Double Indemnity

Hollywood: Paramount Pictures, 1944. Vintage studio still photograph from the classic 1944 film noir, showing Tom Powers on the train tracks. Annotations in manuscript pencil on the verso.

Director Billy Wilder, making the right decision at the right time as usual, decided it was time to bring in lauded hard-boiled crime fiction author Raymond Chandler to work on a great crime drama, using James Cain’s seminal hard-boiled novella. Wilder and Chandler worked on the script for several weeks together, and at one point Cain was even brought in to resolve some questions. The result was a film that set the standard for all that would follow in what came to be known as the noir style, using a cut-up time structure, Barbara Stanwyck in a blonde wig, Fred MacMurray as a soulless sucker, and Edward G. Robinson as the straight man who brings pathos to the proceedings. Nominated for seven Academy Awards (a rare feat for a genre picture), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Cinematography, and Best Actress.

10 x 8 inches. Near Fine.

National Film Registry. Ebert I. Grant US. Penzler 101. Rosenbaum 1000. Scorsese, A Personal Journey Through American Movies. Selby US Canon. Selby US Masterwork. Spicer US.

[Book #171768]