Double Indemnity (1944) - Updated

"It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?" - Walter Neff

I can't say this enough. Double Indemnity is so deliciously enticing each and every time I see it. Maybe it's the A-grade scrip from Billy Wilder and crime novel author Raymond Chandler with its noir cynicism and memorable phraseology. Maybe it's the shadowy, low key interiors or L.A. exteriors. The monotonous beating score of Mizlos Rozsa mourning impending doom. Maybe it's the plain, laconic way of Walter Neff or his bloodhound buddy Keyes. Is it the innocent Lola who gives the film morality? Or the artificial wig and the silky smooth purring of Phyllis Dietrichson?

In fact I named many if not all of the many facets of this film because I want to attempt to acknowledge all of them before I forget. But the reality is I love Double Indemnity at its most basic level as a piece of prime American cinema. Yes, it is film-noir and yes it came from a European director, but it is very much a product of 1940s sentiment as the war years waned.

The story is pulled right  from some pulp fiction sleaze by James M. Cain and cemented itself as a noir classic in its own right with all the trappings that are called for.

It opens with the beginnings of Rozsa's score reverberating in our ears and it very rarely lets up. A car blazes wildly down the street and winds up in front of an insurance agency. Out stumbles our protagonist Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) and for the rest of the film he relates the recent happenings over the Dictaphone of his colleague Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson). It goes something like this:

During his first visit to the home of a Mr. Dietrichson he instead has his first encounter with the man's sexy wife and his heart goes pitter-patter from then on. His only motivation is no longer insurance; now he just wants the chance to see her more. He gets his chance to advise her on a plan and it all seems playful enough until she insinuates she wants to knock off her ol' hubby. At least that's how Neff reads it. However, he cannot get her out of his head as he has fallen into her web. There's no turning back.

They think of everything and Neff has everything figured out to a tee. As he suggests it's like having the perfect odds on the roulette wheel, you just need an accomplice to spin and Phyllis is just that person. From then it's just straight down the line. They corroborate on all the details at local Jerry's Market, Walter sets up his alibi and he does the devilish deed as Phyllis stares with cool satisfaction at the road.

They set it all up like an accident as the last touch, because as Neff knows all too well if it looks like Mr. Dietrichson was killed from riding a train the Double Indemnity clause of the insurance will mean double the payoff due to how unlikely the occurrence is.

His only fear is the inquisitive nose of Keyes and his "little man" inside the claims investigator's stomach who warns him of the first sign of anything fishy. He gets close to the truth but not quite there. Neff is too close for him to see it. However, as things begin to heat up Phyllis and Neff must separate.

As Neff tries to console Lola Dietrichson over the death of her father, he quickly finds out what the naive girl has to say about her step-mother. It puts a little light on the subject and Neff realizes what he's been taken for. He wants to remedy things while he can, patching Lola up with her boyfriend and going to confront Phyllis one last time.

It's the perfect set-up. Darkened rooms with curtains drawn. Phyllis reclined in an armchair with evil intentions on her mind. In walks Walter and they have it out. Shots are fired, literally. Phyllis will never let up with her ploys until Walter gives her a little help for the final time. I'm sure the Hays Codes loved this one. I certainly did.

Back in the office Keyes finally overhears the end of Walter's "confession" as his friend bleeds to death. In one last touching moment Keyes returns the favor and lights the cigarette like Walter has been obliging the entire film.

Walter: "Know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? I'll tell ya. 'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya."
Keyes: "Closer than that, Walter."
Walter: "I love you too"

 Billy Wilder traded longtime partner Charles Bracket for Raymond Chandler and despite a rocky partnership they ended up with one of the greatest scripts chock full of memorable bits of dialogue. You know you have an impressive cast when Edward G. Robinson is your third lead and each character is playing against type. It's great casting, in a quintessential American drama solidified by great cinematography and storytelling.

It doesn't get much better than this and it certainly does not need to. You know Double Indemnity is good when I've seen it multiple times and each time the bullets still keep me on the edge of my seat. Thank you Billy Wilder for teaching us murder sometimes smells like honeysuckle. That's absolutely beautiful.

