{"id":294,"date":"2023-11-19T14:33:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/?p=294"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:43:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:43:06","slug":"noirvember-double-indemnity-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/","title":{"rendered":"Noirvember: “Double Indemnity” (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wrote this introduction for The Mesilla Valley Film Society\u2019s screening of Double Indemnity<\/strong> in November, 2023.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you get a group of two or more noir<\/em> nerds together, there are two things that are inevitably going to happen:
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. They will argue about what is and isn’t film noir<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. They will agree that Double Indemnity<\/em> is in the top three films noir<\/em>, if not the absolute best of the genre.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    There are good reasons for both of these phenomena, but let\u2019s just talk about the second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    There had been films noir<\/em> before \u2014 Johnny Apollo<\/em>, Fury<\/em>, and Dead End<\/em> all come to mind \u2014 but this movie was a stylistic and narrative bomb, the kind of movie that would realign filmmaking around crime almost immediately. By asking viewers to sympathize with an adulterous couple planning murder, Double Indemnity<\/em> crossed an invisible line established by Hollywood.  It wasn\u2019t good enough to have a gangster get got at the end of a movie about how he rose to power; the audience was going to have to start to feel something for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is the kind of movie I find hard to write about \u2014 it\u2019s all on the screen, every bit. There\u2019s no subtext, no hidden message, and that\u2019s what makes it work so well. It\u2019s as visually dark as it is morally murky, a film that balances themes, vibes and plot perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    It shouldn\u2019t<\/em> work: Fred MacMurray\u2019s Walter Neff and Barbara Stanwyck\u2019s Phyllis Dietrichson are morally repugnant. When Neff twigs to the fact that Phyllis is thinking about taking out an insurance policy on her husband for the express purpose of profiting from his death, his initial reaction isn\u2019t out-and-out disgust. He\u2019s actually more concerned about the fact that she (and he, by dint of writing the policy) will get caught by Edward G. Robinson\u2019s Barton Keyes. He\u2019s fine with murdering her husband if it means he\u2019ll get some nice-nice from her; he just doesn\u2019t want to go to jail for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But it does<\/em> work. The screenplay (by a constantly-fueding Wilder and Raymond Chandler and based on a novel by James M. Cain) is as witty as it is clear-cut and fast. As complex as the scheme gets, the audience is never lost, even when third parties are introduced to throw a wrench in the works, demonstrating just how tightly edited the whole thing is. If you set aside plot mechanics and focus on the performances, this movie still reveals riches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When he\u2019s not with Phyllis, MacMurray\u2019s Walter has an undeniable charm and warmth, especially in the scenes he shares with Robinson. Nobody can look at Barbara Stanwyck in this movie and not understand exactly why MacMurray\u2019s character would go down the road he does. And Edward G. Robinson? Despite the overblown caricature that things like Looney Tunes would make of him, he was always a consummate performer, and this may be his best role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Hell, Even the score (an element I frequently find irritating and overdone in classic Hollywood movies) helps underpin the whole thing with an instantly recognizable leitmotif that you never get tired of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Everything this movie does echoes through the next decade-plus of genre filmmaking. Do you remember how Pulp Fiction<\/em> begat a litany of knock-offs like Two Days in the Valley<\/em> and Things to Do In Denver When You\u2019re Dead<\/em>? Double Indemnity<\/em> did that on a much larger scale; it allowed studio chiefs to see how they can combine existing sets and contracted actors with talented writers and directors to create higher-quality crime dramas on a budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This helps solidify that Double Indemnity<\/em> is more than just a great film noir, it\u2019s an important piece of moviemaking. While nobody may have hit these heights again, it created a model to follow while allowing artists to make art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When you get a group of two or more noir nerds together, there are two things that are inevitably going to happen:<\/p>\n

    1. They will argue about what is film noir.<\/p>\n

    2. They will agree that Double Indemnity is in the top three films noir, if not the absolute best of the genre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,55,17],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-billy-wilder","tag-double-indemnity","tag-film-noir"],"yoast_head":"\nNoirvember: "Double Indemnity" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\/blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Noirvember: "Double Indemnity" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\/blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you get a group of two or more noir nerds together, there are two things that are inevitably going to happen: 1. They will argue about what is film noir. 2. They will agree that Double Indemnity is in the top three films noir, if not the absolute best of the genre.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BeacoupKevin.com\/blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Church\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Church\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin Church\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e\"},\"headline\":\"Noirvember: “Double Indemnity” (1944)\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"billy wilder\",\"double indemnity\",\"film noir\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Movies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/\",\"name\":\"Noirvember: \\\"Double Indemnity\\\" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\\\/blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1666},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Noirvember: “Double Indemnity” (1944)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Kevin Church's Blog\",\"description\":\"I guess we're doing this again.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e\",\"name\":\"Kevin Church\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/0-1024x1024.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/0-1024x1024.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/0-1024x1024.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Kevin Church\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/0-1024x1024.png\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/beaucoupkevin_tcnrtw\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Noirvember: \"Double Indemnity\" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\/blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Noirvember: \"Double Indemnity\" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\/blog","og_description":"When you get a group of two or more noir nerds together, there are two things that are inevitably going to happen: 1. They will argue about what is film noir. 2. They will agree that Double Indemnity is in the top three films noir, if not the absolute best of the genre.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/","og_site_name":"BeacoupKevin.com\/blog","article_published_time":"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1666,"url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin Church","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin Church","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin Church","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e"},"headline":"Noirvember: “Double Indemnity” (1944)","datePublished":"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/"},"wordCount":662,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg","keywords":["billy wilder","double indemnity","film noir"],"articleSection":["Movies"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/","name":"Noirvember: \"Double Indemnity\" (1944) | BeacoupKevin.com\/blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-19T20:33:34+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T21:43:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/double-indemnity_9V7whr-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1666},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/noirvember-double-indemnity-1944\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Noirvember: “Double Indemnity” (1944)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/","name":"Kevin Church's Blog","description":"I guess we're doing this again.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/36873c8a22bdd6f873e79c4f1485462e","name":"Kevin Church","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-1024x1024.png","url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-1024x1024.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-1024x1024.png","width":1024,"height":1024,"caption":"Kevin Church"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-1024x1024.png"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/author\/beaucoupkevin_tcnrtw\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}