Film Noir: “Double Indemnity”

With an introduction by PFC’s own Steve Meyers, and trivia giveaways. Pick up your Grifter card at the box office, see 5 Acme Noir films and win prizes! Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a James M. Cain novel by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, “Double Indemnity” represents the high-water mark of 1940s film noir urban crime dramas in which a greedy, weak man is seduced and trapped by a cold, evil woman amidst the dark shadows and Expressionist lighting of modern cities. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces insurance agent Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy.Movie veterans Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson give some of their best performances, and Wilder’s cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story’s unsentimental perspective, heightened by John Seitz’s hard-edged cinematography. Double Indemnity ranks with the classics of mainstream Hollywood movie-making. Presented by Fat Pie Pizza.