File:Double_Indemnity_(1944_poster).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Double Indemnity
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OverviewAI-generated
*Double Indemnity* is a 1944 American black-and-white crime film directed by Billy Wilder. The picture was produced by Buddy DeSylva for Paramount Pictures and features a cast including Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, and Gig Young. Based on a work by James M. Cain, the screenplay was written by Raymond Chandler, Billy Wilder, and James M. Cain. Miklós Rózsa composed the score, while John F. Seitz served as director of photography and Doane Harrison as film editor. The narrative is set in Los Angeles and deals with the subject of capital punishment.
The film has a runtime of 107 minutes and was released in the United States on July 6, 1944. It received nominations for the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. On IMDb, the movie holds a rating of 8.3 based on 181,673 votes, while TMDb lists a vote average of 8.092 from 2,027 votes. The production had a budget of 927,262 and generated revenue of 2,500,000.
Synthesized by Vinony from 43 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, Internet Archive, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
8.1An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.
Cast
- Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff
- Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson
- Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes
- Porter Hall as Mr. Jackson
- Jean Heather as Lola Dietrichson
- Tom Powers as Mr. Dietrichson
Themes
- california
- seduction
- housewife
- insurance fraud
- stepdaughter
- femme fatale
- film noir
- murder
- life insurance
- black and white
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Key facts
- Directed by
- Billy Wilder
- Screenplay by
- Billy Wilder Raymond Chandler
- Based on
- Double Indemnity , 1943 novel, by James M. Cain
- Produced by
- Joseph Sistrom (uncredited)
- Starring
- Fred MacMurray Barbara Stanwyck Edward G. Robinson Porter Hall Jean Heather Tom Powers Byron Barr Richard Gaines Fortunio Bonanova John Philliber
- Cinematography
- John Seitz
- Edited by
- Doane Harrison
- Music by
- Miklós Rózsa
- Production company
- Paramount Pictures
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- July 6, 1944 ( 1944-07-06 )
- Running time
- 107 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $980,000
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Part of
- National Film Registry
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Based on
- Double Indemnity
- Main subject
- capital punishment
- Director
- Billy Wilder
- Screenwriter
- James M. Cain
- Cast member
- Sam McDaniel
- Composer
- Miklós Rózsa
- Producer
- Buddy DeSylva
- Production company
- Paramount Pictures
- Cinematographer
- John F. Seitz
- Narrative location
- Los Angeles
- Duration
- 107
- FilmAffinity ID
- 207165
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- Double-Indemnity-LIFE-1944-2.jpg
Show 14 more facts
- Commons category
- Double Indemnity (film)
- publication date
- 1944-08-25
- film editor
- Doane Harrison
- title
- Double Indemnity
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Sound
- color
- black-and-white
- after a work by
- James M. Cain
- distributed by
- Netflix
- costume designer
- Edith Head
- capital cost
- 927000
- production designer
- Hans Dreier
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 8.3/10
- aspect ratio (W:H)
- 4:3
Sources (12)
via Wikidata · CC0
~32 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Double Indemnity is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's novel of the same name, which ran as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine in 1936.
The film stars an insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who plots with a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) to kill her husband in order to claim a life insurance payment, arousing the suspicion of claims manager Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). The title refers to a "double indemnity" clause which doubles life insurance payouts when death occurs in a statistically rare manner.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Double Indemnity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.