BRUNSWICK
Curtis Memorial Library will screen “Double Indemnity,” director Billy Wilder’s 1944 murder mystery, at 7:30 p. m. today as the second installment in its four-part “Film Noir for Dark Nights” series.
The film, directed by Billy Wilder, stars Fred McMurray as Walter Neff and Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis. Based on a novel by James M. Cain, the film garnered eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Wilder and Raymond Chandler collaborated on the screenplay.
On the Turner Classic Movies website, www.tcm.com, Rob Nixon summarizes the film’s plot as follows:
“ Walter Neff is the top salesman at his Los Angeles insurance company. … One day, while making a routine call on an auto insurance client, he meets the client’s sexy blonde wife, Phyllis.
“Their mutual attraction quickly graduates to undisguised lust and before Neff knows it, Phyllis convinces him to sell her additional accident insurance for her husband (without the man’s knowledge). It’s just the first step in their mutual plan to murder Phyllis’ husband and collect on a double indemnity clause in the insurance contract.
“Cold-blooded, brutal, highly stylized, and informed with a black sense of humor, ‘Double Indemnity’ is one of the high points of 1940s filmmaking and a prime example of a genre and style that remains highly influential in its look, attitude and storyline. Critics have argued whether or not this movie can be considered the first film noir thriller, but it undoubtedly set the pattern for that distinctive post-war genre: a shadowy, nighttime urban world of deception and betrayal usually distinguished by its ‘hard-boiled’ dialogue, corrupt characters and the obligatory femme fatale who preys on the primal urges of an ordinary Joe hungry for sex and easy wealth.”
Admission is free. Enter via the library’s main entrance on Middle Street. Popcorn, candy cigarettes and nonalcoholic cocktails will be served.
Other films in the series include “ Brick” on Jan. 21 and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” on Jan. 28. For more information, call 725-5242.
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