The term “film noir” was used to “describe a certain set of Hollywood films that were
saturated with a darkness and cynicism that was not seen before” according to LibraryPoint.org’s Christie Hoerneman, and this genre of film helped define Barbara Stanwyck’s legacy in “Double Indemnity” where she played the character of Phyllis Dietrichson.
Based on James M. Cain’s book and adopted by Raymond Chandler, this story was told in the true hard-boiled tradition and is often considered the best example of a noir film.
Rotten Tomatoes promises that “Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robison give some of their best performances, and Wilder’s cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story’s unsentimental perspective.”
1. “Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray become unforgettable, delicious clichés the minute they cock their eyebrows at one another in and around Billy Wilder’s shadowy L.A. interiors.” –
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
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2. “Double Indemnity (Paramount) is the season’s nattiest, nastiest, most satisfying melodrama ... (with) Stanwyck as the unprintable blonde (for the occasion) who exploits his capabilities.” –
Time Magazine
3. “Stanwyck is perfectly cast as a Los Angeles dragon lady burdened with too much time, too much money and a dull husband.” –
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
4. “Her performance, however, is consistent though the character in the final reel would have been stronger had not the scripters sought to reflect some sense of human understanding for her.” –
Variety staff
5. “The film is a brilliant collision of evil and the mundane, and one of the reasons viewers respond to it so well is that it makes the mundane seem a little sexier in the resulting debris.” – Douglas Pratt, Hollywood Reporter
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6. “Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) is chillingly amoral, motivated by little more than boredom.” –
Marc Lee, London Telegraph
7. “The story of a cynical Barbara Stanwyck, perhaps the greatest actress of the first half of the first century of American movies.” – John Beifuss, The Commercial Appeal
8. “MacMurray and Stanwyck have never been better.” –
Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing Charlotte
Brunson added, “This genuine classic is stylish, sexy and suspenseful, with incredible dialogue that’s simply to die for.”
9. “Some may find Stanwyck less sexy than her character should be, but that’s a minor quibble when the dialogue’s as good as this.” –
Tony Sloman, Radio Times
10. “Her icy hair and teeth and dresses are well worked out toward communicating this idea ... that nympholepts are cold.” –
James Agee, The Nation
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