Quite a good movie, even now. I like it, although I've read something about it and it seems the character of the woman is considered so evil, so terrible, when actually the man is worse. I mean, they are quite alike, she's a murderer too, just like him, but maybe it looked different because she was a woman, and it was easier to accept that behaviour from a man than a woman, I guess.
Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, and Barbara Stanwyck is Phyllis Dietrichson. The film is from 1944, but he says that it's now July 1938.
The film starts with him sitting down in his office, and we can see a hole in his jacket, making us think he got shot, probably. At those times there was no river of blood every time someone got shot, the clothes are immaculate, but with a hole ! He starts talking into a dictaphone (I read about those in an Agatha Christie's book, and it was real technology back then!) and recalling everything that happened, addressing his story to his friend Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), and starting with the words "I killed him. I killed him for money, and a woman. And I didn't get the money, and I didn't get the woman" which I think is an amazing start. Someone could even shout "Spoilers!" at this point, because he already told us what he did, why he did it, and how it ended... Then there is the long flashback showing how the whole thing came to be.
He works for an insurance company, and he goes to meet Mr. Dietrichson but he's not in, so he talks to his wife, and is immediately taken by her. She comes downstairs walking slowly, with her long blonde curly hair and an anklet showing. Beautiful, no doubt, so pretty soon he forgets about the insurance and starts flirting with her with no shame. The scene of them flirting are great, btw! You should really check out those scenes, if you haven't seen them yet.
Anyway, he starts flirting , not caring at all that she's married, and when later she'll start talking about him about a life-insurance policy taken without his husband knowing about it, he understands it all at once, and goes away, but not for long. He keeps thinking about her, and when he sees her again he tells her he's crazy about her! They talk again about her husband, and he reveals that he has thought about something like this for a long time, long before he even knew her, and in fact it's him looking the more determined, and it's him thinking about the 'double indemnity'. Basically, she'd get 50.000 if he dies of an accident, but if it happens on a train she gets double! 100.000!!!! It's still him planning the whole thing, and actually killing him while she's driving, and not even blinking! That's the big scene, isn't it? They don't show the murder in itself, but we see Neff going for his throat, we hear the strangling-noises, and we see Phyllis being totally cool about it!
They want to make it look as if the husband fell off the train and died, and at first it all goes well : accidental death. The company's boss suspects a suicide, but Keyes doesn't believe that. Keyes is the one working with Neff, the one that has to understand if someone is trying to cheat the company and this time he doesn't know what to think. He can sense something's wrong, but it takes a while before he figures things out.
There's also Lola, Mr. Dietrichson's daughter, telling him about her suspicions on her mother's death. She thinks Phyllis killed her while she was her nurse, and also that now Phyllis is seeing her (Lola's) boyfriend Nino Zachetti quite often, and he starts thinking about killing Phyllis.
Phyllis tells him that she wanted to get rid of Lola too, so was filling Nino's head with lies about her in order to have him murder her. Phyllis shoots Walter, but only once, because she says in that moment she realised she cares about him, but he doesn't believe her and shoots her twice. Then he sees Nino walking towards her house, and does one good thing, sends him away, telling him 'Lola loves you, just go to her'.
It's 4.30 in the morning when he finishes his story, and he turns to see Keyes at the door, listening and looking at him. He had lost blood all that time, so he hasn't the strenght to go away. We hear Keyes calling the ambulance, because he has to, but we're not told if he'll make it or not, but I think definitely not.
The end is great, with Walter saying to Keyes that he didn't get to the truth "because the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from you" and Keyes says the sweetest thing. He says "closer than that" and Walter, smart guy, understands and says it back " I love you too". I loved this moment.
Then Keyes lights up a cigarette for Walter, which explains why they insisted during the whole movie to show us Keyes and his cigars, always without matches, and Walter always lighting the cigar for him.
The end, but anyway Walter either dies right away, or survives only to be hanged for murder, so not much of a difference. But I think he dies right away.
Great movie, really.
ITA La fiamma del peccato
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