Can you really ever trust a woman named Phyllis?
Sean says...
It's Saturday at the McFreed household and you know we have something planned! Stef and I decided to take in another film in the noir series at Baltimore's Charles Theatre with a friend, the de-lovely and stunning Julie...you would never know that she was the mother of three growing boys! The film this week? Double Indemnity! Number 23 on my Top 100 Films list! This was the first time Stefan had seen the film, so I was excited for him to see it!
A brief plotting of Double Indemnity: An insurance man, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), meets Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) while on a sales call concerning some expired automobile policies. Flirting ensues and soon enough an affair begins and murder is being plotted concerning Phyllis' husband. Will the lovers succeed or will Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), Neff's boss, catch them at a game planned specifically to foil his own inquiries?
One of if not the best film noir films ever made. Billy Wilder writes a top notch script that pulled no punches and gave us great innuendo to enjoy with a smirk. And it is the writing that makes this film survive. Film noir language can be laughable considering the acting style of many films prior to The Method acting style of Marlon Brando and James Dean entrance in the 1950s. Today's audiences have a hard time with this type of dialogue because it feels unorganic to the way people talk. For me it is this old style that makes me smile at its artistry of the written pulp novel. This film recognizes the manner of its patter and pokes fun at itself while keeping its bite. You really don't get that though unless you see it with an audience; the humor is great and more self aware when you hear others laugh at the hidden jokes within Wilder's great script.
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck deliver Wilder's sharp, direct, and poison-filled dialogue effectively. Double Indemnity lives because MacMurray and Stanwyck carry it "straight down the line." MacMurray is a cad with a conscience very unlike the My Three Sons reputation he created later. Stanwyck creates the film noir bad girl template to be followed by later actresses here. She is the bottle blonde tramp with a brain who knows how to turn on the drama and sex to advance her own cause. I can't look at a woman with an ankle bracelet without thinking about her Phyllis and her greedy nature represented by the curl of her red lipsticked lips in a cruel pose.
But did Stef and Julie love it? Of course! But I wouldn't dare speak for them... ;-)
Later the three of us took a jaunt over to Cafe Hon for brunch! What a treat! And beyond the syrup catastrophe that involved all the help staff "off stage," we had a great time talking about manners, the McFreed Summer Shindig, and the movie we just saw! We talked and visited so long and wandered into a few stores that we ended up spending noon to 430pm enjoying the day!
But after the movie today and the "announcement" of Stef and Julie's engagement (um, Julie is already married with three stapping young sons in tow in case you all didn't know) at the Summer Shindig, should I be on the look out for any accident policies being taken out in my name????
