[61], Howard Barnes at the New York Herald Tribune was much more enthusiastic, calling Double Indemnity "one of the most vital and arresting films of the year", and praising Wilder's "magnificent direction and a whale of a script". Here, Pereira is said to have copied an existing office: the corporate headquarters of Paramount Pictures in New York City. [45] Unconvinced, Paramount production head Buddy DeSylva was overheard to say "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington. "[63], Rob Fraser from Empire had this to say on the film, “Film noir at its finest, a template of the genre, etc. a bewildered Wilder replied. “I didn’t get the money and I didn’t get the woman.” Not only is Double Indemnity one of the archetypal films known as film noir but it is regarded by many as the first true film noir.It is also one of the best. With Double Indemnity, I was lucky. I need to write about Double Indemnity.True, it’s a movie already eloquently written about by the likes of Roger Ebert, among many others.It was selected in 1992 for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, and ranked in the top 50 of … Instead he led a movement within the Screen Writers Guild to create the American Author's Authority, a union that owned its members' works, negotiated better subsidiary deals, and protected against copyright infringement on behalf of its members. From 1896 to 1912 Chandler lived in England with his mother, a With "nothing ahead of" them (Cain, p. 113), they finally decide to jump off the ship and commit suicide. After the success of Double Indemnity, imitators of the film's plot were rampant. Double Indemnity has quite a history. ", building on the southwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novella of the same name, which originally appeared as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine. This lead to Chandler's involvement. Double Jeopardy is a 1999 American crime thriller film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood, and Gillian Barber.The film is about a woman wrongfully imprisoned for murder who, while eluding her parole officer, tracks … Now the two were coming to loggerheads again. [49][50], When it came time to record the score for Double Indemnity, Lipstone made no secret that he despised what Rózsa had done, to which Wilder finally turned to him and snapped "You may be surprised to hear that I love it. Double Indemnity . Wilder and Chandler's Double Indemnity screenplay was included in Library of America's second volume of Chandler's work, Later Novels and Other Writings (1995). Phyllis drives her husband to the train station for a trip to attend a college reunion. Who wrote the novel Double Indemnity? Brackett spun the breakup in a decidedly different light, saying "Billy got so despondent at being without me that we did The Lost Weekend, a depressing film about a writer who has trouble writing." [61], Radio host and Hearst paper columnist Louella Parsons said "Double Indemnity is the finest picture of its kind ever made, and I make that flat statement without any fear of getting indigestion later from eating my words. He neglected, however, to mention that the studio had kept him on salary during the eight-week shooting schedule and that no changes to the script were allowed without his approval – a very rare accommodation for screenwriters, particularly newcomers, in those days. [28] (This was the last in a series of roles turned down by Raft in films which turned out to be classics. station, bearing signs that read Glendale. James M. Cain based his novella on a 1927 murder perpetrated by a married Queens, New York, woman and her lover whose trial he attended while working as a journalist in New York. [16] Chandler also did a lot of fieldwork while working on the script and took large volumes of notes. By visiting various locations that figured into the film, he brought a sense of realism about Los Angeles that seeped into the script. Cain's agent sent copies of the novella to all the major studios and within days, MGM, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and Columbia were competing to buy the rights for $25,000. [52], Exteriors of the Dietrichson house in the film were shot at a 3,200-square-foot (300 m2), Spanish Colonial Revival house built in 1927. [38] Here Wilder taps into his 1920s Berlin roots, and he and Seitz give the film a look subtly reminiscent of German expressionism, with dramatic deployment of light and shadows. The production team copied the interior of the house, including the spiral staircase, almost exactly on a soundstage at Paramount. Crawford won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Mildred Pierce, the mother of a spoilt social-climbing teenager, Veda, who is desperate to join the wealthy class. That building still stands, but the Newman Drug Store originally on the ground floor is no longer there. In the opening scenes, as Walter Neff stumbles off the elevator on his way to his office to record his confession, the vast two-tiered office is empty and dark. Wilder reshot the scene, only this time as Phyllis starts the car, the motor stalls and won't turn over. The way Billy staged it and John Seitz lit it, it was all one sensational mood. I wonder who wrote them – Wilder or Chandler. In pain from a