TopTenREVIEWS presents the movie reviews of Double Indemnity (1944)

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Double Indemnity (1944)

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All Time

of 190,116

34

1940's

of 9,975

3

1944

of 1,647

1
Crime
- Crime All Time
  
  of 6,076
  
  9
  
  Crime of 1944
  
  of 29
  
  1
  
  Crime of the 1940's
  
  of 505
  
  1
Drama
- Drama All Time
  
  of 37,985
  
  21
  
  Drama of 1944
  
  of 141
  
  1
  
  Drama of the 1940's
  
  of 1,823
  
  3
Thriller
- Thriller All Time
  
  of 7,007
  
  8
  
  Thriller of 1944
  
  of 21
  
  1
  
  Thriller of the 1940's
  
  of 225
  
  1

Ratings and rankings are based on number of movie, review scores, awards & other criteria.

Double Indemnity (1944) is ranked overall as out of 4 stars

Overall Rating:3.7245

Avg Critic Score:3.6235

Double Indemnity (1944) Rank 4 Reviews

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77.27%

19.70%

3.03%

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Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)

Thanks to DVD, Phyllis will always be there waiting for you. Same chair, same perfume, same anklet, ready to make you wonder what she wonders. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Arizona Daily Star (Phil Villarreal)

Cinema Blend

Classic film noir, a term first coined by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, had its heyday in Hollywood from the early 1940s to the late 1950s, with Orson Wellesâ�� 1958 masterpiece Touch of Evil widely considered to be the last of its kind. Inspired by ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Cinema Blend

VideoVista

Billy Wilder's third American film - an adaptation of a hardboiled crime novel by James M. Cain - has by dint of its perfection come to epitomise all that we love about the genre of film noir. It begins with insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at VideoVista

Tail Slate (Michael Sheridan)

I have fallen in love with film noir. Itâ��s a genre of films that Iâ��ve had a fascination with for years, but in the last few months Iâ��ve really become a lover of the fast, sharp dialogue, the gritty stories and the dynamic characters. Although ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Tail Slate (Michael Sheridan)

The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)

There is that great interview where Martin Scorsese talks to Mark Cousins, and he reflects on the atmosphere that dawns as a cinema screen comes to life. "It's the most magical moment," says Scorsese, "when you hear the whirring of the projector, ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)

Double Indemnity (1944) Critic Reviews continued...

Time Out (--)

Six years before a Hollywood screenwriterâ��s corpse narrated â��Sunset Blvdâ��, a dead-man-walking delivered the hard-boiled voiceover in another Billy Wilder inquiry into moral rot in sunny California. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), a salesman for ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Time Out (--)

The Greatest Films (Tim Dirks)

Double Indemnity (1944) is director Billy Wilder's classic film noir masterpiece - a cynical, witty, and sleazy thriller about adultery, corruption and murder. The urgently-told, highly-stylized story was Wilder's third film after The Major and the ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at The Greatest Films (Tim Dirks)

Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Brian Oliver)

A calculating wife encourages her wealthy husband to a double indemnity policy proposed by smitten insurance agent Walter Neff. As the would-be lovers plot the unsuspecting husbandâ��s murder, they are pursued by a suspicious claims ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Brian Oliver)

TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide

...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at TV Guide Entertainment Network, Movie Guide

Reel.com DVD review (Sarah Chauncey)

In addition, it was nominated for seven Oscars and ranks #46 on the Internet Movie Database Top 250. Pure cheese, it is, and that's how it should be. You see, there's this insurance fella, Walter (Fred MacMurray), and in the course of his job one ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Reel.com DVD review (Sarah Chauncey)

Crazy for Cinema

From comedy to film noir, director Billy Wilder always managed to tell complex, engaging stories with characters you never forget. INDEMNITY is one of his darkest films, focusing on the great American ambition for instant wealth. Stanwyck plays Phyllis ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Crazy for Cinema

FilmHead.com - Video Pick

This film made Wilder one of the biggest directors in Hollywood, and earned him his first Academy Award nomination for direction (having already earned three nominations ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at FilmHead.com - Video Pick

TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)

Both a starkly realistic and a carefully stylized masterpiece of murder. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (--)

DVD Times (Mike Sutton)

Double Indemnity is a jewel, dipped in poison and glittering with malice. Although correctly seen as a prototype Film Noir, itâ��s just as much a jet-black comedy in which human venality and arrogance are the pratfalls and the venom which the characters ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at DVD Times (Mike Sutton)

Reno Gazette-Journal (Forrest Hartman)