Phyllis: "No, I never loved you, Walter, not you or anybody else. I'm rotten to the heart. I used you just as you said. That's all you ever meant to me. Until a minute ago, when I couldn't fire that second shot. I never thought that could happen to me."
Walter: "Sorry, baby, I'm not buying"
Phyllis: "I'm not asking you to buy. Just hold me close.
Walter: "Good-bye baby."

5/5 Stars

Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Updated

"Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It's about five o'clock in the morning. That's the Homicide Squad - complete with detectives and newspapermen. A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block. You'll read about it in the late editions, I'm sure. You'll get it over your radio and see it on television because an old-time star is involved - one of the biggest. But before you hear it all distorted and blown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you'd like to hear the facts, the whole truth."

So begins one of the most caustic dramas ever constructed in Hollywood or about Hollywood and it was gifted to us by screenwriter-director extraordinaire Billy Wilder. His previous hard-edged film-noir Double Indemnity had its own cynical narrator with a memorable voice-over of his own. However, Walter Neff was only on the verge of dying, when we hear the voice of Joe Gillis he is already speaking from the grave. It is a fantastic angle in which to look at this seemingly perfect Hollywood construction and Gillis never ceases to tell his story until we wind up at the pool as the story comes to a close.

For now we learn that six month back Joe (William Holden)  is a writer who is having difficulties being published and some men want to repossess his car. Desperate, he pays a visit to a friend at Paramount named Mandrake to pitch an idea, but the script is of little merit according to a pretty young script reader. That's a dead end so Joe leaves, but the men are waiting for him and he zooms away. A flight tire leads him to drive away into an empty garage connected to a dilapidated old mansion of Sunset Boulevard. 

There he is mistakenly introduced to drama queen Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who used to be big on the silent screen back in the day. Now all she has is money, fan letters and old memories to rehash while her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim) watches over her. The theatrical actress believes her big comeback is soon at hand and when she learns Joe is a writer she takes interest. He needs the money so he takes a look at her rough script meant to be a vehicle for her. A small commitment turns into a life consuming undertaking. Desmond constantly hovers and dotes over Joe going so far as having his things moved into her home and buying him new clothes and trinkets. He reluctantly accepts the first class treatment, not minding the cushy lifestyle. But to Norma its more. 

He is her closest companion and her love. Joe cannot bear to tell her that she is washed up and that there will never be anything between them. He ditches her intimate New Years party for a more friendly affair where he crosses path with his old bud Artie (Jack Webb) and his girl the critical script girl Betty Schaeffer (Nancy Olson). She takes an interest in a few of his past ideas, but he does not and after getting shocking news from Max he is pulled back to his lavish prison.

Eventually Norma is prepared to drop off her script with her former collaborator the great Cecil B. DeMille. However, it becomes all too clear that her story will amount to nothing, but her friend cannot bear to break her heart. She is sent off again with the strong conviction that her day is coming. Makeover's, diets and facials follow in preparation. Joe is indifferent to it all and secretly begins working at nights with Betty on a new screenplay. 

Desmond finds the script and jealously takes over causing her to call Betty to ruin the romance that is rapidly budding there. Joe hears it all and angrily tells the disbelieving Betty to come see his set-up on Sunset Boulevard. He acts as if he likes the life and Betty leaves brokenhearted. Soon after a fed up Joe packs his bags to head back to Ohio. Thus, begins the systematic breakdown that we had expected for so long. Norma Desmond completely falls apart and does the one thing she knows to hold on. 

Back in the present the crowds and journalists have turned out to see the has been movie star who is stark raving mad, and one last time Norma does not disappoint. She glides seamlessly down the stairs with a serenely ethereal look on her face before preparing for her closeup. So ends the career of one Norma Desmond and the life of Joe Gillis. We can only hope that Betty got together again with Artie otherwise this would remain one of the bleakest tales of all time.

