Double Indemnity is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom.

Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's novel of the same name, which ran as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine in 1936.

Keyes scoffs at the idea, which he considers statistically implausible, but does find it strange that Dietrichson did not file a claim after breaking his leg.

Neff warns Phyllis that pursuing the insurance claim in court risks exposing the murder, and insists that they should not see each other until the investigation ends.

Cain had become a popular crime novelist following the publication of The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934, and Double Indemnity began making the rounds in Hollywood shortly after it was serialized in Liberty magazine in 1936.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and Columbia competed over the rights to adapt Double Indemnity, but the fervor ended when Hays Office censor Joseph Breen warned in a letter to the studios: The general low tone and sordid flavor of this story makes it, in our judgment, thoroughly unacceptable for screen presentation before mixed audiences in the theater.

It was approved with three objections about portraying the disposal of a corpse, the gas chamber execution scene, and the skimpiness of the towel worn by the female lead.

Chandler also scouted for locations including Jerry's Market on Melrose Avenue, where Phyllis and Walter discreetly meet to plan and discuss the murder.

"[2]: 129  An embittered Chandler wrote in The Atlantic Monthly in November 1945 that "The first picture I worked on was nominated for an Academy Award...but I was not even invited to the press review held right in the studio.

[2]: 134 Alan Ladd, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, and Fredric March all passed on the role of Neff.

[16] Barbara Stanwyck reflected that "the way those sets were lit, the house, Walter's apartment, those dark shadows, those slices of harsh light at strange angles – all that helped my performance.

"[10] For Neff's office at Pacific All Risk, Wilder and set designer Hal Pereira copied the Paramount headquarters in New York City as an inside joke at the studio's expense.

Paramount production head Buddy DeSylva did not approve of the wig, remarking that "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington.

In Stanwyck's death scene, her wig and white jumpsuit contrast with Neff's dark suit, creating a chiaroscuro effect.

[19] However, the director ultimately decided to end the film with Keyes and Neff in their office, because "You couldn't have a more meaningful scene between two men...The story was between the two guys.

[6]: 213  James M. Cain recalled that "there was a little trouble caused by this fat girl, Kate Smith, who carried on a propaganda asking people to stay away from the picture.

"[8] When Double Indemnity was released, David O. Selznick was promoting Since You Went Away with trade magazine ads that claimed its title had become "the four most important words uttered in motion picture history since Gone with the Wind."

Wilder riposted with an ad of his own claiming that "Double Indemnity" were the two most important words uttered in motion picture history since Broken Blossoms.

He complained that the two lead characters "lack the attractiveness to render their fate of emotional consequence", but also felt the movie possessed a "realism reminiscent of the bite of past French films".

[2]: 139 Film critic and author James Agee reviewed it in 1944: "In many ways Double Indemnity is really quite a gratifying and even a good movie, essentially cheap I will grant, but smart and crisp and cruel..." [28] New York Herald Tribune's Howard Barnes wrote it was "one of the most vital and arresting films of the year", praising Wilder's "magnificent direction and a whale of a script".

[2]: 139 Radio host and Hearst paper columnist Louella Parsons said, "Double Indemnity is the finest picture of its kind ever made, and I make that flat statement without any fear of getting indigestion later from eating my words.

"[29] In the Los Angeles Times, Philip K. Scheur ranked it with The Human Comedy, The Maltese Falcon, and Citizen Kane as Hollywood trailblazers.

In 1977, Leslie Halliwell raved, "Brilliantly filmed and incisively written, perfectly capturing the decayed Los Angeles atmosphere of a Chandler novel, but using a simpler story and more substantial characters.

"[30] In a 1998 review for his "Great Films" series, Roger Ebert wrote, "The photography by John F. Seitz helped develop the noir style of sharp-edged shadows and shots, strange angles and lonely Edward Hopper settings.

Billy Wilder in full swing, Barbara Stanwyck's finest hour, and Fred MacMurray makes a great chump.

Film scholar Robert Sklar explains, "[T]he unusual juxtaposition of temporalities gives the spectator a premonition of what will occur/has occurred in the flashback story...Besides Double Indemnity and Detour, voice-over is a key aspect of Mildred Pierce, Gilda, The Lady from Shanghai, and Out of the Past...as well as many others.

The hero's wife conspires to have him shot on a moving train and fall into a lake so that she can collect on his insurance, which has a "triple indemnity" rider.

In 1945, Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the B movie studios of Hollywood's Poverty Row, financed Single Indemnity starring Ann Savage and Hugh Beaumont.

Marketed as Apology for Murder, Paramount was not fooled by the title change and obtained an injunction against the film's release that still remains in effect.

Cain was also disaffected about the extortionate practices of the film studios which could pay writers thousands of dollars for a copyright and earn millions from the resulting movie.