One of the true gems of film noir. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Reno Gazette-Journal (Forrest Hartman)

EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)

Three superlative perfromances, by Stanwyck, Fred MacMaurray, and Edward G. Robinson (the best of their careers), along with sharp, witty, macabre, and double-entendre dialogue, makes this quintessential noir one of the best Wilder and studio movies made. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)

Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)

A splendidly chilling noir tale about murder, immorality, lust, and greed. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)

Classic Film Guide

The penultimate film noir, other than perhaps The Maltese Falcon (1941). Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman seduced by Barbara Stanwyck's Phyllis Dietrichson (AFI's #8 villain) into killing her husband (Tom Powers). Edward G. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Classic Film Guide

Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)

Walter Neff (MacMurray) is a successful and ambitious 35yearold bachelor insurance salesman. Barton Keyes (Robinson) is the cunning claims manager of that insurance company, who has been there for 26 years and doesn't miss a trick of his trade. Phyllis ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)

Fulvue Drive-in

Classics are by far the hardest films to write current reviews for. The reason for that is mainly because so much has already been written over the years that it becomes difficult to find fresh new ways to talk about the film. However, certain films ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Fulvue Drive-in

Empire Magazine [UK]

Film noir at its finest, a template of the genre, etc. Billy Wilder in full swing, Barbara Stanwyck's finest hour, and Fred MacMurray makes a great chump. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Empire Magazine [UK]

Boxoffice Magazine

When the slayer confesses his crime in the opening sequence and the film still retains all of the suspense and excitement that could possibly be crowded into the most baffling of murder mysteries, that's picture making at its dramatic best. Such ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Boxoffice Magazine

Home Theater Info (Doug MacLean)

There are certain movies that go beyond the normal, ever beyond the status of classic. Films such as this hold a place in the pantheon of cinema no matter how many decades past since they where first seen. One such film is without any doubt Double ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Home Theater Info (Doug MacLean)

The Film Journal (Richard Armstrong)

Richard Armstrong is an Associate Tutor affiliated to the British Film Institute. His book, Billy Wilder, American Film Realist, appeared from McFarland in 2000. He is currently writing Understanding Realism for the Bfi's Understanding the Moving Image ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at The Film Journal (Richard Armstrong)

filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)

For those who think that all old Hollywood movies have happy endings and sugary values, "Double Indemnity" will change your opinion. It is a dark crime drama that ruthlessly explores how people will not stop at murder in the search for love and ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)

Orbital Reviews

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is a fast-talking insurance salesman who has been in the business for eleven years. One fateful day, Walter goes to the Dietrichson residence to check up on the husband's expired auto insurance. When he arrives, though, he ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Orbital Reviews

homevideo.about.com (Ivana Redwine)

Directed by Billy Wilder and starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson, Double Indemnity (1944) is a great classic Hollywood movie and a seminal film noir. It's available on DVD as part of the Universal Legacy Series in a two-disc ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at homevideo.about.com (Ivana Redwine)

Crazy for Cinema (Lisa Skrzyniarz)

Movieline Magazine

Barbara Stanwyck was already a world-class veteran by 1944, her filmography consisting mostly of career woman melodramas, weepies and wisecracking comedies. But suddenly, in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, she became for all time the paradigm of the ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Movieline Magazine

El Criticon (Antonio Méndez Casanova)

Una de las grandes joyas del cine negro es este film dirigido por Billy Wilder, quien con la inestimable ayuda de Raymond Chandler, escribiÃ³ un extraordinario guiÃ³n que adaptaba la novela de James M. Cain â��Three of a kindâ��. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at El Criticon (Antonio Méndez Casanova)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)

Wilder's direction is crisp and the lighting and cinematography (by John F. Seitz) have become iconic touchstones. ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Philip Martin)

Audience magazine (Kathryn D'Alessandro)

When Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), doomed insurance investigator, arrives in the offices of Pacific All-Risk Insurance in the middle of the night, he leaks a little blood on the floor. He has paid his film noir dues, coming out on the distaff side of a ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Audience magazine (Kathryn D'Alessandro)

Salon (Michael Sragow)

When Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler wrote their extraordinarily taut, sardonic screenplay of James M. Cain's famous novel, they removed the extravagant lines in which the femme fatale describes herself "as Death." This 1944 film noir has no room ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Salon (Michael Sragow)

The Flick Filosopher's take

In the wee hours of July 16, 1938, an insurance salesman Walter Neff sits down at a dictation machine in the offices of Pacific All-Risk in Los Angeles to record a confession. That guy Dietrichson, who died mysteriously? Neff killed him. The wife who's ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at The Flick Filosopher's take

