Customer Reviews

Double Indemnity [VHS]

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Double Indemnity is obviously a classic film but this DVD transfer is appalling. Almost every scene is incredibly grainy, the source print is obviously not in very good conditon (perhaps needing to be refurbished), and to top it off, there are no deluxe features and the extra packaging is rather inadequate(with no information booklet or history of the movie).

This would be frustrating for any film but is downright shameful treatment of a cinema classic. We can only hope someone will spend the time and money necessary to restore the print for a new theater run, as has been done with other older films. Perhaps then, DVD buyers will get the version of this classic they deserve.

this is a 5 star movie....
this review is of the NEW Universal 2 dvd set.

Typical of Universals crappy Deer Hunter 2 DVD set..we've got a classic movie....with extras that could easily fit on one DVD...but Universal tries to make this into a bigger "ticket" by stretching it out.
The movie....its a classic...I've got the original release on DVD. The EXTRAS are
1) an introduction by Robert Osborne, nothing special and watched once you'll be irritated having to see it again every time you hit PLAY..
2) commentary tracks by the usual suspects (including the king of bloat Richard Schickel) and Universal has two so they put two more extra features on their package for these..
3) a half hour film noir primer , that's been done better on the WB noir sets and again features the same film professors etc that we are growing all too familiar with.
4) a 1 hour and 15 minute TV version from the 70's starring Richard Crenna ...which is the ONLY feature on the second disc.

I'll give Universal a bit of credit...the film itself does seem a bit improved over the initial out of print release...but closer scrutiny of the two would be necessary and I've got a life so I'll leave that to others.

Bottom line....Universal is hard to figure out...they take some multiple classic titles and stuff em onto flipper DVDs (info on both sides) and crank em out cheap..ie the Brando,Wayne,Cooper,Lombard sets....and then they take other films and run the package to two discs for no other reason than to make it "seem" important and packed with extras. They use strange fat cases to make it seem like these are books full of goodies instead of space filling clear plastic...

I think I saw where Universal is now readying a THIRD wave of their classic Monster series on DVD...geez ,how many times do they want us to buy the same things? Can't they get it right the first or second time? I think its obvious that my frustration with Universals crappy DVD releases runs deep. Fortunately they don't have near the number of "must haves" that Warner Brothers (who are first class all the way in their releases , particularly legacy films)or MGM or Columbia have!

its a great movie....if you haven't seen it you are in for a rare treat!

What a tremendous film! It's just wonderful. Especially Edward G. Robinson. Sadly, it's a bit dated (much of the dialogue looks rather campy by today's standards), but the plot hasn't aged a day. It's still a tense and enthralling film noir masterpiece.

It's a pity the DVD is so very poor. It's really awful. I can't stress this enough. It's very grainy, there are no bonus features at all, and there's no liner notes at all. Extremely shoddy treatment of such a wonderful film. I'd like to see a special edition of this film produced as soon as possible, and done right!

oops, 5-star is obviously for the movie, not the current very poor presentation on DVD.

But this September the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC screened their newly restored 35mm print of this film. It was stunning gorgeous B&W imagery (think the 2-disc special edition of Casablanca which came out last year). I'll be checking Amazon every few weeks to see if its release has been scheduled!

Do not purchase this DVD release. Its transfer to DVD is truly horrendous.

Wait for some other distributor to release it.

Wonderful film. Totally botched DVD release.

Wait for it...

The true life crime behind this film noir masterpiece is
that no otherwise worthy studio (ie. Image, Criterion Collection,Anchor Bay, Kino) has re-issued this DVD after Universal senslessly dropped it from production 4 years ago. Today, the few remaining original, factory-sealed copies are selling on Amazon for over $100. As always, Universal Home
Video's site refuses to receive consumer feedback. As they only just released the Region 2 version this July, they probably still own the video rights. But my Region 1 player won't play the disc. Needless to say, I am very upset. Will my fellow
cinephiles, please lobby Amazon to lobby Universal?? THE
MADNESS HAS GOT TO STOP!

this legendary thriller is one of the greatest and most influential and most imitated films in motion picture history. the dialogue is intelligent, the plot is engrossing and the cast stellar. one question: why is the DVD transfer of this great film of very inferior quality. artifacts are rampant throughout. the picture is very grainy through most of the film. so much could have been done with this film. it is certainly among those films that deserved the special treatment but appears as though the distributers and studio used the first negative available for the transfer. very disappointing DVD. i don't usually purchase a second DVD version of any film, but the transfer on this one was so inferior, i'll make exception here.

