Benzadmiral
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I quoted most of your post, because it's wonderfully on target. Yes, Stanwyck's performance as Phyllis does seem less powerful than she usually delivers. I don't understand why Walter would find her so attractive. And the Walter/Keyes relationship is the core. This film is one of the rare movies which is, at least in part (and especially in the ending), better than its source novel -- and I like Cain's novel a lot.I just watched "Double Indemnity" for the first time in about 20 years. My 20+ year old impression had been "good, solid" noir. My just-having-scene-it impression is fantastic, outstanding, awesome noir movie. While clearly a film noir movie - the "I'm confessing" narrative structure felt a bit forced to me - it didn't try too obviously hard like some movies do to strike a noir tone. But what really blew me away were MacMurray's and Robinson's performances.
MacMurray is frighteningly believable as the successful insurance salesman excited to hatch a murder plan he's been clearly thinking about for years. And while the putative reason for murder is money and his desire to be with Stanwyck's character, subtly it feels like he simply wanted to see if he could get any with it, especially when he knew his office pal, Robinson's character, an insurance claims investigator, would be the person he'd have to fool.
The MacMurray-Robinson dynamic drives the movie more than the felt-forced-to-me MacMurray-Stanwyck love affair supposedly motivating everyone. This is the first movie where I've ever felt that Stanwyck wasn't natural or comfortable in her character as she was wooden and almost awkward as the cool, beautiful, calculating murderess. But that didn't matter as this is MacMurray's and Robinson's movie and the two antagonists play off each other beautifully.
Robinson's smart, a-bit tired, nerdy investigator contrasted wonderfully with MacMurray's outwardly cocky top salesman persona. They like each other, respect each other, but also know all along there is something fundamentally different in each one's core character. MacMurray regularly and smoothly lighting the match for the "where's my match" bumbling Robinson is a neat symbol hinting to us that what will really matter in this game of wits is not surface flash. . . .
Robinson, I understand, suggested to Cain that he write a new movie, or maybe a novel, about Keyes, but it never happened. If I knew anything at all about the insurance business, or could research it, I'd write a new, period-set story about Keyes the rumpled, committed investigator. After all, someone did it for Scarlett O'Hara, right? (Though I don't know how well that came off.)