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Posted: |
Mar 22, 2017 - 12:00 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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James M. Cain's novel DOUBLE INDEMNITY was serialized in Liberty magazine. Cain was inspired to write his story after the 1927 murder of Albert Snyder, who was murdered by his wife, Ruth Brown, a flapper, and her boyfriend, Henry Judd Gray, a married corset salesman. Mrs. Snyder took out a $100,000 life insurance policy on her husband in 1926, and after several failed attempts at killing him herself, she enlisted the assistance of Gray. A jury found Mrs. Snyder and Gray guilty of murder, and they were executed for their crimes in 1928 at Sing Sing Prison.
Although it was not published until 1943, Cain's novel was first submitted to the Production Code Administration (PCA) as a basis for a film production in 1935 by Louis B. Mayer. In October 1935, PCA director Joseph I. Breen responded that "the story is in violation of the provisions of the Production Code" and was "almost certain to result in a picture which we would be compelled to reject." Among the story violations he cited were that "the leading characters are murderers who cheat the law and die at their own hands; the story deals improperly with an illicit and adulterous sex relationship; [and] the details of the vicious and cold-blooded murder are clearly shown." A copy of this letter was subsequently sent to Jack L. Warner at Warner Bros. and to Columbia Pictures in 1935, and Paramount in March 1943.
In September 1943, Breen wrote to Paramount that he had "read the part script, part outline treatment" and that it appeared to be acceptable. Among other things, Breen noted that in the opening sequences, the "bath towel must properly cover Phyllis, and should certainly go below her knees. There must be no unacceptable exposure," and that the "whole sequence of the detailed disposition of the corpse is unacceptable...as a too detailed exposition of crime...We strongly urge, therefore, that you fade out after they take the body from the car...."
Billy Wilder's longtime writing partner Charles Brackett refused to work on the screenplay of DOUBLE INDEMNITY due to the story's amoral content. Raymond Chandler was selected because his writing style had similarities to James M. Cain's writing. Wilder and Chandler's six-month partnership while working on the screenplay was turbulent. A Cain biography questions the extent of Wilder's contribution to the screenplay, and in a 1950 letter, Chandler acknowledged that "working with Billy Wilder...was an agonizing experience and has probably shortened my life, but I learned from it about as much about screen writing as I am capable of learning, which is not very much." A biography on Wilder quoted his response to Chandler's statement, in which he noted that "[Chandler] gave me more aggravation than any writer I ever worked with."
Wilder also had difficulty getting an actor to play "Walter Neff," as even Alan Ladd and George Raft, who regularly portrayed criminals, found the role too unsavory. Fred MacMurray initially resisted Wilder's attempts at casting him as "Neff," as his previous roles focused on romantic and comedic characters. MacMurray stated in later interviews that Wilder personally convinced him to play "Neff," just as he convinced him to play the adulterous cad "Sheldrake" in Wilder's 1960 film THE APARTMENT.
The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography (black & white), Best Sound Recording and Best Music (scoring of a dramatic picture). It did not win in any category, losing the Best Picture award to GOING MY WAY. DOUBLE INDEMNITY was ranked 29th on AFI's 2007 “100 Years…100 Movies--10th Anniversary Edition” list of the greatest American films, moving up from the 38th position it held on AFI's 1997 list. (GOING MY WAY did not make either year’s list.)
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