Where desire led: In over his head

'Double Indemnity'

Special Edition

(Universal, $27)

CONSIDERED the first important film noir, this 1944 adaptation of James M. Cain's novella of love, lust, deception and murder still crackles thanks to the brilliant screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Wilder's self-assured direction and mesmerizing performances from Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.

The tale unfolds in flashback as Los Angeles insurance agent Walter Neff (MacMurray) sits bleeding from a gunshot wound in his office and speaking into a Dictaphone, relating the events that led to his injury in a memo for his boss and good friend Barton Keys (Robinson).

Neff's fate was sealed when he went to house in Los Feliz on a routine visit to update an auto insurance policy. Though the husband wasn't there, the man's seductive, ankle-bracelet-wearing wife, Phyllis (Stanwyck), was.

After some sexy repartee and more than a few kisses, the two secretly took out insurance on her hubby that had a double indemnity clause -- the policy would pay off double the amount if the insured died under certain unusual circumstances, like falling from a moving train.

As the story unfolds, the two intricately plot a murder to satisfy that condition. The husband's death is ruled an accident at the inquest, but Keys begins to suspect foul play. And as Neff discovers more about Phyllis' unseemly history -- she may have murdered her husband's first wife -- he realizes he is in too deep to get out of the quagmire of death and deception.

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best film, screenplay, director and actress, but lost to the feel-good "Going My Way." Nevertheless, it put Wilder on the map as a major Hollywood director. He had been working in Hollywood for nearly a decade as a screenwriter for such films as "Ninotchka" and "Hold Back the Dawn" but had directed only two Hollywood films, the 1942 comedy "The Major and the Minor" and the 1943 drama "Five Graves to Cairo," before he tackled "Double Indemnity."

Because of the movie's unsavory themes, Wilder's writing partner Charles Brackett bowed out of the project. After being given Chandler's novel "The Big Sleep" to read, Wilder decided to try Chandler as his collaborator. The two notoriously didn't get along, but Chandler was able to supply a lot of the snappy, sexy patter between Neff and Phyllis:

Neff: "You'll be there too?"