However, that is part of the power of this film. It is strangely dark and ominous. Franz Waxman's score is fit for a Gothic melodrama  and Desmond's mansion is a creaky old foreboding castle that hardly sees the light of day. Max is a solemn figure who we learn brought Norma stardom, married her, got divorced and then could not live without her. Joe Gillis gets caught in a cycle he cannot get out of and in the middle of the whole mess is Desmond herself. She is so preoccupied with herself, so obsessed with her own former glory, and yet she is an lonely, insecure aging actress. In many way she is Citizen Kane's female counterpoint. A person with so much money, prestige and power who slowly drifts away into oblivion without anyone caring except hungry journalists. Much in the same way, although Norma is so petty and vain in so many ways, I cannot feel sorry for her existence. She is an utterly pitiful person in the end. No one deserves her fate.

In this way Sunset Boulevard seems to critique Hollywood a place that make stars like Norma Desmond and spit them back out just as easily. It is not easily figured out or understood it just does at is pleases. For instance Billy Wilder became an immigrant writer and director of great repute. Cecil B. Demille was a longtime respected director. Erich von Stroheim had early success with silent films then had to turn to acting. Gloria Swanson was a silent star then struggled in the 1930s. William Holden broke out in the 30s, hit is peak in the 1950s and continued to act into the 70s. Nancy Olson went on to make a few classic Disney movies and Jack Webb of course went on to create the TV Show Dragnet. Each Hollywood career starkly different from the others. 

 There is also such an authenticity in this film so much so that sometimes the line between fiction and reality is blurred. First, Wilder cast Gloria Swanson to play former silent star Norma Desmond in the film, so it seems like she is playing herself (Complete with old promotional photos and silent footage). He also had appearances by both von Stroheim and Demille who had directed Swanson in her silent days. Some of Desmond's bridge friends include other real silent stars including Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner and the legendary Buster Keaton (His career had also crumbled). Even gossip columnist Hedda Hopper gets into the mix to tell the tragic story of Desmond and it all works. 

So whether you watch Sunset Boulevard for the Hollywood side, or as a film-noir, or a love story, or a tragic drama, the beauty of it is that it functions as all of those things simultaneously. Gloria Swanson is absolutely loopy, William Holden is as cynical as ever with his smoked-out gravelly voice. Von Stroheim is haunting as the faithful Max and Nancy Olson is the one young friendly face in juxtaposition with Swanson. 

Billy Wilder's script with Charles Brackett is inspired a multitude of times, but instead of telling you I will give you a taste: 

"There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!"

That's Norma Desmond in a nutshell for you. That's Sunset Blvd.

5/5 Stars

The Best Films of Billy Wilder

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Some Like it Hot
3. Double Indemnity
4. Witness for the Prosecution
5. Stalag 17
6. The Apartment
7. Sabrina
8. The Lost Weekend
9. Ace in the Hole
10. One, Two, Three
11. The Seven Year Itch
12. The Fortune Cookie
13. The Spirit of St. Louis
14. Irma la Douce
15. A Foreign Affair
16. The Major and the Minor
17. Five Graves to Cairo
18. Ninotchka
19. Midnight
20. Ball of Fire
21. People on Sunday

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Often considered one of the greatest comedies of all time, this film is certainly hilarious and special. This was one of Marilyn Monroe’s best performances and her costars were absolutely brilliant. As far as humor goes it cannot get much zanier and crazier than this.

*May Contain Spoilers

In this Billy Wilder directed comedy, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and of course Marilyn Monroe teamed up in making a great movie. In the era of Chicago gangsters, two male musicians witness a shooting that they wish they had not. In order to escape they join a traveling band. The only catch is that it's an all women group and so they get dressed up to win the job. The rest of the film follows their crazy cross-dressing antics with the band as they spend their time at a beach resort in Florida. It includes two tremendous love stories on completely different ends of the spectrum! One involving a wealthy young yacht owner and Sugar. The other involving Daphne and well...The movie was filmed in black and white to camouflage all the makeup but as you will find out no movie's perfect! The script from Billy Wilder as well as Lemmon's performance are the real attraction to keep an eye out for. 

