Kvinden Uden Samvittighed
I always
find it difficult to watch movies that I know will end tragically. On an
intellectual level they can and often are very pleasing, if for nothing else
then because they are in clear minority to the happy ending films. But on a deeper
level they trouble me. I suppose it is because I want to root for the
characters even when they do not deserve it. Not to root for the characters is
to be left floating, uninvolved in the film. But rooting for somebody and see
them end in misery is just hard.
“Double Indemnity”
is such a film. Do not get me wrong, it is a good film and I like it on many
levels, but it is also a classic case of seeing your hero sink. It is not even
a surprise. The final deroute is the very opening of the film. Walter Neff (Fred
MacMurray) staggers into an office badly wounded and confess to a recording
device that he is the bad guy and that this is the end. So, settled right
there.
In a sense
it helps. If I had not known of the crime he is about to commit I would probably
have liked him even better. He is in fact the epitome of a good, upright can-do
guy with both his legs solid on the ground and his wits with him. What brings
him down is of course a dame. How could it be otherwise in a noir film? And not
just any dame but Barbara Stanwyck in the shape of Phyllis Dietrichson.
Stanwyck made a good impression on me in
her earlier films on the list, primarily because her acting is spot on. In
“Double Indemnity” it took a while for me to warm up to her. She is supposed to
be a seductress who sways Walter from his initial and scornful rejection to
actually commit a murder and insurance fraud for her. That would take a lot of
power to do that to a guy like Walter and I do not really see it from her. It
might be the dowdy 1940’ies style or simply Stanwyck’s age, I do not know. She
bags him a little too easy.
Later
however, after the deed is done, Stanwyck steps into character. She is the cold
and dangerous viper disguised as a fidgety nerve wreck of a woman and that role
becomes her. She might not be a top seductress but she is an excellent viper.
In any case
Phyllis manages to lure Walter, the insurance agent, into helping her rid
herself of her husband and cash in on an accident insurance. Double up by
making it a train accident, hence the title. Walter knows all the tricks from
his vast professional experience and soon they have committed what they think
is the perfect murder on her boisterous, but otherwise innocent husband.
Up to this
point I actually managed to root for the guy. Not the dame, she reeks of danger
and greed, but Walter, the happy insurance guy. Now I had to extricate myself
from him and tell myself that I do not want to involve myself in a murderer.
Fortunately
for me and the film in general we now get a third lead: The claims investigator
and Walter’s friend Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). Keyes is loud and funny
and totally engaged in his job, which he seems to find to be the best job in
the world. He is good at it with an instinct that almost makes him smell the
foul claims. Edward G. Robinson shines in this role and he is easily the best
character in the film. Not because he is the only clean guy, but because he is
so engaging. His excitement is contagious as he sniffs out the bad claims and
for Walter it must be really painful to see his friend get excited about the
Dietriechson claim.
Besides
being a story about solving a murder mystery with the murderer right in front
of him it is also a love story between the two men. This is really
extraordinary for a 1944 film under the Hays Code and while there are no sexual
references it is clear from their act and talk that these two men care very
much for each other. They are friends a bit beyond friends in a very subtle
manner.
“Double
Indemnity” is called a quintessential film noir because it can claim all the
noir element. Fatal attraction, moral deroute and tons of darkness. That is all
fine, but this film is a lot more than just style. It has three great actors
and a knife sharp script. The lines come so fast that I sometimes had difficulty
keeping up with them and with an edge to cut ice.
In a way
that is also a problem with the film. The first third where Walter is getting
seduced by Phyllis seems almost too scripted. The jabs and comebacks are the
kind you wish you would have said later on but never something that would just
spring to mind in an ordinary conversation. That and the out of the blue
seduction is definitely the weakest part of the film.
The last
part however with Walter and Phyllis feeling the soil burning under their feet
is very strong. There is so much tension, sexual and psychological between the
three of them that it just has to explode.
It is not
my favorite noir, but it is good stuff and certainly worth watching.