Double Indemnity
Sign in to save1944 US film by Billy Wilder
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.
Released: 1944-07-06107 minDir: Billy WilderCrime, Thriller
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
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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
Key dates
- Published
- 25 August 1944
via Wikidata · CC0
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
Article
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.