maker, emphasises the power struggle that lies at the core of the tale. Double Indemnity didn't really invent Film Noir, he says, but it was the first perfect distillation of the genre. Worthy of a listen.

Audio Commentary-Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman

    The other commentary is by Lem Dobbs, a scriptwriter and film historian, and Nick Redman , also a film historian. Dobbs co-wrote a number of modern noir films including The Limey and Dark City. This commentary is a breezier affair. Dobbs is a Hollywood veteran and is able to speak about his meetings with Wilder and other directors. They talk a lot about the horrible wig Stanwyck wore in the film. Apparently it was Wilder's idea to have her wear a cheap blonde wig. Part of the way through shooting he decided he didn't like it, but by that time too much footage had been shot. He then went into damage control mode saying that it looked bad on purpose.

    This is an enjoyable commentary, if a little lightweight when it comes to the actual film.

    Double Indemnity features a second DVD of extras. This includes a documentary and three features about the leads in the film. It is a personal choice, but to my mind the value of these extras is questionable. As it is they are only of passing interest.

    The problem only starts to dawn on you after a while when you start to notice how many film excerpts seem to have come from trailers. Then it is apparent. In a bid to save money the makers of these extras have used trailers as the source of film clips possibly because they reside in the public domain rather than splashing out the cash to pay for the rights to use real film footage. As a result, the featurettes do not really get deep into the actor's performances and only occasionally is there extra footage. One good example is the Edward G. Robinson featurette, which contains some brief footage of a party on set after making his 101st film appearance.

    An example of the problem with the featurettes can be found in the one on Barbara Stanwyck. The narrator talks about a forgettable film from her career, then a shot from a trailer is used where she and a co-star are walking down a road talking. Trouble is, Stanwyck is just nodding for the whole scene! In essence I don't think the featurettes actually do any more than give a film by film summary of the actor's career, without even showing us some of their best performances.

    The narration by Greg O'Niel belongs in the cheesy category, in fact all four featurettes are performed by him.

    In short, the extra DVD is worth watching once but at times is so frustrating that I had to turn it off.

Featurette- The Best of Film Noir (49:02)

    A film by film guide to noir, although lacking a strong central idea and focus.

Featurette- Hollywood Remembers Fred MacMurray (22:57)

    A film by film guide to MacMurray.

Featurette- Hollywood Remembers Barbara Stanwyck (23:56)

    A film by film guide to Stanwyck.

Featurette- Hollywood Remembers Edward G. Robinson (23:58)

    A film by film guide to Robinson.

Booklet

    This 14 page essay on Double Indemnity is by Wendy Haslem, a Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Melbourne. It gives a good introduction to the film and it's place in cinema, with considerable erudition but without speaking down to the reader. In other words, you don't need a film degree to appreciate the essay. It is a good read and not only explains the film but also the origins of noir.

Easter Egg

    Click on the gun for a selection of original and very raw trailers from some noir films including Double Indemnity.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Double Indemnity hasn't had a happy history on DVD. Originally released unrestored, it has only now come out in Region 1 as a special edition. That SE features the same Dobbs commentary and an additional one from Film Historian Richard Schickel. It also has a documentary called Shadows of Suspense (37:53) and the same introduction. A second DVD features a 1973 version of Double Indemnity but reviews I have read suggest this is barely worth watching.

    I haven't seen the documentary but otherwise the Region 4 would seem to be just as good.

Summary

    Double Indemnity is a classic film, hip and fun enough to be watched by any modern cinema lover.

    The DVD features a good, if not excellent transfer of the film.

    The wealth of features on this DVD turns out to be a bit illusory as the majority are only of passing interest. Still these don't hamper the overall product and the commentaries and booklet are excellent additions.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Trevor Darge (read my bio)
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DVR 630H-S, using Component output
DisplayPanasonic TH-50PV60A 50' Plasma. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080i.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationOnkyo TX - SR603
SpeakersOnkyo 6.1 Surround

Other Reviews NONE