The definitive Film Noir.

Author: Hotstar from Stockport, England
13 April 2004

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Double Indemnity is a film which fully embodies its genre, all the classic noir elements are present: venetian blinds, diagonal lines, a femme fatale and a victim of fate.Fred MacMurray takes the central role as victim of fate, Walter Neff; cast against type, MacMurray gives a thoroughly convincing performance as a typical insurance salesman transformed into a calculating killer.

The estimable Barbara Stanwyck also delivers a typically faultless performance as the coldhearted and seductive Phyllis Dietrichson who enlists Neff in a plot to kill her husband and cash in on the insurance money.Although this film may seem clichéd today, as many thrillers since have offered similar plot lines, rarely has the story been told so well. For fans of Film Noir, Stanwyck or MacMurray, this is an absolute MUST SEE!