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| Fred
MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Phyllis (Barbara
Stanwyck): Mr.
Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty.
He'll be in then.
Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray): Who?
Phyllis: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you?
Walter 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.
Walter Neff: How fast was I going, officer?
Phyllis: I'd say around ninety.
Walter Neff: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give
me a ticket.
Phyllis: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
Walter Neff: Suppose it doesn't take.
Phyllis: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
Walter Neff: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your
shoulder.
Phyllis: Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.
Walter Neff: That tears it.
An insurance rep lets himself be
talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance
investigator's suspicions.
 What
in the world is left to say about Double Indemnity, the
film that stands firmly atop Billy Wilder's more than impressive
list of achievements, that broke Hollywood rules and defined basic
rules for the burgeoning film
noir genre for decades to come? One is tempted to write an
ode to Barbara Stanwyck's innate sexiness, this astonishing woman
who is somehow able to transcend a downright hideous wig and
turn it into an icon of femme fatale charisma. Or else
to simply heap further praise on the screenplay, famously co-written
by Wilder and Raymond Chandler (whose unrelenting bilateral enmity
is the stuff of Hollywood legend), full of fabulous one-liners,
snappy banter, and even a downright emotional ending. Or else one
might sing the praises of cinematographer John F. Seitz, who did
for venetian blinds what Busby Berkely did for chorus girls.
In the end, it doesn't even matter, for it is all of these accomplishments
and many others combined that make Double Indemnity the
absolute masterpiece it remains. A film that delights and surprises
on each new viewing with its audacity, its wit and its sheer giddiness.
It's an essential part of any film collection, and any time spent
reading (or writing) reviews of it would be better spent putting
it in for yet another spin. |
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Available as a bare-bones edition
for Region 2. The out-of-print previous Region 1 release
from Image sported a shoddy transfer and no extras. The new
'Legacy Series' double-disc edition for Region 1 has both
a wide range of extras and a nicely restored transfer.
The fullscreen
image is framed at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. The
near-spotless transfer on this highly anticipated new DVD
release from Universal is a thing of beauty, featuring solid
blacks and a natural, very film-like look. While not quite
pristine, the restored print on this release is as good as
one might hope for this film to look, and surely won't disappoint
the many fans of this great classic.
The original mono sound mix is rendered accurately and without
distortion in a nicely mastered Dolby Digital 2.0 track.
 Although
touted as a two-disc release, the film itself and all the
actual supplements are located on the first platter in this
handsomely packaged set, while the space on the second disc
has been devoted to the inept 1973 TV movie remake. One wonders
why Universal went to the trouble of including this, as its
curiosity value is limited, and it fails to pass itself off
as a camp classic, either.
Be that as it may, the first disc holds enough great material
to stand on its own as one of the year's unmissable DVD releases:
an excellent forty-minute featurette investigates the film's
production history and its impact on Hollywood as the film
that would immediately come to define noir as a genre. This
terrific feature is complemented by two full audio commentary
tracks: one by ubiquitous author and film critic RIchard
Schickel, which is informative if a bit monotonous, and another
- superior - track with film historians Lem Dobbs and Nick
Redman, whose lively banter is rarely screen-specific, but
which proves to be the more engaging of the two. The film
itself is preceded by an introduction by TCM's familiar host
Robert Osborne.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
August 28, 2006
Click
here for IMDB info on Double
Indemnity .
Click here
to return to the front page.
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