gunshot wound to his shoulder, Neff begins dictating a confession into a dictaphone for his friend and colleague, Barton Keyes, a claims adjuster. It was based on a 1935 novela by James M. Cain, who wrote noir classics The Postman Always Rings … Template:Infobox film Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Praised by many critics when first released, Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Academy Awards but did not win any. The… Neff begins seeing Lola to keep her from going to the police with her suspicions, and later through guilt to protect her from Phyllis. [27], Fred MacMurray was accustomed to playing "happy-go-lucky good guys" in light comedies, and when Wilder first approached him about the Neff role, MacMurray said "You're making the mistake of your life!" When McCarey made his way to the stage to accept the award for best picture, Wilder, sitting on the aisle, stuck out his foot and tripped him. I just made pictures I would have liked to see. For another, the character of Barton Keyes was transformed from Walter Neff's fairly clueless co-worker into his mentor and eventual nemesis. Walter desperately reaches over, turns the key and guns the motor, finally starting the car. Sklar explains, "[T]he unusual juxtaposition of temporalities gives the spectator a premonition of what will occur/has occurred in the flashback story. Double Indemnity review by Paavo L - It's really amazing how Billy Wilder wrote and directed so many different movies. Norton refuses to pay out the accidental death clause, deducing that Dietrichson was unaware of the policy. Neff tells him he is fleeing to Mexico, but he is too weak and collapses. Having the two protagonists mortally wound each other was one of the key factors in gaining Hays Office approval for the script: the Production Code demanded that criminals pay, on screen, for their transgressions. Apart from the Snyder case of 1927, "Cain's basic pattern strikingly resembles the one in Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin (1867). He later summoned Rózsa to his office and reprimanded him for writing "Carnegie Hall music" which had no place in a film. He guesses she is planning for Nino to kill him, but tells her that he intends to kill her and put the blame on Nino. His first choice, James M. Cain himself, was working for another studio and unavailable (although Cain claimed he never was asked). Wilder wrote and directed DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Raymond Chandler was the co-writer), as he usually did with all of his pictures. [49][51] Lipstone was convinced that as soon as the studio's Artistic Director Buddy DeSylva heard the music he would throw it out. [2][3] In 1998, it was ranked No. This scene was shot before the scenes that eventually became the film's familiar ending, and once that final intimate exchange between Neff and Keyes revealed its power to Wilder, he began to wonder if the gas chamber ending was needed at all. As work progressed, Wilder's enthusiasm about Rózsa's score only grew, but the studio's Musical Director Louis Lipstone was of a different mind; he and Wilder previously clashed over some post-production cuts he had made to the Five Graves score which created problems with the music's continuity and logic. Template:Infobox film Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. After killing him in the Nirdlinger car, they stage an accident from the rear platform of a train. [17], The tumultuous relationship between Wilder and Chandler only enhanced the product of their collaboration. Kasdan injects Heat's story with a density that is so interesting and palatable, and Playing a serious role required acting, he said "and I can't do it. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Double Indemnity by director Billy Wilder. Wilder had praised that work and promised to use Rózsa on his next film. Wilder wrote and directed DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Raymond Chandler was the co-writer), as he usually did with all of his pictures. He survives, though, and the end sees both of them on a steamship heading to Mexico: Keyes has given them an ostensible chance to escape formal justice by booking their passages - without them knowing about the other. "Mr. McCarey ... stumbled perceptibly," he gleefully recalled. Wilder, in fact, believed that discord, a tug-of-war, was a vital ingredient, necessary for a fruitful collaboration: "If two people think alike," he once said, "it's like two men pulling at one end of a rope. He was offered the lead in Double Indemnity (1944) by Billy Wilder but turned it down. References. Cain had made a name for himself the year before with The Postman Always Rings Twice, a story of murder and passion between a migrant worker and the unhappy wife of a café owner. Double Indemnity is a 1944 American psychological thriller film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. In 1977, Leslie Halliwell gave it a 4-star (top) rating, and wrote: "Brilliantly filmed and incisively written, perfectly capturing the decayed Los Angeles atmosphere of a Chandler novel, but using a simpler story and more substantial characters. [21] Offended, Wilder responded by saying: "We didn't invite him? Cain, the father of the film noir, also wrote Double Indemnity (1944), Serenade (1937), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). [5], The film's critical reputation has only grown over the years. Double Indemnity . Luise Rainer!"