Fred MacMurray as insurance salesman Walter Neff is supposed to be a bachelor. Yet, Fred MacMurray is wearing a wedding band on his left hand. This seems to be some sort of blooper committed by the wardrobe department. Has anyone else noticed this?
shareHe also wore his wedding band in "Murder, He Says" (1945), and he was supposed to be a bachelor in that film as well. How this was not picked up in either film is really puzzling.
shareIt wasn't noticed until post-production. By that time, it was too late to do anything about it.
shareIt wasn't noticed until post-production. By that time, it was too late to do anything about it.
Back in 1944 they did not have the technology to digitally erase the ring from the film. They did not even have computers back then.
share"They did not even have computers back then."
Yes, they did, but they filled a building and were fully utilized to win the war with the Nazis and Imperial Japan.
This question was recently posed by a very clever friend of mine. Here's my answer...
The secret about Film Noir is that the movies never really make sense, if you think about them very much. They are all about atmosphere and dialogue. You are so clever to spot the wedding ring. I would have missed it. Walter is not, and likely never has been married. Two theories. One is the romantic version…
Fred MacMurray had been married to Lillian Lamont since 1936, and would remain with her until she passed away, nine years and two children after the film's release. He may have been one of those guys who simply would not take his wedding ring off for any reason. That type of devotion.
The other is more prosaic… Maybe Wilder felt that the "touch" of Walter wearing a ring would soothe would-be female clients into believing he is not "on the make" but genuinely selling them insurance. Neff seemed pretty much on the make all the time.
I only noticed it in one scene, where his left hand is seen at a close range. It didn't ruin the movie or anything but it did seem like a pretty glaring mistake.
'I've learned that life is one crushing defeat after another until you just wish Flanders was dead'
I had read these two explanations as well. One had the added comment that MacMurray, as a devout Roman Catholic, would not remove his wedding ring, even if it did not fit in with the character he was portraying. The other is that perhaps the insurance company wanted the salesmen to wear rings so that female clients would not think they were "on the make," something like the idea Billy Wilder may have had. However, the wedding ring (however holy) did nothing to protect MacMurray's character from the temptation posed by Barbara Stanwyck's character!
shareI thought it was hilarious; I saw it right away.
share