King’s College (where Nicola works) has a Film Studies degree, and the students’ film showings are both free and open to outsiders. Last night was Billy Wilder’s ‘Double Indemnity’. Now, I’m not a great consumer of crime fiction, but I know a good film noir, and this is one of the classics. The Raymond Chandler influence (he co-wrote the screenplay) is well in evidence, with the twisting, turning plot and razor-sharp one-liners. Fred McMurray’s sweet-talking hotshot insurance salesman, Barbara Stanwyck’s jaded femme fatale and Edward G Robinson as the all-seeing claims manager and mentor to McMurray are all on top form here.
Another Chandler trait… that black existential angst. There’s that memorable quote from Keyes (Edward G Robinson), “They’re stuck with each other and they’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery”. Now, this is describing two people who have (he suspects) committed a murder, but it could easily sum up the whole film, or even the whole noir genre.
I watched ‘LA Confidential’ over Xmas, and while it’s a damn good film, seeing ‘Double Indemnity’ reminded me just how much of a gulf there is between an original classic and a rather glossy modern retro version. Guy Pearce is quite a traditional hero, who (we presume) lives happily ever after… in classic noir, there’s bad in everyone and life *will* be a bitch. Keyes figures out the mystery with a heavy heart (his young protegé is implicated) and a greater distaste for the world. You get the feeling that life will just carry on as the trolley car careers down the line…