[67]. [33], Edward G. Robinson was also reluctant to sign on for the role of Barton Keyes, but not for the same reasons as MacMurray and Stanwyck. [6] The contrast was heightened, in Wilder's words, by "dirtying up" the sets. from BookRags.com With Angela Lansbury, Ray Baker, Cliff Bemis, Keith David. Powell would soon have his own classic noir, MURDER MY SWEET. She does not, and he takes the gun. The Novella by James M. Cain & Film Noir Classic from Billy Wilder . At the time, Stanwyck was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood as well as the highest-paid woman in America. The noir screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Initially, Wilder and Chandler had intended to retain as much of Cain's original dialogue as possible. The narrative structure in both films begins and ends in the present, but the bulk of the plot is told in flashback narrated by their protagonists. As Spencer Selby points out, Double Indemnity was groundbreaking because it was the first film to identify its audience with a murderer. For one thing, the ending was overhauled. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novella of the same name, which originally appeared as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine. With Angela Lansbury, Christine Belford, Earl Boen, Jon Cypher. The film stars Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman, Barbara Stanwyck as a provocative housewife who wishes her husband were dead, and Edward G. Robinson as a claims adjuster whose job is to find phony claims. After seeing the picture half a dozen times, he was quoted as saying "It's the only picture I ever saw made from my books that had things in it I wish I had thought of. Wilder later recalled with disappointment his first meeting with Chandler. Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. The Glendale station remains, however, and can now be seen as part of the Glendale Transportation Center and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1997. He and Billy Wilder co-wrote Double Indemnity (1944), based on James M. Cain's novel of the same title. Other films inspired by the Snyder-Gray murder include The Postman Always Rings Twice (also based on a Cain novel) and Body Heat (1981). [34] Removal of the scene, over Chandler's objection,[33] removed Production Code head Joseph Breen's single biggest remaining objection to the picture that regarded it as "unduly gruesome" and predicted that it never would be approved by local and regional censor boards. Of course, first names are generational (even “Edith” was sexy once), and Cain wrote Double Indemnity fourteen years before Dr. Seuss made up the word “nerd” in his book If I Ran the Zoo. James M. Cain, virtuoso of the roman noir, gives us a tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful story in Double Indemnity, an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. He was under the table drunk at Lucy's," a nearby watering hole for Paramount employees. The book wound up in the hands … Dick Powell was very keen to do it ( and no doubt would have been a good Neff). [32] MacMurray made a great heel and his performance demonstrated new breadths of his acting talent. He went to the limits of what could be done. In the classic black and white aesthetic, it goes further and turns up the darkness. He and Billy Wilder co-wrote Double Indemnity (1944), based on James M. Cain's novel of the same name. It embodies the noir style and even helped to establish the noir convention of the flashback with a voice-over narration. Perhaps this is why the music of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity ... And Rózsa mentored Jerry Goldsmith, who wrote a masterful period score for Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir Chinatown. DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a Film Noir. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novella of the same name, which originally appeared as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine, beginning in February 1936. In it, Breen warned: The general low tone and sordid flavor of this story makes it, in our judgment, thoroughly unacceptable for screen presentation before mixed audiences in the theater. Selznick was not amused and threatened to stop advertising in any of the trades if they continued to run Wilder's ads. I wonder who wrote them – Wilder or Chandler. if my recommendation sounds half hearted, it is. Jessica Fletcher (Dame Angela Lansbury) is attacked on a train when she investigates the case of a missing passenger. Wilder and Seitz also blew aluminum particles into the air so that, as they floated down, they looked just like dust. [19], When Chandler came to work with Wilder, he was a recovering alcoholic. "You know, when the guy flashes his lapel, you see his badge, you know he's a detective." Neff turns left, but the camera continues forward until it reaches the brink and stares down for an anxious moment into a colorless American business purgatory. Book Vs Movie . Robinson. Walter Huff, an insurance agent, falls for the married Phyllis Nirdlinger, who consults