"Double Indemnity" (1944)

YouTube link

After watching the movie a couple nights ago, I looked up a detail at Wikipedia, and found a variety of things I didn't know...

Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Academy Awards but did not win any (last night I watched The Turning Point, which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and didn't win any - tied for the record in this regard with The Color Purple.)

...over 60 years after the film's initial release, it was discovered that Chandler had agreed to appear in a fleeting cameo at 16:12 into the film [inset left], glancing up from a book as Neff walks past in the hallway. This is notable because, other than a snippet from a home movie, there is no other footage of Chandler known anywhere.

Having the two protagonists mortally wound each other was one of the key factors in gaining Hays Office approval for the script: the Production Code demanded that criminals pay, on screen, for their transgressions.

Wilder also decked Stanwyck out in the blonde wig "to complement her anklet...and to make her look as sleazy as possible." This wig has been cited by some as being the picture's biggest flaw claiming that it looks too “fake”. According to Wilder, this was exactly what he was going for when he chose the wig wanting to project, "the phoniness of the girl — Bad taste, phony wig..."

The company had just finished shooting the final segment of the sequence where Phyllis and Walter make their getaway after dumping their victim's body on the tracks. The crew was breaking for lunch before striking the set. In the script, the pair get in their car and simply drive away. But as Wilder got into his own car to leave, it wouldn't start. Inspired, he ran back and ordered the crew back. Wilder reshot the scene, only this time as Phyllis starts the car, the motor stalls and won't turn over. She tries several more times, but the car won't start and the two look at each other in growing panic. Walter desperately reaches over, turns the key and guns the motor, finally starting the car. Only then do they speed away from the crime scene. The result was one of the most suspenseful scenes in the film, but was not in the original script...