...you know, when a life insurance policy pays double because someone died due to an accident. Double Indemnity also has a double meaning, well sort of, because it is also the name of one of the best thriller/suspense movies ever. The plot of the movie revolves around a murder committed and made to look like an accident so the wife (Barbara Stanwyck) of the deceased can collect double the insurance payout. This is all helped along by her insurance agent (Fred MacMurray). It looks like all is going well for the evil duo even though the insurance company manager thinks the husband committed suicide, for whatever reason, trying to make it look like an accident to leave double the money to his wife. The insurance company investigator (Edward G. Robinson) gives the manager the low down on why it could never have been suicide and it looks like the wife and the agent are going to be in the money. That is until the insurance company investigator feels like there is s chunk of concrete in his gut. It is probably acid reflux due to the cigars he smokes but he thinks it is a hunch that is eating away at him, a hunch that there was no way it was suicide, no way it was an accident, but more likely that it was murder.
In my opinion, this is one of Edward G. Robinson's best roles and maybe the top for both Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck too. A great movie, even if in B&W and and released in 1944, what a classic!
All the best,
Glenn B
