cult film freak: EDWARD G. ROBINSON STEALS BILLY WILDER'S 'DOUBLE INDEMNITY'

Written by James M. Tate / 8/16/2025 / No comments / barbara stanwyck , billy wilder , edward g. robinson , film noir or melodrama , forties , fred macmurray , joan heather

EDWARD G. ROBINSON STEALS BILLY WILDER'S 'DOUBLE INDEMNITY'

8/16/2025 | No comment

Title: DOUBLE INDEMNITY Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2

In the narrated frame-story for the classic 1944 film noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY, a very young and handsome Fred MacMurray, before his MY THREE SONS days of being a reliable middle-aged comic actor, is confessing to a murder...

As the story pans out, with MacMurray a successful insurance salesman who's not only single but has a beer served by a carhop at a drive-in restaurant before playing a single game of practice bowling, it's surprising he would even need to team with troubled rich wife Barbara Stanwyck to kill her husband for the titular windfall policy... especially having far more chemistry with the victim's naive daughter Joan Heather...

Poster Art for DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Yet Stanwyk has enough hardline prowess for the mere temptation to seem logical enough... but while the venetian blinded shadowy rooms, punctuating pulpy dialogue and smoky atmosphere make this Billy Wilder-directed melodrama a pioneering noir staple, there's simply not a long enough opening act to shape the relationship that builds into the semi-suspenseful murder on a night train...

But this feature really belongs to a headliner from proto-noir gangster-films of the previous decade... as Edward G. Robinson not only steals the show as MacMurray's offbeat, neurotic, hunch-happy boss/claims-manager (basically the token cop of the movie), but his searching-for-the-truth monologues has McMurray spending intense listening time in place of his character having been developed beyond the expository investigation being closed i.e. even the film's leading man knows who the movie belongs to, enveloped by Edward's performance right along with the audience.

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Joan Heather and Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Joan Heather and Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Edward G. Robinson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Fred MacMurray in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Joan Heather in DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Share This Post :

Tags : barbara stanwyck , billy wilder , edward g. robinson , film noir or melodrama , forties , fred macmurray , joan heather

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)HOT CARS 7)VIOLENT SATURDAY 8)THE BREAK 9)CALCULATED RISK 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)THE CROWDED SKY 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)JUNGLE STREET 17)WHITE HEAT 18)CULT OF THE COBRA 19)FALLEN ANGEL 20)A PRIZE OF ARMS 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE MARKED ONES 23)THE DRIVER 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6)CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER