The great message that Double Indemnity has to share may not be unique - how many other stories, from the Bible on down, have warned of man's capacity for temptation and evil? - but it's not one you're likely to forget. "I killed him for money, for a woman," Walter Neff confesses at the beginning of the film. Sure, he did. And even now, over a half century later, are there any temptations more valid than those?
The new DVD release of Double Indemnity boasts a digitally remastered picture, in addition to a documentary featurette, two commentary tracks (by film historian Richard Schickel and historian/screenwriter Lem Dobbs and historian Nick Redman, respectively), and the 1973 made-for-TV remake in its entirety. The documentary has some interesting tidbits about the making of the film, and the commentaries, particularly the one by Dobbs and Redman, are worth a look; the TV movie, on the other hand, can best be advertised as a historical curiousity.
Seemingly influenced more by 1970s soap operas than by the original film's pioneering noir style, the 1973 Indemnity fails to add anything to the story's legacy; it's a virtually shot-by-shot, if mercifully truncated remake, with none of the impact of Wilder's and Seitz' stunning black-and-white cinematography. Indeed, its opulent, sun-filled shots of commercialized Los Angeles could be said to take on a strange meaning of their own, suggesting that the sordid crimes of Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson can be placed just as easily in an empty, blatantly consumerist facade as in the darkened corners and dimly-lit apartments of the original. The terminal blandness of the cast and director Jack Smight alike, however, are enough to prove that this latent commentary was unintentional. Samantha Eggar as Phyllis lacks Stanwyck's sensuality and cold edge in equal proportions, while Richard Crenna plays Neff like the naive patsy MacMurray never allowed him to be. Even Lee J. Cobb, who fares best as Keyes, interprets the character without an iota of the energy and likeability Robinson brought to the role.
In all, if you're a fan of Brady Bunch-style production design and '70s kitsch, this remake might be your ticket; but if you just want to experience the original film, looking without a doubt better than it's looked since its original release, don't bother taking that second disc out of the case. Wilder said it best: "They didn't get it right."
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