Double Indemnity Page #2

Synopsis: In this classic film noir, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets roped into a murderous scheme when he falls for the sensual Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), who is intent on killing her husband (Tom Powers) and living off the fraudulent accidental death claim. Prompted by the late Mr. Dietrichson's daughter, Lola (Jean Heather), insurance investigator Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) looks into the case, and gradually begins to uncover the sinister truth.
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.3
Metacritic:
95
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
PASSED
Year:
1944
107 min
852,796 Views


Three desks, filing cabinets, one typewriter on stand, one

dictaphone on fixed stand against wall with rack of records

underneath, telephones on all three desks. Water cooler with

inverted bottle and paper cup holder beside it. Two windows

facing toward front of building. Venetian blinds. No curtains.

Waste basket full, ash trays not emptied. The office has not

been cleaned.

Neff enters, switches on desk lamp. He looks across at dicta

phone, goes heavily to it and lifts off the fabric cover. He

leans down hard on the dictaphone stand as if feeling faint.

He turns away from dictaphone, takes a few uncertain steps

and falls heavily into a swivel chair. His head goes far

back, his eyes close, cold sweat shows on his face. For a

moment he stays like this, exhausted, then his eyes open

slowly and look down at his left shoulder. His good hand

flips the overcoat back, he unbuttons his jacket, loosens

his tie and shirt. This was quite an effort. He rests for a

second, breathing hard. With the help of his good hand he

edges his left elbow up on the arm-rest of the chair, supports

it there and then pulls his jacket wide. A heavy patch of

dark blood shows on his shirt. He pushes his chair along the

floor towards the water cooler, using his feet and his right

hand against the desk, takes out a handkerchief, presses

with his hand against the spring faucet of the cooler, soaks

the handkerchief in water and tucks it, dripping wet, against

the wound inside his shirt. Next, he gets a handful of water

and splashes it on his face. The water runs down his chin

and drips. He breathes heavily, with closed eyes. He fingers

a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket, pulls it out, looks

at it. There is blood on it. He wheels himself back to the

desk and dumps the loose cigarettes out of the packet. Some

are blood-stained, a few are clean. He takes one, puts it

between his lips, gropes around for a match, lights cigarette.

He takes a deep drag and lets smoke out through his nose.

He pulls himself toward dictaphone again, still in the swivel

chair, reaches it, lifts the horn off the bracket and the

dictaphone makes a low buzzing sound. He presses the button

switch on the horn. The sound stops, the record revolves on

the cylinder. He begins to speak:

NEFF:

Office memorandum, Walter Neff to

Barton Keyes, Claims Manager. Los

Angeles, July 16th, 1938. Dear Keyes:

I suppose you'll call this a

confession when you hear it. I don't

like the word confession. I just

want to set you right about one thing

you couldn't see, because it was

smack up against your nose. You think

Rate this script:3.5 / 8 votes

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist and journalist, whose career spanned more than fifty years and sixty films. more…

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2 fans

Submitted by acronimous on March 27, 2016

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2 Comments
  • alexa_h
    Its terrible
    LikeReply10 months ago
  • mars_t
    This is a great movie script!
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"Double Indemnity" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/double_indemnity_65>.

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