by Richard Oxman

Like Woody Allen says, *Double Indemnity*, the 1944 seedy story of the insurance agent who’s seduced by a devious female “client” into killing her husband deserves the four stars, the four bones…the high five that any reviewer/critic gives it.

The four-eyes funny man noted, in Eric Lax’s WA bio, that it has all the characteristics of the classic forties film, it’s in gorgeous black and white, has high-speed badinage, is witty to the extreme…”with a story from the classic age.” He observes further that it has Edward G., Stanwyck, and Fred MacMurray…”and the tough foice-over” we’ve all come to love…when done right. Which is rare. In addition, the dialogue has never been better in a film, and the score is perfect. It’s Miklos Rosza’s best job and Billy Wilder’s best movie. [1] Allen underscores, “practically anybody’s best movie.”

Well-known critic Richard Schickel points out it’s “a movie that not only withstands rigorous scrutiny, but actually improves the more closely we study it, the morewe know about the circumstances of its creation.” I can provide some of the *circumstances* for interested readers. And, in his BFI Film Classics take on the cinematic classic, Schickel delineates considerations above and beyond what Allen touches upon, which contribute to its initial and continuing impact on audiences. [2]

When you see the flick, or when you think about it…it should freak you out, knowing that they shot the masterpiece from September 27 to November 24, 1943. Two months only!

Which includes one of the greatest performances in Cinema History. Yah, from ‘ole agreeable face from the TV sitcoms of no-talent. Yesiree, amazin’ Fred, who I never cared for much…outside of what I’m gonna recommend here. Dizzy Disney employee.

But credit…where credit is due, oui? Let’s indemnify Fred.

Neither for ’54’s *The Caine Mutiny*, for which everyone raves about Bogart, nor for Wilder’s ’60’s *The Apartment*, for which everyone raves about Lemmon and MacLaine…did Fred get a headnod from The Academy; no nomination for either, neither for the insurance agent role.

Rolled over. And if you wanna know for what…let me know. I wanna get to the veggies and tofu here.

The dynamics among the cast deserve a whole other upbeat article. For my purposes here and now, however, I’m offering up Fred’s heads up three performances as a complement to my recent reader recommendations.

I trust my readers are alive and well.

“The best directors,” Wilder once said, “don’t draw attention to themselves in their work.” [3] MacMurray didn’t as an actor. And activists shouldn’t…with what they do.

Freddy the Freeloader’s Footnotes:

[1] Which is saying a whole lot if you know Wilder’s work.

[2] Richard Schickel, Double Indemnity (London: BFI Publishing, 1992), p. 9 .

[3] See the BBC Wilder obit for the quote *plus*, if you like… at Billy Wilder: A film legend.