Directed by:
Billy WilderCinematography:
John F. SeitzComposer:
Miklós RózsaCast:
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Tom Powers, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, John Philliber, Clarence Muse (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
An insurance agent and the wife of an oilman begin an illicit affair and then fraudulently sell the oilman an accidental death insurance policy so that they can kill him and collect the insurance money. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (2)
Reviews (9)
This is exactly how I imagine a film noir - except for the lighter tone at the beginning. From the start, you know something went wrong; you just need to figure out how. A more or less innocent beginning quickly changes after meeting the femme fatale, played by Barbara Stanwyck. She is absolutely superb, especially thanks to her voice. The detective character seems unnecessary, but he's not here to investigate; he's here to give the whole thing that metaphorical crown. A great movie.
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A pitch-black, crystalline and almost Hitchcockianly precise noir about a near-perfect crime that defines a defunct genre with everything that made it so special: a deceitful femme fatale who collects men's hearts like scalps of enemies, a likeable hero who foolishly allows himself to be scalped, the elaborate and original murder of a poor husband and the tension patiently thickening until the emotion-filled finale. Wilder plays skilfully with the simple story, and even though it’s clear how everything must end, the viewer eats it all by the spoonful. A must for film-noir fans, for others I can only sincerely recommend it. 90%
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All my life I've passed noir films as a slightly inert viewer, but that's just me. But I've always admired Billy Wilder's ability to layer dialogue on top of dialogue, and here I've had a blast again. Too bad about two things, though. Firstly, I would have liked some refreshing visual ideas, in this respect Orson Welles, for example, was unmatched, but here where there's nothing. And then the laboriously invented idea of the murder seemed quite banal and in some places very naive. Barbara Stanwyck, however, was perfectly chosen for the role of the femme fatale. She is seductive, but at the same time, there's something off about her from the first look .... you just see her dark side before she turns out to be a cynical bitch :o)
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A voiceover. A femme fatale. In black and white. Classic. As far as the plot goes, it's indeed a relatively straightforward spectacle where you can anticipate the hint of every twist, but when Billy Wilder presents noir, the form doesn't let you down with even a single misstep.
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I was always interested in the film noir genre from the war period. I have enjoyed it mostly in the American detective and crime movies from the nineties, which were referencing that time. But when I really started watching something like that, I did not find in it what I’ve always imagined. And most of all, I lacked anything that would resemble the mystique and the atmosphere connected to it.
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Gallery (88)
Photo © Paramount Pictures
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