Double Indemnity (1944)

All Critics (45) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (1) | DVD (23)

Wilder trades Cain's sun-rot imagery for conventional film noir stylings, but the atmosphere of sexual entrapment survives.

February 11, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

MacMurray has seldom given a better performance. It is somewhat different from his usually light roles, but is always plausible and played with considerable restraint.

August 14, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

The film is a brilliant collision of evil and the mundane, and one of the reasons viewers respond to it so well is that it makes the mundane seem a little sexier in the resulting debris.

September 23, 2006 Comment

Douglas Pratt

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

Such folks as delight in murder stories for their academic elegance alone should find this one steadily diverting, despite its monotonous pace and length.

January 1, 2000 Full Review | Comments (5)

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top Critic

Few other directors have made so many films that were so taut, savvy, cynical and, in many different ways and tones, funny.

January 1, 2000 Full Review | Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Dark, dialogue-heavy classic of grim suspense.

December 14, 2010 Full Review | Comment

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

The perfect material for Wilder to remake himself as Hollywood's dark jester for decades.

July 15, 2010 Full Review | Comment

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

Edward G. Robinson stars as MacMurray's associate, but it's Barbara Stanwyck that rules the roost as one of cinema's most diabolical femme fatals.

April 12, 2009 Full Review | Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Writer/director Billy Wilder cements all the hallmarks of a style that comes into its own with this wicked and suspenseful portrait of capitalist greed and post-war anxiety.

March 26, 2009 Full Review | Comment

Radheyan Simonpillai

AskMen.com

Notable for its perfect cast, great performances, deft direction and of course that sparkling dialogue.

October 22, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

Sizzling and sassy, this thriller still cuts it amongst today's effects-laden offerings.

June 13, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

Small gestures, inflections and body language all accumulate to deliver a fascinating scenario that we can't help but watch as it winds relentlessly towards its majestically shadowy conclusion and terrific ending.

March 28, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

If you like your dialogue hardboiled, your lighting shadowy, and your femmes fatales preposterously evil, then look no further: Billy Wilder's 1944 adaptation of James M Cain's insurance-scam novella.

February 11, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Andrew Pulver

Guardian [UK]

Right up there with Billy Wilder's very best work.

February 11, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Film4

One of the true gems of film noir.

November 30, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Forrest Hartman

Reno Gazette-Journal

Thanks to DVD, Phyllis will always be there waiting for you. Same chair, same perfume, same anklet, ready to make you wonder what she wonders.

October 8, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Phil Villarreal

Arizona Daily Star

Wilder's direction is crisp and the lighting and cinematography (by John F. Seitz) have become iconic touchstones.

September 1, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A disappointing disc for a shallow but well-loved film.

August 23, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Dan Callahan

Slant Magazine

• 1. Phyllis Dietrichson: I think you're rotten.
  2. Walter Neff: I think you're swell - so long as I'm not your husband.
  3. Phyllis Dietrichson: Get out of here.
  4. Walter Neff: You bet I'll get out of here, baby. I'll get out of here but quick.
  – Submitted by Andy A (4 months ago)
• 1. Walter Neff: 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?
  – Submitted by Andy A (4 months ago)
• 1. Walter Neff: How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?
  – Submitted by Andy A (4 months ago)
• 1. Walter Neff: You know why you couldn't figure this one Keyes? Cause the guy you were looking for was too close -- right across the desk from you.
  2. Barton Keyes: Closer than that Walter.
  3. Walter Neff: I love you too.
  – Submitted by Bob O (12 months ago)
• 1. Phyllis Dietrichson: There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. 45 miles an hour.
  2. Walter Neff: How fast was I going, officer?
  3. Phyllis Dietrichson: I'd say around 90.
  4. Walter Neff: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
  5. Phyllis Dietrichson: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
  6. Walter Neff: Suppose it doesn't take.
  7. Phyllis Dietrichson: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
  8. Walter Neff: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.
  9. Phyllis Dietrichson: Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.
  10. Walter Neff: That tears it...
  – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)