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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 346976" data-attributes="member: 5079">DOUBLE INDEMNITY is about as good as it gets.  Not just top-of-the-line noir, but one of the best films of the Old Hollywood era.  So many hard-edged films of the time are undermined by censor-enforced, last minute moral plot twists that ensure no guilty character went unpunished; Wilder was one of the few who knew how to incorporate that compellingly into the plot, rather than feeling like something tacked-on.The film is the best indication of the specific niche Stanwyck occupied among her peers: more alluring than Davis, more forthright than Crawford.  Bette wouldn't have been sexy enough for the role, and Crawford probably would have wanted the character to be more sympathetic.  (The murder would have been committed by the daughter or something.)With perhaps a footnote to his career for THE APARTMENT; Wilder was the only person on Hollywood who recognized that there was something oily about MacMurray.  Otherwise it's remarkable he made much a long career out of being bland.</blockquote>

Poison your name this Hallowe'en