Do I laugh now, or wait 'til it gets funny?

Double Indemnity

(1944)

Billy Wilder invents film noir as fast-talking insurance salesman Fred MacMurray agrees to help dodgy blonde-wigged seductive femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck off her hubby.

MacMurray's character has a very un-hardboiled name (Walter Neff) and MacMurray isn't the most obvious casting (I was trying to come up with a modern equivalent, based on him usually doing comic fare and I settled in Paul Rudd). Stanwyck's not a great beauty, but she is very sexy, especially in her entrance scene. I'm fairly stunned that the duo's plan worked as well as it did, since it's rife with unforeseeables (such as timing throwing a body off a train in just the right spot, which means not being interrupted and not having any spectators); you'd almost think that MacMurray was trying to come up with the most fraught scenario possible.

Once the deed is done, the pleasure is all about the suspense of unravelling plans and burgeoning paranoias. Wilder co-wrote the script, based on James M McCain's novella, with Raymond Chandler and the construction cleverly keeps the audience at the same level of knowledge as MacMurray throughout. I think there's only one instance where we are let in on something that he is not, and it's an understandable lapse given the requirements of the scene.

Edward G Robinson is excellent as MacMurray's insurance investigator pal, who can smell something fishy; the friendship between the two of them is the real heart of the piece. This one of those films where parodies of its voiceovers and patter since can cause you not to really hear how brilliant the writing is (the conversation about "speeding" between Stanwyck and MacMurray at their first meeting is sublime). Look out for Richard Gaines hilariously OTT delivery as the boss of Robinson and MacMurray who makes a hash of things.

*****

Comments

Mondo bizarro. No offence man, but you’re in way over your head.

The X-Files 8.7: Via Negativa I wasn’t as down on the last couple of seasons of The X-Files as most seemed to be. For me, the mythology arc walked off a cliff somewhere around the first movie, with only the occasional glimmer of something worthwhile after that. So the fact that the show was tripping over itself with super soldiers and Mulder’s abduction/his and Scully’s baby (although we all now know it wasn’t, sheesh ), anything to stretch itself beyond breaking point in the vain hope viewers would carry on dangling, didn’t really make much odds. Of course, it finally snapped with the wretched main arc when the show returned, although the writing was truly on the wall with Season 9 finale The Truth . For the most part, though, I found 8 and 9 more watchable than, say 5 or 7. They came up with their fair share of engaging standalones, one of which I remembered to be Via Negativa .

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Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) (SPOILERS) Bryan Forbes’ adaptation of Mark McShane’s 1961’s novel has been much acclaimed. It boasts a distinctive storyline and effective performances from its leads, accompanied by effective black-and-white cinematography from Gerry Turpin and a suitably atmospheric score from John Barry. I’m not sure Forbes makes the most of the material, however, as he underlines Séance on a Wet Afternoon ’s inherently theatrical qualities at the expense of its filmic potential.

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You’re a disgrace, sir... Weren’t you at Harrow?

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Duffy. That old tangerine hipster.

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My Doggett would have called that crazy.

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I tell you, it saw me! The hanged man’s asphyx saw me!

The Asphyx (1972) (SPOILERS) There was such a welter of British horror from the mid 60s to mid 70s, even leaving aside the Hammers and Amicuses, that it’s easy to lose track of them in the shuffle. This one, the sole directorial effort of Peter Newbrook (a cameraman for David Lean, then a cinematographer), has a strong premise and a decent cast, but it stumbles somewhat when it comes to taking that premise any place interesting. On the plus side, it largely eschews the grue. On the minus, directing clearly wasn’t Newbrook’s forte, and even aided by industry stalwart cinematographer Freddie Young (also a go-to for Lean), The Aspyhx is stylistically rather flat.

The best thing in the world for the inside of a man or a woman is the outside of a horse.

Marnie (1964) (SPOILERS) Hitch in a creative ditch. If you’ve read my Vertigo review, you’ll know I admired rather than really liked the picture many fete as his greatest work. Marnie is, in many ways, a redux, in the way De Palma kept repeating himself in the early 80s only significantly less delirious and… well, compelling. While Marnie succeeds in commanding the attention fitfully, it’s usually for the wrong reasons. And Hitch, digging his heels in as he strives to fashion a star against public disinterest – he failed to persuade Grace Kelly out of retirement for Marnie Rutland – comes entirely adrift with his leads.

Just wait. They’ll start listing side effects like the credits at the end of a movie.

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