MovieChat Forums > Double Indemnity (1944) Discussion > Perfect film noir. Absolutely crackling ...

Perfect film noir. Absolutely crackling dialogue.


The movie sucked me in and kept me engrossed the whole way. It doesn't feel like its aged much at all. If anyone wants to learn about film noir, this is a good place to start.

America isnt ready for a gay mexican chicken sandwich - Poultrygeist

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Agreed. This is quintessential Noir.

You ain't got a license to kill bookies and today I ain't sellin any. So take your flunky and dangle

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This is the best noir ever made, except for Out of the Past. I pretty much rate them equally good.

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Agreed! My favorite line is, "Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money - and a woman - and I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?"
That line pretty much sums up film noir perfectly, doesn't it?

______________________________________
"Evil beware . . . we have waffles."
- Raven, "Teen Titans"

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I loved the dialogue throughout, except I thought the parting exchange in the first Neff-Phyllis meeting (police Officer, speeding ticket, etc. etc.) was too drawn out.

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Oh yeah with all the "suppose I this" and "suppose you that" - yep drawn out.

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I loved it, have seen it many times. I've read so many wonderful things from people who worked with Barbara Stanwyck. She was really something. And Fred Macmurray was terrific, this in spite of his only working in light comedy roles before DI. Just a great film, great performances, direction, photography, all of it.

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Except lola was a weak link in this masterpiece

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Except lola was a weak link in this masterpiece

I wouldn't call her a weak link, but maybe her part and Zachetti's could have been fleshed out a bit more.

For me the weak link is Neff's and Keyes' boss. A wooden actor from an earlier tradition, maybe from the stage or silent pictures. But a very minor imperfection.

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This movie is at the top of my noir list. This can't be beaten for the droll epigrammatic dialogue that styles the genre.

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Agreed. Noir #1

Fav quote:
They'll hang you as sure as ten dimes will buy a dollar.

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The great (but perpetually drunk) Raymond Chandler and director Billy Wilder took what was supposedly the original book's wretched dialogue and turned it into the on-screen perfection we ended up with.

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when he disappeared from the picture and you only heard narrating there was a difference in the sound which became distracting at first, what a neat looking opening over the logo and great cast too, i recognise one actresses name as it has been referred to in "family guy", funny how the woman with hairstyle like popeye's girlfriend talks about knitting, can you imagine that in a modern movie, incidentally i had a modern movie drag on before this came on and was just blown away by the contrast (keep in mind from the 1940's), what a great dialogue packed fast paced flick, you know what some old movies are like?, like you put a movie playing out on speed and jam in as much dialogue as possible because there is a restriction on running time, i wonder what the remake from the 1970's is like, movie critics gives this the absolute highest rating, the one downer though is the glamorisation of drinking and smoking, also i wished edward g. robinson had a bigger part, it's so far in between scenes i forgot he was in the movie, mr. norton sounded terribly harsh considering what the woman supposedly had been through and the villain in the matter walter stayed silent throughout while keyes made his case, the hallway scene with the woman behind the door was one of the most intense scenes i remember seeing in a long while.



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from the gallery i used to paint,
all darlins have gone away,
at ominous day you remain,
on the clock to count on,
circle like an oreo,
impossible to improve,
world rapidly blew up of frame,
birthmark a baseball dugout on your face,
favorite pastime surfin on your fair waves,
if you leave the gallery will end.

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