Close-Up Film (Jean Lynch)

In this welcome re-issue of a prime example of Film Noir, Fred MacMurray stars as Walter Neff, a sleazy insurance salesman who's good at his job but somewhat bored by it. A routine call to the home of a Mr Dietrichson (Powers) about renewing his car ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Close-Up Film (Jean Lynch)

Images Movie Journal

The long silent street of film noir, a street where it is always night, and where the songs are always sad. That street is usually a dingy urban alley or a dank sidestreet, but in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, it was a deceptively quiet suburban ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Images Movie Journal

Films on Disc (Stuart J. Kobak)

Welcome to classic territory. One of the defining films of "noir," Double Indemnity has a clever script and beautiful dialogue from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. The set-up is terrific. Hot housewife Phyllis Dietrichson wants to get rid of her ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Films on Disc (Stuart J. Kobak)

James Sanford

In the dazzling "Double Indemnity," Fred MacMurray's Walter Neff is the kind of velvet-tongued cynic who used to be described as "hard-boiled": He's a top-flight insurance salesman who makes the mistake of calling on Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at James Sanford

The Palace (Michael Mills)

By the fall of 1943, Barbara Stanwyck had starred in 43 films. She had shown versatility with many styles. However, there remained one type of role, and an integral part of the spectrum of any actress, that she had never done, and the time seemed right ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at The Palace (Michael Mills)

Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

Is she kidding? Walter thinks so: "Sorry, baby. I'm not buying.'' The puzzle of Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity,'' the enigma that keeps it new, is what these two people really think of one another. They strut through the routine of a noir ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

LeisureSuit.net

I was thinking about Raymond Chandler recently, which got me thinking about Double Indemnity. In the guy movie extended family, Double Indemnity springs from a dark blood line. This is not a film about the triumph of guy ideals and guy values, but rather ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at LeisureSuit.net

DVD Savant (Glenn Erickson)

Double Indemnity is ground zero for Film Noir, plain and simple. The real breakthrough title for the American style, it opened the floodgates for all kinds of previously taboo subject material that subverted both censor and studio ideas of what ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at DVD Savant (Glenn Erickson)

Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

Is an introduction really necessary for one of the greatest noir films ever created? Even after the plot has been hashed and rehashed by countless other films in the last 60+ years, Double Indemnity is still an undeniably great film. The story opens ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

Moviepie.com

If you've ever considered killing someone to claim insurance money, Double Indemnity will undoubtedly make you think twice. Murder is a very bad thing, but when you get all greedy about it, you're pretty much begging for trouble. Just ask Walter Neff ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Moviepie.com

Foster on Film - Film Noir

A Few Thoughts What is often missed about Double Indemnity is that it is a comedy, a dark, twisted, comedy. The world of most Film Noirs is an extreme version of our worldâ��everything has been kicked up a notch. Billy Wilder just took it up an ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Foster on Film - Film Noir

Film Court (Lawrence Russell)

Double Indemnity: is this the definitive film noir? 1) it's in black and white, and 2) it certainly has the pathology: a woman gets a man to commit her crimes on the promise of sex and big money. And that her male dupe is betrayed and takes the fall for ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Film Court (Lawrence Russell)

MovieWeb (Dodd Alley)

One of the greatest benefits of DVD technology is not just providing a better format for popular new releases, but for restoration and preservation purposes. It is true that the film medium is dying, and it is quite sad. Yet at the same time, if film is ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at MovieWeb (Dodd Alley)

DVDBeaver.com (Gary W. Tooze)

Regarded by many as the epitome of the film-noir stylistic norm. All at once cynical, sly, dark... a 'hard-boiled' suspense involving adulterous behaviour, graft and murder. The plot was taken from James Cain's 1943 short story 'Three of a Kind' ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at DVDBeaver.com (Gary W. Tooze)

filmtext.com

Billy Wilders "Double Indemnity" gilt als nahezu perfekter Film. Da wird ihm auch die Szene nachgesehen, in der eine WohnungstÃ¼r nach AuÃ�en aufgeht, nur damit sich die "Frau ohne Gewissen" dahinter verstecken kann. Vielleicht ist es aber auch ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at filmtext.com

Quick Reviews (J.D. Funari)

Hugely influential and entertaining film noir with such modern minded dialogue it rarely feels dated (aside from 1940â��s technology). Fred MacMurray plays ultimate everyday guy, seduced by a femme fatal into committing murder for insurance money. Scenes ...read the complete Double Indemnity movie review at Quick Reviews (J.D. Funari)

Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

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