him about accident insurance for her unsuspecting husband. Book Vs Movie Double Indemnity The Novella by James M. Cain & Film Noir Classic from Billy Wilder We are heading back to the Film Noir well with writer James M. Cain and the classic novella & later movie Double Indemnity. With the camera following him, Neff lurches towards the balcony railing overlooking rows and rows of uniform corporate desks. When Rózsa pointed out that Double Indemnity was a love story, Lipstone suggested his music was more appropriate to The Battle of Russia. [10] Paramount resubmitted the script to the Hays Office, but the response was identical to the one eight years earlier. He was of course the author of "The Big Sleep." [2] With her own distrust mounting, Phyllis also decides to kill her accomplice. Widely regarded as a classic, it often is cited as having set the standard for film noir. [6] According to Wilder, this was exactly what he was going for when he chose the wig, wanting to project "the phoniness of the girl – Bad taste, phony wig", with cheap perfume to match. [14] Producer Joseph Sistrom, an avid reader and an admirer of The Big Sleep, then suggested Raymond Chandler. Neff drives to his office and starts speaking into his dictaphone, returning to the start of the film. [6] In that crime, Ruth Snyder persuaded her boyfriend, Judd Gray, to kill her husband, Albert, after having him take out a big insurance policy with a double indemnity clause. no. Raymond Chandler-Wikipedia. [46] MacMurray was surprised when he first saw it onscreen: "When I  ... turned the key I remember I was doing it fast and Billy kept saying 'Make it longer, make it longer,' and finally I yelled 'For Chrissake Billy, it's not going to hold that long,' and he said 'Make it longer,' and he was right. While some reviewers found the story implausible and disturbing, others praised it as an original thriller. Neff meets Phyllis at her house and informs her that he knows about her and Nino. As the awards show wore on and Double Indemnity lost in category after category, it became evident that there would be a Going My Way sweep. "Mae Brunken's Beachwood Canyon Home in the Hollywood Hills. In the script, the pair get in their car and simply drive away. Double Indemnity, like one of Wilder’s later films noir, Sunset Blvd., is presented in flashback with the main character narrating. [6] (Her eventual co-star MacMurray matched Stanwyck's prominence at the pay window: in 1943, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, and the fourth highest-paid American. This identification, formed through the first-person narrative, compels the audience to wish that Neff will succeed (Selby 1984, 15). As she hugs him, Neff says, "Goodbye, baby," and shoots twice, killing her. Released as Apology for Murder, Paramount was not fooled by the title change and quickly placed an injunction on the film that remains to this day. "[52], The score was nominated for an Academy Award, and the success brought Rózsa offers to do as many films as he had time for. Double Indemnity has quite a history. Double Indemnity (1944) is the perfect film noir, filled with deception, crime, forbidden love, and suspense. Chandler helped to create the overall mood and tone of the story. If you are going to collaborate, you need an opponent to bounce things off of. Walter, 1st person confession. And I did and I'm very grateful to him. "[18] His tugging with Chandler did have a softer side, it seems: Over 60 years after the film's initial release, mystery writer and Chandler scholar Mark Coggins documented the fact that Chandler had agreed to appear in a cameo at 16 minutes into the film, glancing up from a magazine as Neff walks past outside Keyes' office. In any case, the Double Indemnity House looks much better today than it did in “Double Indemnity.” Mature landscaping and the presence of other houses have softened its exterior, eliminating the sun-baked starkness that made it a believable setting for adultery and the hatching of a murder plot. Although the narrator is speaking from beyond the grave in the later movie, Walter is still alive – if barely – in Double Indemnity , but we know from the beginning that things aren’t going to go well for him. Powell would soon have his own classic noir, MURDER MY SWEET. Once the set was ready for filming, Wilder went around and overturned a few ashtrays to give the house an appropriately grubby look. Of course George Raft turned it down. They're all really cool, and this one is no… Nirdlinger” driving you to … [37], The look of the film was achieved through the work of cinematographer John F. Seitz. Against a backdrop of distinctly Californian settings, the partners in crime plan the perfect murder to collect the insurance, which pays double if the death is accidental. [48], The score to Double Indemnity was composed by Miklós Rózsa, whose work on Wilder's previous film Five Graves to Cairo had been his first real Hollywood engagement for a major studio. The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, Cain's back-to-back 1930s pulp masterpieces of adultery, spousal homicide and insurance-settlement high jinks - … Paramount stars Alan Ladd and Brian Donlevy were considered for the part of Neff. 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