Review of Double Indemnity (1973) by Dan C — 09 Sep 2012

A classic. I had allowed myself to believe that I don't like old movies, as a rule. Mostly, movies made in the Production Code era I find pale next to what followed.. And it is simply because the art form was still in its adolescent phase.

In acting, special effects, music, etc., I feel that generally, movies are only getting better, the majority of older movies I've seen being drab, boring, and stodgy by comparison. I feel like it has been impressed on me over and over that old movies are superior to new because they came first, or that they are purer artistically.

It is reckoned as heresy, or at least a sign of boorishness, not to appreciate "films" from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Also, simply because a noted contemporary director idolizes certain old movies, as Scorsese showed his feelings in Hugo, does not mean I should like it.

Perhaps numerous old classics are worthwhile because of their influence on later generations, or because they introduced novel techniques which became widespread. This makes them then important for film students, or as a diversion for someone interested in tracing the evolution of moviemaking.

Take "M" for example, almost universally hailed as a masterpiece. It's sense of dread and atmosphere, its lurid subject matter, and it's use of music were influential; personally, I found it extremely dull.

No doubt perhaps Billy Wilder was influenced by it in making this film noir. At any rate, as this digression has consumed so much space, although I found, honestly, that most widely acclaimed movies pre-1970s were not worth watching, clearly there were a number of well-made movies that, even now, decades on, can still provoke and entertain, and .

These are movies that transcend their technical and dramatic limitations. Double Indemnity is one of them, and naturally there are many others. But if you are of a certain cast of mind, who is historically minded and respectful of canonization, you have to cast off the pressure that the critical establishment places on your shoulders to enjoy "art".

So, anyway, Double Indemnity is a firecracker of a movie. The story is a textbook example of a noir and the script is just filled with clever, funny dialogue, and great characters who just flow together on screen.

You really forget you're watching a movie released in 1944, over 60 years ago.