Double Indemnity: The Story that Holds Your Interest, “Straight Down the Line”

Part One:

The Big Heat, reviewed by Bosley Crowther, 1944

Paragraph 1:
*The hook
*Production Company mentioned
*Genre of the film
*Main actor of the film introduced
Paragraph 2:
-Director’s name
-Writer’s name
-Setting the scene of the film(location)

Paragraph 3:
*Major plot
*Identifying of the crime(murder)
*Brief summary

Paragraph 4:
-Critiques of the film(likes and dislikes)
-Description of the intended audience or those that may be interested

Paragraph 5:
*Actors mentioned along with their character roles


Paragraph 6:
-Credibility of the director
-Closing line to play on the title of the film


Part Two:

“It’s love and murder at first sight”- the tagline of Double Indemnity for its release date September 6, 1944, is just what you will get. This intriguing love story turns cynical as Paramount takes Fred MacMurray as the main actor of the film. Naive to his own sense of love, MacMurray thought he had put himself in the right place and the right time for once in his life.

Billy Wilder takes the prize as the director of the film along side James M. Cain, the writer of the story. They stage the scene of the film at Pacific All-Risk Insurance Co. to create a sense of deceit, fraudulency, infidelity, and the ultimate betrayal. If you liked Wilder's direction in the hilarious comedy Ball of Fire, than there is no question that this film will be just as appealing. Although the genres of the two films are dissimilar, he still finds a way to keep his audience entertained due to his creative mind. In this suspenseful drama the criminals try to cheat the system in hopes of a pay out, double indemnity.

Walter Neff begins the film sitting in his boss’s office recapping the past weeks. He speaks first of the meeting with his counterpart, Phyllis Dietrichson. Caught up in an unwanted marriage, Mrs. Dietrichson, seductive housewife with the unforgettable anklet, plots with Walter Neff

to scam the company with the death of her husband. Walter and Phyllis find themselves twisted into a love affair that evidently seems to have one solitary outcome, death. The two emulate the perfect “accidental death” of Mr. Dietrichson on a train, which they believe will result in the cash from the clause. Knowing that the insurance company was way over its head on this one, the boss and best friend of Neff, Barton Keyes, decides to get involved with the investigation.

The plot line is that of curiosity and confusion as the story unfolds. The cast and crew make the film enjoyable to watch, from their lighting techniques to the attractive actors themselves. These actors follow strict orders from Billy Wilder when delivering powerful lines such as: “I couldn't hear my own footsteps...it was the walk of a dead man" and the ever popular “Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?" The actors have a way of sticking to their sought out roles which makes it easy for the audience to follow along. Whether it be Neff, who is in it for love, or Keyes, the man with all the answers, they are unmistakably on point. The only concern may be due to the fact that the plot seems fairly predictable at first with the typical love affair; however, give it time. As the plot strengthens and the characters become more involved with one another, the predictability fades away.

Fred MacMurray plays the role of the smooth talking insurance agent gone bad, with his partner-and-love-in-crime, Barbara Stanwyck. Miss Stanwyck has a way of being conniving yet likeable in her role of the murderess, while Edward G. Robinson, the boss to MacMurray, is intelligent and insightful as he picks apart the crime piece by piece. There is not a single character that is unimportant to the plot. Each character has a significant role. Remove just one, and the story falls apart.

Billy Wilder just about outdid himself on this one. Double Indemnity is a suspenseful, crime gone awry thriller, which intertwines love and deceit to decide the fate of the double indemnity clause “straight down the line”.