Double Indemnity and Detour are two sides of Film Noir. The way to do it right via Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity and, in my opinion, the wrong way via Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour.
I found Double Indemnity to be really engaging and actually somewhat racy considering when it was released. I did find out that a number of actors actually turned down the role of Walter Neff due to the content. It was surprising to see Fred MacMurray in this role considering his squeaky clean image but it worked well because he was so unassuming. Even more shocking to discover that Walter Neff clearly planned the homicide of Mr. Dietrichson. Barbara Stanwyck was awesome as the cheating wife in cahoots with Neff. But I have to say that my favorite of the film was Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes, Claims Adjuster. He was relentless in his pursuit that something was wrong with Mr. Dietrichson's death.
The film Detour was definitely filled with tons of Film Noir story staples peppered throughout even down to the quick patter speech with colloquialisms that were the norm of the genre but the story seemed uneven with just too much going on by "happenstance", no chemistry between the leads (Tom Neal & Ann Savage) and just an unbelievable ending. It made it hard for me to remain engaged.
As a general rule, Film Noir is my least favorite of all film genres. There is something about the constant voiceover and the dark tones that doesn't hook me. However, I can now say that I have a favorite film in this genre - Double Indemnity.
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