ShareThisBy PHIL VILLARREAL
Friday, October 20, 2006
Walter heads to Phyllis' home to sell an insurance policy. She ends up selling him a caper: Help her murder her husband, make it look like an accident and collect some insurance money they can use to run away together.
We know from the beginning of "Double Indemnity" that the plan will fail, since Walter (Fred MacMurray) is dictating his confession, with his forlorn words drifting over the swirling shadows to serve as narration as the story plays out.
Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck), a dagger-eyed dame who eats men's hearts for breakfast and picks her teeth with the shards of their broken will, is nowhere in sight, meaning she's either dead or has run off and stuck Walter with all the blame.
Walter walks us through the ruination of his life with bemused detachment, taking pleasure in recalling the cleverness of the scheme while lamenting its outcome. You get the feeling from director Billy Wilder's 1944 film that Walter would go through the entire mess all over again, because the pull from Phyllis and the scheme was too overwhelming to ignore.
Walter and Phyllis are drawn together not only by lust and money, but the idea of shared danger, as well as a challenge they see in each other. Both are subtly snotty intellectuals who can talk hexagons around everyone they meet and are used to traipsing through life unchallenged, regarding most everyone with a bored coldness and contempt. But in each other Walter and Phyllis see tantalizing dance partners.
From the moment they meet, with Walter traveling to Phyllis' home to sell an insurance policy, there's an unspoken tension, despite all the talking. Walter realizes that Phyllis is attempting to seduce him, and though he's leery of her motives, he's eager to play along with whatever she has planned. They make plans to meet again.
Walter: You'll be here, too?
Phyllis: I guess so, I usually am.
Walter: Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?
Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean.
Walter: I wonder if you wonder.
It plays into Wilder's hands that the Hays Code forbade explicit sex scenes.
For Phyllis and Walter, sex is only an afterthought _ if anything, foreplay to conversation.
Walter also gets a sick spark out of the prospect of pulling one over on Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), the tough, sleuthlike manager who investigates Phyllis' claim. Their relationship has a paternal aspect, and part of Walter's downfall is his betrayal of the father figure.
The sumptuous, ever-rewatchable film was showered with seven Oscar nominations but didn't receive any statuettes, losing out to "Going My Way" in the picture, actor, supporting actor and screenplay categories. The Academy Awards were built for debate and second-guessing, but it's inconceivable how "Double Indemnity" didn't at least receive the screenplay award.
The film is vintage film noir, with a serpentine yet airtight plot, filled out with rich, jackhammer dialogue. The ingenious script was the result of a contentious writing process between Wilder and Raymond Chandler.
The script attains a prominence greater than what could be granted by any award. The film's sharp lines stick out in your mind to sting your memory; they're subconscious magnets drawing you back to watch the movie again and fall into its rapturous freefall. Thanks to DVD, Phyllis will always be there waiting for you. Same chair, same perfume, same anklet _ ready to make you wonder what she wonders.
Not rated.
107 minutes.
Available on DVD.
(Read Phil Villarreal's blog at scrippsnews.com/philmguy and contact him at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)