Watching this film certainly gave me tremendous respect for the writing. The double talk between Josephine and Daphne is great, there is tremendous comedic irony, and some of the sequences are downright hilarious. First and foremost I think Jack Lemmon is a wonderfully funny man, but he plays so well off of Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, and Joe E. Brown. The basic concept as male musicians masquerading as women was a good idea but I think these actors with Wilder's directing really made it work well. The juxtaposition of the two love stories is important too because you could call Some Like it Hot a romance or even a crime-drama initially but above all it is unabashedly a comedy. All you need to see is Jack Lemmon with maracas or hear the last line of the film and that remains completely evident. 

It was fun to finally see the  Hotel Del Coronado as I thought to myself that this is where some of the film was shot. Tony Curtis even spoke those four eponymous words on the same beach over 50 years ago now. It may be over 50 years later, but in my mind this film is timeless. I could not help but think of Jack Lemmon's line as I reclined on the beach, "I'm a boy. I'm a boy. I wish I were dead. I'm a boy. Boy, oh boy, am I a boy." Hopefully I never run into the same problems they did. 

"Syncopators. Does that mean you play that very fast music...jazz?"
"Yeah. Real hot."
"I guess some like it hot. I personally prefer classical music."
~Tony Curtis to Marilyn Monroe

5/5 Stars 

Sabrina (1954)

Starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden, with director Billy Wilder, the film begins with Sabrina (Hepburn) as a young girl. She lives with her father who is a chauffeur for a rich family. Sabrina loves the younger playboy son (Holden) however he gives her no serious attention. Depressed, Sabrina wants to kill herself and her father decides to send her off to culinary school in France. Some time passes and the grown up Sabrina is a perfect lady. Soon she catches the eye of Holden back home and all her dreams come true when they spend time together at a party. However, his older practical brother (Bogart) does not like it one bit since Holden has a fiancee. Wanting to get Sabrina away from his brother, Linus wines and dines her so the strategic wedding will stay on schedule. He then gives her a one way ticket and sends her off. Only afterward does he realize his own feelings for Sabrina and thus he decides to follow her. This film overall is a charming romance that is worth seeing.

4/5 Stars

Double Indemnity (1944) - Film-Noir

If the Maltese Falcon was the first great film-noir then this film has to be a refining and improvement of the genre. Billy Wilder put together a crime film that is still intriguing today with its femme fatale and other techniques in storytelling and cinematography. 

*May Contain Spoilers

Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, this is a classic film-noir. Walter Neff is your average American insurance salesman. However while trying to sell some accident insurance he falls for a woman who is married to a former widower. Together they plot and carry out a murder on her irritable husband trying to cash in on a double indemnity clause. Although everything goes as clockwork the two of them must stay apart and Neff's colleague is hot on their trail. Through a series of visits with Deitrichson's depressed step-daughter, Neff himself finds out Phyllis was seeing someone else. In their final confrontation he figures out she killed her husband's first wife . Then she preceded to use Neff for her own purposes.Following their confrontation Neff feels guilt and so he records all he knows for his colleague Keyes to hear later. This movie was definitely full of suspense as well as great characters. Directer Wilder utilizes the voice over with flashback very effectively to tell the story.

5/5 Stars

Ace in the Hole (1951) - Film-Noir

Starring Kirk Douglas with director Billy Wilder, the film follows a hard-nosed and manipulative reporter who finds himself stuck in New Mexico without any money. He takes a small job and soon happens upon a cave where a man has gotten trapped. Soon he spins it as a great human interest story and people flock from far and wide to witness the event. The buried man's unhappy wife capitalizes on the foot traffic and the local sheriff tries to get some free publicity for the upcoming election. Meanwhile Tatum tires to draw out the events so he can get a better story and his old job back. All the while the man gets weaker and weaker until he eventually dies. Just like that everything clears out and the big carnival is over. Tatum brought the demise of another man just to get a story and he ultimately fell himself losing the story and the job he had fought so fiercely to acquire. Although not Wilder's most well-known film, this is certainly a biting critique of journalism and humanity in general.

