Double Indemnity (1944)
Eighty years ago, director Billy Wilder taught audiences that “murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle.” DOUBLE INDEMNITY was not the first film noir, but it helped build a world where danger lurks in dark corners and you can’t tell whom to trust — certainly not a beautiful blonde with a seductive ankle bracelet. Fred MacMurray is an insurance salesman whose routine sale turns deadly when beautiful blonde Barbara Stanwyck lures him into selling her husband an accident policy that pays double for railroad accidents and then helping her make it happen. As Phyllis Dietrichson, Stanwyck is one of the most fatal femmes in film history, an unrepentant murderess who never reveals her true motives. Edward G. Robinson co-stars as the insurance company’s investigator, the only person MacMurray can truly trust.
d. Billy Wilder, 108m, DCP