Double Indemnity by James M. Cain The reader receives “Double Indemnity” if he reads this by accident

 Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

The reader receives “Double Indemnity” if he reads this by accident

This refers more to the adaptation produced for the BBC and less about the original, notwithstanding the fact that the plot is what distinguishes this tale.

I became familiar with the storyline in a rather awkward manner.

The film was the very first encounter, but I have seen it quite a long time ago and apart from the murder of some man by conspirators I could not recall much.

A contribution to the erasing of this memory had a bad habit of dismissing many old, black and white movies during teenage years and for a while after that.

Seeing as we had mostly old films on television, for the period when we were allowed even that, I got bored with “antiques”, not knowing what I was missing.

A short while ago, a few weeks or so, I have listened to a play about the writing of the script for Double Indemnity.

Incidentally, the movie went on to be nominated for no fewer than seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best screenplay

Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder have worked at the adaptation, with great difficulty, given the mutual antipathy and the animosity between the two.

Intriguingly, they shared a rather low opinion of the original material…

As stated upfront, I cannot really pronounce myself on the novel, but both the film and the play I heard earlier are excellent.

Now the conundrum is:

-          How do you write about a story where the plot is the nearly all the magic?

-          Without giving in any details and avoiding spoiler alerts?

One way would be to include an alert here, if I find that I cannot help delving into sensitive twists in the plot.

The enticing, interesting and original look that is offered by the author is evident from the start, when we are forewarned:

-          James M. Cain tells you from the first sentences that the hero is in trouble, at least from one point in the saga

-          Really big trouble

You tell that because he already refers to the coverage of the press that wrote about the “blood red” curtains in the apartment…

-          If the media covers it, it is not just a stray cat returned to her owner, albeit they do exaggerate, nowadays if not at the time of this murder

-          Blood red is pretty suggestive, isn’t it?

It looks like I will not give in to the urge I have to let you in on it, since you might want to find for yourself.

So, speaking of the sidelines, I will say that I found the “forensics of the time” pretty amusing and at times this made me comment:

-          Oh, come on! Don’t these cops check who is calling who, or listen in to the conversations on the phone

-          How could they not tell he died this way (let’s keep it wrapped up) and not how evil parties want them to believe?

But that comes after too much Louisiana Detectives, Fargo and who knows how many series and movies that insist on morbid details, impossible to detect one hundred, perhaps even fifty years ago…

 The characters are intriguing and especially Walter Neff is complex enough to make you empathize with him…at least I did.

Phyllis Dietrichson comes across as the near perfect villain, except that she may be “mentally insane” as they said in a comedy.

Then again, she may be just a psychopath, for these are people that feel no emotion and are capable to anticipate and abuse the feelings of others, in devious ways.

Walter has a very dark side too, with this capacity to cause serious harm, which might make him even worse than his partner, considering that he is definitely sane and aware, while the other may just be in a condition that prevents her from fully comprehending, feeling what she does…

Then he is too easily enraptured first with Phyllis and then with another girl, in the time frame of just a few weeks…

In conclusion: excellent thriller