Double Indemnity
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Template:Infobox Movie Double Indemnity is a 1944 film noir It stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. The movie was adapted by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler from the novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain that first appeared in 1935 in abridged, 8-part serial form in Liberty Magazine. It was directed by Wilder. The story was based on a 1927 crime perpetrated by a married Queens woman and her lover. Ruth (Brown) Snyder persuaded her boyfriend to kill her husband, after having her spouse take out a big insurance policy - with a double-indemnity clause. The murderers were quickly idenified and arrested. 1
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Plot
The film tells the story of an insurance investigator (MacMurray) who finds himself entwined in a plot to kill a woman's husband. A tenacious investigator (Robinson) thinks it's foul play and may suspect his co-worker and the recently widowed femme fatale. The title of the film is a reference to a frequently-found provision in many life insurance policies in which an amount twice the amount which would normally be paid to the beneficiary becomes payable in the event of the accidental death of the insured. An alternate ending was shot for the film (to appease censors) featuring killer MacMurray going to the electric chair. This footage is lost but stills of the scene still exist.
Awards
It was nominated for Academy Awards for
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck)
- Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
- Best Director (Billy Wilder)
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
- Best Picture
- Best Writing, Screenplay.
This film noir received no Academy Awards.
The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Quote
It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? Maybe you would have known Keyes the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn't. I felt like a million. - Walter (MacMurray)
External links
- Template:Imdb title
- Double Indemnity (http://www.movietome.com/movietome/servlet/MovieMain/movieid-104220/) at Movie Tome
Note 1: Ruth Snyder's story [1] (http://www.poeforward.com/mrperfumery/deadgirls/historical/executed/snyder/snyder.htm)nl:Double Indemnity