Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

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93% liked it

27,712 ratings

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98% liked it

41 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 47 min.

Directed by: Billy Wilder

Release Date: September 6, 1944

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DVD Release Date: October 10, 2000

Stats: 1,802 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,802)


  • November 5, 2009
    This wonderful 40's thriller sees Wilder at his best. The plot may be complex on the surface, but it can be stripped away to reveal a dark simplicity. MacMurray captures the right amount of morbid naivety, to reflect a manipulated man, but one that was always capable of killing. ...( read more)It's both his curiosity and his boredom that reels him in. It's a great film to watch unravel, with Robinson doing an excellent job at slowly pulling at the thread. There's also a welcome touch of morality to the atmosphere. You may like these people, but you don't want them to get away with it. This makes for such great viewing that it can be watched again and again.
  • July 22, 2009
    Not all monsters are grotesque and ugly, sometimes they are as beautiful and breathtaking as Barbara Stanwyck. Considered by many to be the best and most influential film noir ever made, Double Indemnity has become the standard by which all others are judged. For my money,...( read more) from the cast and direction to the cinematography and scripting, it's a near perfect film. Definitely one of my all-time top 20 movies.
  • June 13, 2009
    When dictionaries are replaced by upload your own video websites, look up anti-hero and this film will play. A true classic, simplistic by today's standards but a good old-fashioned nail-biter of a film from Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity was years ahead of its time. Great acting...( read more), well lit and well shot as Wilder's films always are, and with a screenplay Wiilder and no less a noir star than author Raymond Chandler adapted from a popular novel of the time, you can't miss this film. The narration is so gripping it could be a five-star radio play, but on top of that you get to watch it... and you should.
  • May 1, 2009
    Fast talking insurance salesman Fred MacMurray falls for beautiful but ice cold oil tycoon's wife Barbara Stanwyck and together they hatch a scheme to kill off her husband for the insurance money. Using the classic technique of beginning at the end, the entire story is narrated b...( read more)y a blood stained MacMurray as he gives his insight into the downward spiral his life took the moment he got involved with the irresistible femme fatale. Stanwyck is perfect in this role; glamorous, but with a steely gaze that belies the emptiness of her heart. As is MacMurray playing the sap who thinks he is in control, but Edward G. Robinson still manages to steal every scene he is in as the wily investigator. Anyone looking for a feelgood movie with a happy ending should give this one a miss, but if it's an expertly written, brilliantly played and influential cornerstone of an entire genre you want, this is straight down the line...
  • March 14, 2009
    A lecherous insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) allows himself to be seduced by a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) who wants her rich husband out of the way. All the classic film noir elements--light and shadow, a femme fatale, a complex but doomed scheme--appear here in their purest form.
  • November 3, 2009
    "The Black Widow played by Stanwyck is an archetypal construction. Evidentally, Wilder deeply apprectiated the ambivalence of Cain"s novel and followed the narrative closely. While respecting Chandler's contributions, Wilder used the noir structure to color and restrict the roman...( read more)ticism of Neff's character and emphasize instead the doomed and obsessive qualities of his entanglement with Phylis's web. Supported by Seitz's photography and Miklos Rozsa's score, the ultimate noir statement of Double Indemnity is the characteristically unrelenting fatality of Neff's ride to the end of the line" (by B.L. in Film Noir-An encyclopedic reference to the American Style, Alain SIlver, Elizabeth Ward, eds.)
  • November 2, 2009
    After my buddy and I watched this movie, we went out and bought some matches to practice Fred MacMurray's tricks. We're two boxes in and so far unsuccessful.
  • October 30, 2009
    Phenomenal, unforgettable noir film.

    Review soon.
  • October 29, 2009
    Il faut rendre à César ce qui lui revient, "Double Indemnity" est un des plus importants films noirs américains. Toutefois, sans doute à cause de sa réputation pavée d'or et de gloire, j'avais des attentes un peu démesurées. En vérité, malgré une compétence évidente de réalisatio...( read more)n et une direction photo presque parfaite, le film demeure un peu trop prévisible pour mes goûts.

    Qu'on me comprenne bien: "Double Indemnity" reste un excellent divertissement et une bonne introduction au genre du film noir, mais quand on en a dévoré des tonnes, on ne peut faire autrement que de le trouver un peu... mou. Pas assez sombre, pas assez "méchant". Mais bon, c'est tout de même un très bon film, juste un peu moins solide que ce à quoi je m'attendais. De Billy Wilder j'ai préféré "Sunset Blvd."
  • October 23, 2009
    Noir films were made in a time where everything was cheap and you only had creativity. That's why I can't stand to even start to watcha noir film. Who wants to watch low-budget Hollywood? However, I was forced to sit through this and eventually I was compelled to finish it. Twist...( read more)y and suspenseful, it's firm overall.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Few other directors have made so many films that were so taut, savvy, cynical and, in many different ways and tones, funny. full review

View more Double Indemnity reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Double Indemnity Trivia


  • The classic film "Double Indemnity" directed by Billy Wilder was loosely remade in the 1980s, Name the film:  Answer »
  • What non-action star played an action hero in Double Indemnity  Answer »
  • Which actress starred in Double Indemnity?  Answer »
  • In the 1944 movie "Double Indemnity" Walter and Phyillis plot to murder her husband in order to recive what?  Answer »

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