June 5th
Double Indemnity***
US 1945. Paramount. 107m. bw

An insurance salesman falls for a frustrated housewife who persuades him into murdering her bullish husband.
There are parts of this highly influential and pivotal film noir that seem rather hackneyed nowadays, with its coldly evil femme fatale, and a story told mostly in flashback by its central character – who for no good reason confesses all when he is still trying to get away with the crime. For its time however, in terms of acting, writing, direction, and the depiction of a rarely seen (and now almost non-existent) humdrum Los Angeles, this has few equals.

Written by: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, from the novel by James M. Cain.
Producer: Joseph Sistrom.
Director: Billy Wilder.
Starring: Fred MacMurray (Walter Neff), Barbara Stanwyck (Phyllis Dietrichson), Edward G. Robinson (Barton Keyes), Tom Powers (Mr. Dietrichson), Porter Hall (Mr. Jackson), Jean Heather (Lola Dietrichson), Byron Barr (Nino Zachette), Richard Gaines (Mr. Norton).
Photography: John F. Seitz.
Music: Miklos Rozsa.
Art Direction: Hans Dreier, Hal Pereira.

+ KEYES: "They've committed a murder, and it's not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They're stuck with each other and they've got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it's a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery."

---

PHYLLIS: "Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He'll be in then.

NEFF: Who?

PHYLLIS: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you?

NEFF: Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean.

PHYLLIS: There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.

NEFF: How fast was I going, officer?

PHYLLIS: I'd say around ninety.

NEFF: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.

PHYLLIS: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time."