When you combine two of the best known writers from the golden age of crime fiction, James M. Cain (who wrote the original story) and Raymond Chandler (who co-wrote the screenplay), plus one of the best directors of all time (Billy Wilder), you're going to get something special. And in this case, you get arguably the best film noir ever.
Walter Neff (Fred McMurray, a long way from 'My Three Sons') is an insurance investigator. Phyllis Deitrichson (Barbara Stanwyk) is a bored, but very sexy married woman. Their inevitable collision results in teasing, tawdry, innuendo-driven dialogue between two people driven to murder by their self-destructive passions. When the insurance claim on Stanwyk's husband is investigated by McMurray's colleague, Edward G. Robinson, will the resulting pressure bring our couple together or tear them apart?
As with any cinema classic, Double Indemnity has been hugely influential, quoted or referenced in films from Body Heat to The Naked Gun. So come along, whether to enjoy a cinema classic or simply to get all those jokes you didn't understand before.

Guy and Bruno meet accidentally on a train trip - they soon find that they have something in common, they both have someone they'd like to be rid of. Guy's wife won't give him a divorce and Bruno just hates his father. Bruno suggests that they swap - if they each were to murder the other's problem person, it would be the perfect crime. Guy refuses to have anything to do with Bruno's mad scheme. But Bruno goes ahead and kills Guy's wife, then he demands that Guy fulfil his part of the "bargain".
Alfred Hitchcock succeeds yet again in crafting a truly gripping little thriller. The twists and turns of the plot and the fairground climax are as riveting as anything he's done. On top of that, the structure and symbolism are particularly fascinating in this case. Hitchcock's theme is the "double" - light/dark or good/evil. He uses the image of the "double" over and over - drinks, tennis matches, mirrored objects and gestures. All of these suggest that Bruno is not simply a deranged killer - he is the hero's shadow, his darker half, the other side of the coin.