Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is an engrossing and thrilling film and is a staple of the film-noir genre. 

The film begins with a walking wounded insurance salesman named Walter confessing to a murder. Walter is played by Fred MacMurray with all of the smoothness he could muster, lighting matches with a click of his thumb, while dispensing with the vintage noir lingo like it was a second language.

His confession provides narration throughout the film, as he tells of how he was coerced by the seductive wife of a client (Barbara Stankwyck) to kill her husband and pocket his life insurance.

Stankwyck hits the femme fatale role right out of the ballpark with a performance that will have men’s tongues waggling as well as invoke chills. The sexual energy between MacMurray and Stankwyck is palpable.  

After doing the deed and putting their plan in action all seems to be smooth sailing, until top notch claims investigator Keyes (a ferocious, scene stealing Edward G. Robinson) figures out the what and the how, and slowly closes in on the who. To make matters worse a crisis of conscious hits Walter which forces him to make things right.   

With Double Indemnity, Wilder has weaved a sterling film-noir that does not contain a false step in story or pacing. On top of being a stylish and well acted film, it is also quite a clever one filled with finely tuned twists and fleshed out characters. 

It is also quite a dark film for its time, with its subject matter as pitch black as the darkness that fills the frame, courtesy of some wonderful black and white photography by John F. Seitz. Milos Rosza also deserves praise for his superb score.