Double Indemnity (1944)

STARS.........: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
DIRECTOR......: Billy Wilder
WRITERS.......: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler
GENRE.........: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
IMDB RATING...: 8.3/10  104,792 votes
IMDB LINK.....: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775
RUNTIME.......: 1h 47mn
SIZE..........: 3.31 GB
VIDEO CODEC...: HEVC (Main10@L4)
RESOLUTION....: 1920x1080
ASPECT RATIO..: 1.37:1
BITRATE.......: 4000 Kbps (2-pass)
FRAMERATE.....: 23.976 fps
AUDIO1........: Dolby Digital Plus 1.0 192kbps
AUDIO2........: Commentary with Film Historian Richard Schickel
AUDIO3........: Commentary with Film Historians Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman
SUBTITLES.....: ENG, ENG-SDH
CHAPTERS......: Yes
SOURCE........: Universal Blu Ray
ENCODED BY....: Sartre
ENCODE DATE...: 2017-04-22


Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a James M. Cain novel by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity represents the high-water mark of 1940s film noir urban crime dramas in which a greedy, weak man is seduced and trapped by a cold, evil woman amidst the dark shadows and Expressionist lighting of modern cities. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy. The murder goes as planned, but after the couple's passion cools, each becomes suspicious of the other's motives. The plan is further complicated when Neff's boss Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant insurance investigator, takes over the investigation. Told in flashbacks from Neff's perspective, the film moves with ruthless determinism as each character meets what seems to be a preordained fate. Movie veterans Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson give some of their best performances, and Wilder's cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story's unsentimental perspective, heightened by John Seitz's hard-edged cinematography. Double Indemnity ranks with the classics of mainstream Hollywood movie-making.



Extras

• Introduction by Robert Osborne : The Turner Classic Movies host provides an introduction similar to his short lead-ins on TCM.(480p, 2:30, ENG/FRE/SPA Subtitles)

• Shadows of Suspense: This fine documentary provides both a history of the film's production and a critical evaluation through comments from numerous film critics, historians and directors. (480p, 37:56 ENG/FRE/SPA Subtitles)

• Trailer: The original theatrical trailer for Double Indemnity (480p, 2:16 ENG/FRE/SPA Subtitles)

• Commentary with Film Historian Richard Schickel: Schickel alternates between scene-specific commentary and general observations about Wilder, his career and Double Indemnity in general. Schickel was part of the wide circle of friends and acquaintances that Wilder maintained in his later years, and he supplements his observations with personal anecdotes.

• Commentary with Film Historian/Screenwriter Lem Dobbs and Film Historian Nick Redman: Dobbs, who was introduced to Wilder as a boy by his parents, is the principal commentator, with Redman serving primarily as interviewer and prompter. Dobbs provides almost no scene-specific commentary, but instead ranges widely over the history of his friendship with Wilder, the genre of film noir in general and a general discussion of Double Indemnity.