Writer John M. Cain's story of lust, greed, and murder is brought to life in the film Double Indemnity. Director Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) along with writer Raymond Chandler (The Long Goodbye) brings Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson into a great film noir. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is a successful insurance salesman. He falls in love with Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwych). Mrs. Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage and wants her husband, Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers) killed off so she can claim the insurance money. This wonderful plot in Double Indemnity has many twists and turns in it. There are so many obstacles for Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson to overcome. They have to time everything just right and this keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are so many moments in the film where you think the whole scheme is about to collapse. Neff and Dietrichson are such witty characters that they seem to have the right thing to say or do at the right time. Until the end of the story there never seems to be a crack in the plan. Neff is even surprised how good the plan is working out. After they have committed the murder, Lola Dietrichson, (Jean Heather) Mr. Dietrichson's daughter, becomes attached to Neff. At the very end of the movie Neff finds out what Phyllis Dietrichson's real plan is and tried to put a stop to it. You will have to watch the movie to find out how they both end up. I highly recommend this movie for people of all ages. The film really kept me on the edge of my seat the entire second half. I cannot think of any other film noir made in the nineteen forties with such a good story line. This is one film noir you can't miss.

It is the middle of the night in downtown Los Angeles, luscious film noir land brilliantly photographed by John Seitz in high gloss B&W and grippingly scored by Miklos Rozsa. A wounded Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray in his greatest performance) gets out of a taxi at an insurance building. Dripping blood, he gets into an elevator and rides up to his office, where he starts dictating a confession into an old-fashioned dictaphone. That confession will be the entire movie in flashback.

So begins Billy Wilder's incomparable film noir, DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944, Paramount), that uses a flashback framing device, but periodically returns to Neff in the office as dawn slowly comes to Los Angeles. Murder mysteries just don't get any better than this masterpiece that swept the Oscar nominations (but not for MacMurray!), but lost most of them to Leo McCarey's likeable but wildly overrated GOING MY WAY. Trying to get a Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers) to renew an insurance policy, Neff gets romantically involved with alluring wife Phyllis Dietrichson (a blonde Barbara Stanwyck). The two of them then team up to commit the seemingly perfect murder of Mr. Dietrichson on a train at night.

Everything seems to go perfectly, except for a witness (Porter Hall) who remembers Neff (as Dietrichson) being on the observation deck when he was not supposed to be. And, of course, investigating the entire crime is claims manager Barton Keyes (a brilliant Edward G. Robinson), Neff's boss. I once wrote a term paper on DOUBLE INDEMNITY as a student at UCLA. The subject was who do we root for here--Neff or Keyes? Clearly, the censor board wants us to root for Keyes. Neff is a criminal.

But Wilder and co-writer/novelist Raymond Chandler make both men complex and curiously sympathetic. The least likeable person here is Mr. Dietrichson. We basically root for Neff and Phyllis to get away with the murder. But, again, Keyes has the movie censor board behind him, so we know that Neff will be caught. After all, he dictates the whole crime into his dictaphone while bleeding under his coat. But will he live to finish it, when will Keyes find it, and what happens to Phyllis? She must somehow somewhere shoot him, but where and how? The climax is gripping and curiously erotic, with "Tangerine" playing on a radio up the street earlier that evening.

The author of the novel, James M. Cain, was allegedly enraptured with how well Hollywood had treated his book, even though it is vastly different. (I don't believe there is a framing device. And Phyllis and Neff get away with the crime and end up on a Caribbean cruise ship!) DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a film noir masterpiece and an almost perfect movie that even allegedly pleased Wilder. I can't recommend it highly enough. You also might want to compare it with its unofficial remake, Lawrence Kasdan's BODY HEAT, with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. (Reviewed from VHS tape.)

There is probably nothing new that can be said about "Double Indemnity", Billy Wilder's film noir masterpiece. What makes it truly remarkable to me is that it never seems to age. Only three elements date it: It's in black and white, there are no four letter words, and the sex is off screen. None of these elements hamper it in the least. It could be argued that they enhance it.

One of its strong points is that two of its three stars are cast against type. Mr. Nice Guy, Fred MacMurray, plays rotten-to-the-core insurance salesman Walter Neff, while Edward G. Robinson, usually cast as the villain, is Barton Keyes, an eccentric, compassionate insurance claims investigator. As femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson, Barbara Stanwyck plays the kind of woman she is often associated with, but this still is one of her greatest performances.

The more you view the movie, the more you see how densely layered it is. Walter and Phyllis's motivations in becoming lovers and plotting to kill her husband become less clear. Their ambiguity doesn't detract from the film. Instead, it makes it more fascinating.

Perhaps the clearest example of how well written and directed "Double Indemnity" is this: Within the first three minutes, we know all about the crime Walter and Phyllis committed. We know Walter has been shot, and we are fairly certain who did it. Despite this knowledge, the movie turns out to be one of the most intense thrillers ever made. It's filled with `hold your breath' scenes, some of which have since been imitated in scores of films.

"Double Indemnity" was nominated for seven Oscars, but won none, though it was an enormous critical and boxoffice success. There can be but one reason for this: The year was 1945, and the nation, weary from years of war, was in no mood to give awards to such a dark and honest picture. The Academy chose for Best Picture the well-made but corny "Going My Way" instead.