Review of Double Indemnity (1973) by Andrew P — 07 Dec 2009

There are no words for how shocked I was when I realized that the absent-minded professor can act. After seeing this film, I suddenly felt bad for Fred McMurray that most of his career was spent on television shows like My Three Sons, and the endless parade of Disney movies that he made, when he was obviously capable of something so much more.

Barbara Stanwyck is also impossibly evil, and has a back-and-forth with McMurray about "speeding" that is one of my favorite of all time. The real scene-stealer for the film, though is Edward G. Robinson. Finally playing something other than a bad guy in a gangster film, he's the cranky claim-auditor boss of Walter Neff(McMurray) who has a "little man" who tells him when a claim is fraudulent.

All in all, one of the best noir films of all time.