Tonight!

At 7:00 & 9:10 P.M.

Top 5 Top 5 Lists Related To, But Not Including, Double Indemnity

Top 5 Edward G. Robinson Films:

1. Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945)
2. Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)
3. Barbary Coast (Howard Hawks, 1935)
4. The Woman in the Window (Fritz Lang, 1944)
5. Tight Spot (Phil Karlson, 1955)



Top 5 Barbara Stanwyck Films I Saw for the First Time in the Last Year:

1. There's Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
2. The Furies (Anthony Mann, 1950)
3. Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
4. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)
5. No Man of Her Own (Mitchell Leisen, 1950)



Top 5 Billy Wilder Films I Haven't Seen Yet:

1. Avanti! (1972)
2. Irma la Douce (1963)
3. The Fortune Cookie (1966)
4. The Front Page (1974)
5. The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)



Top 5 Raymond Chandler Related Films:

1. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
2. Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
3. The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
4. The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall, 1946)
5. Murder, My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, 1944)



Top 5 Films of 1944:

1. A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
2. Ivan the Terrible Part 1 (Sergei Eisenstein)
3. To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks)
4. Laura (Otto Preminger)
5. Going My Way (Leo McCarey)

Links: Double Indemnity

Bosley Crowther had a mixed reaction to Double Indemnity in the Times on its release in the fall of 1944, noting that "Such folks as delight in murder stories for their academic elegance alone should find this one steadily diverting, despite its monotonous pace and length."  He was right about the greatness of Edward G. Robinson though:

"The performance of Mr. Robinson, however, as a smart adjuster of insurance claims is a fine bit of characterization within its allotment of space. With a bitter brand of humor and irritability, he creates a formidable guy. As a matter of fact, Mr. Robinson is the only one you care two hoots for in the film. The rest are just neatly carved pieces in a variably intriguing crime game."



Mike D'Angelo at the Onion AV Club takes a close look at what he calls the "meet-hot" scene between Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, in which the two actors make manifest the lust that drives the film (and provides the link to this week's circle of Hell).

"As much as I love that closing verbal sparring match, it's mostly the first instant in which they lay eyes on each other that slays me, with Stanwyck looking down on her pigeon-to-be from atop that "silly staircase," perfectly at ease standing all but naked in front of a total stranger, and MacMurray not even bothering to conceal his lust, radiating a brash self-confidence that even contemporary mega-studs like Clooney and Depp would be hard-pressed to pull off."



The Film Noir Blonde, as part of the recent blogathon to benefit the Film Noir Foundation, takes a look at Barbara Stanwyck's wig in Double Indemnity, quoting director Billy Wilder:

"Sure, that was a highly intelligent actress, Miss Stanwyck. I questioned the wig, but it was proper, because it was a phony wig. It was an obviously phony wig. And the anklet — the equipment of a woman, you know, that is married to this kind of man. They scream for murder."

Coming Attractions: Double Indemnity

Wednesday, 23 March at 7:00 & 9:10 PM.

Giveaways: The Apartment DVD courtesy of Scarecrow Video, and a gift certificate to Cinema Books, respectively.

That's a honey of an anklet you're wearing Mrs. Dietrichson.