BILLY WILDER: Double Indemnity (1944)
“Walter, you’re all washed up.”
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of manipulation, murder, insurance fraud, jealousy, death.
It’s time again for a new series, and this season we’re jumping in to the world of Billy Wilder, a Hollywood legend well ahead of his time. And we’re starting off with one of his earliest masterworks, a film noir with a flair for the melodramatic in the best way. Hollywood had already seen its fair share of hard-boiled detectives, but what about an insurance salesman led down a winding road of passion and murder? Wilder and co-writer Raymond Chandler (yeah, that Raymond Chandler) bring dark humor, snappy dialogue, and a perfect crime, and Billy adds his fair share of masterful shots. To top it all off, there’s incredibly good performances from stars playing against type in the best way, and it all leads to one heck of a ride. Double check your insurance policy as we kick off our Billy Wilder Director Series with 1944’s Double Indemnity, this week on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!
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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive..
Excerpts taken from the film Double Indemnity are © 1944 Paramount Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpt taken from the film Sunset Blvd. is © 1950 by Paramount Pictures; Renewed 1978. All Rights Reserved. TM & 2008 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
