Billy Wilder

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity

Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Working with cowriter Raymond Chandler, director Billy Wilder launched himself onto the Hollywood A-list with this epitome of film-noir fatalism from James M. Cain’s pulp novel. When slick salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) walks into the swank home of dissatisfied housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), he intends to sell insurance, but he winds up becoming entangled with her in a far more sinister way. Featuring scene-stealing supporting work from Edward G. Robinson and the chiaroscuro of cinematographer John F. Seitz, Double Indemnity is one of the most entertainingly perverse stories ever told and the standard by which all noir must be measured.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1944
  • 108 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #1126

4K UHD + Blu-ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring film critic Richard Schickel
  • New interview with film scholar Noah Isenberg, editor of Billy Wilder on Assignment
  • New conversation between film historians Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith
  • Billy, How Did You Do It?, a 1992 film by Volker Schlöndorff and Gisela Grischow featuring interviews with director Billy Wilder
  • Shadows of Suspense, a 2006 documentary on the making of Double Indemnity
  • Radio adaptations from 1945 and 1950
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién

New cover by Greg Ruth

Purchase Options

4K UHD + Blu-ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring film critic Richard Schickel
  • New interview with film scholar Noah Isenberg, editor of Billy Wilder on Assignment
  • New conversation between film historians Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith
  • Billy, How Did You Do It?, a 1992 film by Volker Schlöndorff and Gisela Grischow featuring interviews with director Billy Wilder
  • Shadows of Suspense, a 2006 documentary on the making of Double Indemnity
  • Radio adaptations from 1945 and 1950
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién

New cover by Greg Ruth

Double Indemnity
Cast
Fred MacMurray
Walter Neff
Barbara Stanwyck
Phyllis Dietrichson
Edward G. Robinson
Barton Keyes
Porter Hall
Mr. Jackson
Jean Heather
Lola Dietrichson
Tom Powers
Mr. Dietrichson
Byron Barr
Nino Zachette
Richard Gaines
Mr. Norton
Fortunio Bonanova
Sam Gorlopis
John Philliber
Joe Pete
Credits
Director
Billy Wilder
Screenplay by
Billy Wilder
Raymond Chandler
From the novel by
James M. Cain
Producer
Joseph Sistrom
Director of photography
John F. Seitz
Editorial supervision
Doane Harrison
Production design
David S. Hall
Art direction
Hans Dreier
David S. Hall
Hal Pereira
Music by
Miklós Rózsa
Costume design
Edith Head

Current

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The Black Heart of Double Indemnity

Billy Wilder’s classic film noir is a powerful meditation on masculinity, desire, and the fantasies of white America.

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The director of Halloween, They Live, and other horror masterpieces embraces the darkness and doom of such noir classics as Double Indemnity, The Killers, and Kiss Me Deadly.

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Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s Top 10

The director of Party Girl celebrates two favorite dance films; a classic noir by her favorite director, Billy Wilder; and a pair of comedies written by Edwin Justus Mayer, her grandfather.

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The Rule-Breaking Maestro Behind Noir’s Trademark Sound

With his love of dissonance and bold use of dramatic motifs, the Hungarian-born composer Miklós Rózsa popularized a whole new style of film music.

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