Research: Textual Analysis

Double Indemnity

Synopsis:

Phyllis Dietrichson seduces insurance agent Walter Neff into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy. The murder goes as planned, but after the couple's passion cools, each becomes suspicious of the other's motives. The plan is further complicated when Neff's boss Barton Keyes, a brilliant insurance investigator, takes over the investigation. Told in flashbacks from Neff's perspective, the film moves with ruthless determinism as each character meets what seems to be a preordained fate.





Genre: Film Noir, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Release Date: 1944

Duration: 107 mins long

Produced by: Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom

Distribution company: Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios

Director: Billy Wilde




Main Actors: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

Box Office: $5,000,000

Facts:

• Based on James M. Cain's 1943 novella of the same title

• Nominated for seven Academy Awards

• Billy Wildes also wrote (with 10 others) the first James Bond movie in 1967 - Casino Royale

• Ranked number 27 of the American greatest films

Links which helped me find this information:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Indemnity_(film)

Typical conventions of film noir in Double Indemnity:

• Non linear
• Black and white
• Venetian blinds to cast shadows
• Theme of murder
• Suits
• Red lipstick