Where desire led: In over his head

‘Double Indemnity’

Special Edition

(Universal, $27)

CONSIDERED the first important film noir, this 1944 adaptation of James M. Cain’s novella of love, lust, deception and murder still crackles thanks to the brilliant screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Wilder’s self-assured direction and mesmerizing performances from Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.

The tale unfolds in flashback as Los Angeles insurance agent Walter Neff (MacMurray) sits bleeding from a gunshot wound in his office and speaking into a Dictaphone, relating the events that led to his injury in a memo for his boss and good friend Barton Keys (Robinson).

Neff’s fate was sealed when he went to house in Los Feliz on a routine visit to update an auto insurance policy. Though the husband wasn’t there, the man’s seductive, ankle-bracelet-wearing wife, Phyllis (Stanwyck), was.

After some sexy repartee and more than a few kisses, the two secretly took out insurance on her hubby that had a double indemnity clause -- the policy would pay off double the amount if the insured died under certain unusual circumstances, like falling from a moving train.

As the story unfolds, the two intricately plot a murder to satisfy that condition. The husband’s death is ruled an accident at the inquest, but Keys begins to suspect foul play. And as Neff discovers more about Phyllis’ unseemly history -- she may have murdered her husband’s first wife -- he realizes he is in too deep to get out of the quagmire of death and deception.

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best film, screenplay, director and actress, but lost to the feel-good “Going My Way.” Nevertheless, it put Wilder on the map as a major Hollywood director. He had been working in Hollywood for nearly a decade as a screenwriter for such films as “Ninotchka” and “Hold Back the Dawn” but had directed only two Hollywood films, the 1942 comedy “The Major and the Minor” and the 1943 drama “Five Graves to Cairo,” before he tackled “Double Indemnity.”

Because of the movie’s unsavory themes, Wilder’s writing partner Charles Brackett bowed out of the project. After being given Chandler’s novel “The Big Sleep” to read, Wilder decided to try Chandler as his collaborator. The two notoriously didn’t get along, but Chandler was able to supply a lot of the snappy, sexy patter between Neff and Phyllis:

Neff: “You’ll be there too?”

Phyllis: “I guess so, I usually am.”

Neff: “Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?”

Phyllis: “I wonder if I know what you mean.”

Neff: “I wonder if you wonder.”

Wilder also had a hard time casting the film because of the subject matter. Though he desperately wanted Stanwyck, who was the most highly paid actress of the era, she didn’t want to play a murderess. Wilder eventually persuaded her to take it.

MacMurray, who had played saxophone in an orchestra before coming to Hollywood to appear in light comedies, also was leery of playing Neff.

But he eventually signed on to the project and gave the best performance of his career.

Robinson resisted doing the film because Keys was a supporting role. Since his landmark film debut in 1930’s “Little Caesar,” he had always had starring roles in movies. But he realized that Keys was an exceptional part and decided it was better to have a supporting role in a good film than a starring part in something mediocre.

“Double Indemnity” made good use of its L.A. locale -- scenes were shot at North Kingsley Drive, La Golondrina Cafe on Olvera Street, the basement garage at the El Royale apartment, Jerry’s Market on Melrose, and the intersections of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue and Hollywood and Western.

After the film’s previews, Wilder cut the film’s original finale, which had Neff executed in the gas chamber. Supposedly, Wilder cut the scene -- Chandler was against it -- because it didn’t mesh with his overall vision of the film.

Extras: Commentary from film historian-critic Richard Schickel, who discusses the birth of film noir and the history behind “Double Indemnity”; another commentary track with Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Nick Redman and screenwriter Lem Dobbs (“The Limey”); a nifty retrospective documentary; the original theatrical trailer; and the 1973 TV movie version, adapted by Steven Bochco and starring Richard Crenna and Samantha Eggar, which plays out like a Cliffs Notes version of the original.

-- Susan King