from Paramount Pictures
Directed by
Billy Wilder
Starring
Fred MacMurray (Walter Neff)
Barbara Stanwyck (Phyllis Dietrichson)
Edward G. Robinson (Barton Keyes)
Porter Hall (Mr. Jackson)
Jean Heather (Lola Dietrichson)
Tom Powers (Mr. Dietrichson)
Byron Barr (Nino Zachetti)
Richard Gaines (Edward Norton)
Fortunio Bonanova (Sam Garlopis)
John Philliber (Joe Pete)
James Adamson (Pullman Porter)
John Berry
Edmund Cobb (Train Conductor)
Kernan Cripps (Conductor)
Betty Farrington (Nettie, maid)
Bess Flowers (Norton's Secretary)
Miriam Franklin (Keyes's Secretary)
Harold Garrison (Redcap)
Judith Gibson (Pacific All-Risk Telephone Operator)
George Magrill
Sam McDaniel (Charlie)
Frank Billy Mitchell (Pullman Porter)
Clarence Muse
Constance Purdy
Dick Rush (Pullman Conductor)
Floyd Shackelford (Pullman Porter)
Oscar Smith (Pullman Porter)
Douglas Spencer (Lou Schwartz)
Written by
Billy Wilder
Raymond Chandler
James M. Cain (novel) |
 Based on James M.
Cain's hardboiled novel, Billy Wilder's noir classic is a chilling
study of human nature at its most venal. Barbara Stanwyck as
Phyllis Dietrichson is the ultimate femme fatale who lures a
hapless insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) into a plot to off
her wealthy husband. When the salesman comes to the woman's suburban
home pedalling insurance policies, the wife seduces him into
helping her pull off the "perfect crime": murder the
husband, then make it look like he was killed by a train so they
can collect on a double indemnity accident claim. The story of
"Double Indemnity" was inspired by the notorious Snyder-Gray
murder that took place in Queens Village, New York in the 1920s.
Albert Snyder was bludgeoned to death by his wife Ruth Snyder
and her lover Judd Gray in order to collect his insurance money.
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