                                                          4/5 Stars

Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Film-Noir

This is a great film-noir but more importantly it serves as a biting picture of the Hollywood lifestyle . Billy Wilder created a very interesting film that is well worth watching. It puts a very contrasting pair together and delivers the tale with a exceptional style of storytelling.

*May Contain Spoilers

In this film starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson (real-life silent film star) a down-on-his-luck writer, strictly by chance, finds himself living with a forgotten film actress. From the very beginning he finds her eccentric and her mansion chilling. All the same he agrees to live there in order to edit her movie script and earn some much needed money. Soon she grows accustomed and dependent on him since her only other companion is a butler. Hoping to make a comeback she goes to director Cecil B. Demille but it becomes evident to those around her that things will not work out. At the same time the young writer begins to distance himself as he begins to fall for a young woman writer he has been working for. In a chilling ending someone dies and another goes seemingly mad because the tension has grown too great. This film is very well done from the flashback and narration at the beginning to its critique of Hollywood and the parallelism with real events.

5/5 Stars

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman, the film follows a former alcoholic writer as he goes on a binge, sinking into the depths of despair. With his brother gone and his girlfriend tied up with work, he finds himself frequenting bars across town and then wandering home to sleep it off. Amid the flashbacks of his past, nightmares, and a stay at the hospital, he finds his state becoming increasingly worse. His brother has given up on him and his often faithful girlfriend is on the verge. Finally, he decides to end it one way or another. Ultimately, with the support of his girlfriend he resolves to put "The Lost Weekend" down on paper so he can over come it. Director Billy Wilder does a wonderful job with this somber if not shocking story. Milland and Wyman both give very good performances which make this drama hit hard. The unearthly-sounding theremin is also very effective in the film's soundtrack.

4.5/5 Stars

Stalag 17 (1953)

Headlined by William Holden and directed by Billy Wilder, this is a great POW World War II film with its dramatic and comedic moments. Holden is the cynical camp scrounger Sefton and after some men are killed following an elaborate escape. everyone believes he is an informant. Tempers rise when two new prisoners arrive and one is questioned for his part in sabotage. Again the camp believes Sefton squealed and eventually they beat him up for being a traitor. However, Sefton himself finally figures out who the real informant is and tips off the barracks before another escape attempt. Sefton goes along and ironically the spy is used as their diversion so they can escape. This film has a lot of great characters including Cookie, Animal, Harry, and don't forget Schultz who is reminiscent of To Be or Not to Be and a predecessor to Hogan's Heroes own. Along with the Great Escape and the Bridge on the River Kwai, this is one of the best POW films.

4.5/5 Stars

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Starring Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich with direction by Billy Wilder, this courtroom drama follows the trial of a man accused of murder. Laughton is an English defense attorney just recovering from a heart attack. However, soon he gets so intrigued by Power's case that he agrees to defend him. Power's character Vole seems to be falsely accused for the murder of a widowed woman he hardly knew. He does have an alibi in his wife (Dietrich) but she seems to refute Vole's words and the case takes a bad turn. Through a flashback we see into their complicated past. The befuddled Laughton finally catches a break and is able to prove Dietrich is lying. He has been victorious in defending Vole but then the plot takes a cruel twist. What was reality before now seems to be completely false. Adapted from a story by Agatha Christie, this film has good characters and a brilliant climax.

4.5/5 Stars

The Apartment (1960)

Starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine, and Fred McMurray, with director Billy Wilder, the film follows C. C. Baxter (Lemmon). He is a young man working in a large corporation that is very difficult to get ahead in. His only chance of moving up is through loaning his apartment to company executives so they can entertain their lady friends. This set up causes him constant inconveniences and leads to complaints from neighbors.  One of these complications involves a elevator girl from work (Maclaine) who was left sleeping in his bed. Soon Baxter must figure out how to nurse her to health and cover for the executive who left her. During the process he slowly feels himself falling in love but it all ends there when she is to be married to the recently-divorced executive. Finally, finding his backbone, Baxter quits his new high-level job and eventually reunites with his love. Wilder and Lemmon teamed up again following Some Like it Hot and this one is pretty good movie-wise!

4.5/5 Stars