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Raymond Chandler is arguably the best American pulp novelist. His prose is so acutely visual, his characters so raw and intense that it is small wonder that all but one of his books have been made into movies. And his hero Philip Marlowe has graduated into American legend. Together with its companion volume (Stories and Early Novels), Later Novels and Other Writings forms the most complete Chandler collection in print. In addition to his later novels, this collection contains selected essays and letters, biographical information, and textual as well as explanatory notes. As an added bonus, the editor has included Chandler's screenplay to Double Indemnity, the classic Billy Wilder film adapted from James M. Cain's novel. You're able to compare the script to the finished movie and have the rare opportunity to see how one major crime novelist altered and interpreted another.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding in so many ways.......2007-02-24
First, let me say that there's a separate volume of Chandler's early novels. As much as I liked this volume, I actually enjoyed the earlier novels just a little bit more and suggest starting there. I started reading one story and wound up going through all of them in both volumes in the space of a few months. I also wound up reading and enjoying all the Dashiell Hammett stories, but I give Chandler a slight edge.
I won't try to list all the ways these novels are great and entertaining, but here's one thought that hasn't been mentioned in other reviews. Chandler is excellent at presenting a hero-character who has to worry about money and making a living. Indeed, Chandler makes this issue integral to the character's persona and to the plot line. Yes, the books are escapist in so many ways. Yet, in this respect at least, they are far more realistic than almost all of the fiction, and much of the non-fiction, these days.
Writing at its best - and it happens to be in detective noir.......2006-06-20
C-L-A-S-S-I=C HIGH/low notes. These stories are like a deck cards, all aces...... but there are way too few left. I finished "Little Sisters" (GREAT), "Farewell, My Lovely"- is recommended in the other half (earlier edition). The hook is Marlow. In times where many take the easy/cheap way out, I ride hard with Marlow. Marlow does it with style, humor, wit, grit, and nothing less than an all american: get the job done. But in a way that is the opposite his nemesis: the monopolies of power & money. Of course they admire and hate him. But it just doesn't get any better than Chandler. Need an excuse? Then read it for the wrting alone. The best!
The best of Raymond Chandler.......2005-12-05
This book, contaning Chandlers later works, is perhaps the best collection of Chandler you can find. Sure, does not contain the better-known novels - The Big Sleep and Farewell my Lovely - but it does contain The Long Goodbye, which is not only Chandler's finest, but a great novel by any measure.
Chandler lived a tough, hard-drinking life, and these later works came out of his mind with difficulty. But the quality of The Lady in the Lake and The Long Goodbye (The Little Sister is less memorable) make this collection essential.
In addition, the book contains some essays and letters, including Chandler's writing on the mystery genre, which will interest any budding suspense author.
In short, read this book! Read The Long Goodbye, then read it again. This is not just a great mystery, but it is also great literature.
Classic American, cynical detective stories........2005-05-12
Chandler is arguably the best detective story writer out there. If you expand this genre to all mystery writers, he would still be one of the best.
Detective stories aren't as common as they once were, but if you look at the offspring of the Pulp magazine once so popular, television, they are still as popular as ever. Chandler was one author who defined what a detective story was. This book contains four novels:The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye, and Playback. These are wonderfully entertaining stories that contain the archetypical hard-bitten detective, Philip Marlowe. After reading these stories you will forever see Marlowe in every detective story you see or read, from Magnum to the latest TV cop. How can you not love an author who sums up Modern American Capitalism with lines like these? "We make the finest packages in the world, Mr. Marlowe. The stuff inside is mostly junk." Or an author who in the early 50's, (50 years before the current 'Queers Dress Up' shows) so presciently wrote, "The queer is the artistic arbiter of our age, chum." Or his comment on a speech by a politician, "He did not bore us with any facts."
These books are not just riveting, fun reading, but full of thoughtful quotes like the above.
Chandler also is must-reading for his understanding of criminality, venality, human nature, Southern California, Movies, American culture and American relationship dynamics. I hate to use the word "classic" to describe stories that are just so plain fun to read, but I find it hard not to.
This volume also contains a screenplay, Double Indemnity, and a few essays and letters. The essays "The Simple Art of Murder", and "Writers in Hollywood" should be required reading for anyone interested in 20th century culture, movies, and literature. Just a few tidbits more. Chandler on English Mystery Writers - "The English may not always be the best writers in the world, but they are incomparably the best dull writers." Chandler on boredom - "There are no dull subjects, only dull minds." Chandler on critics - "The average critic never recognizes an achievement when it happens. He explains it after it has become respectable."
My only criticism is that the plots are contrived and sometimes complicated. But such criticism is like complaining that the Mona Lisa would be a fine painting if only it were of a different size.
Chandler is simply wonderful, funny, cynical, and yes, - respectable.
Priceless Solely for The Simple Art of Murder.......2005-01-18
While Hammett may very well have carried the modern hard-boiled mystery forward into the light, Chandler defined it. Of the two, I think I prefer Chandler most. Chandler better than anyone else set the standard for the genre, and laid down the rules to which all the great mystery writers of today rigorously adhere. Here, in brief, is the mystery writer's credo:
'But down these mean streets must a man go who himself is neither tarnished nor afraid.'
As Chandler remarked in his classic essay, The Simple Art of Murder, Hammett rightly deserves the title of Founder of the modern mystery because he succeeded in giving murder back to the kind of people who commit it. So what kind of person goes up against the kind of people who committ murder? Chandler responds with Exhibit A: Philip Marlowe.
Chandler's Marlowe resonates in my favorite mystery romps, the Spenser series, and the archetype also finds its way into more than a few 'Good Cop' dramas.
I enjoy the escapades of Philip Marlowe simply because the wry cynicism, coupled with the tough moral fibre to get to the bottom of any affair and see justice (or at least some sort of closure) served, makes for truly fascinating escapist reading. Each of the books in this collection, as in the collection preceding it, amply deliver on this score.
If you happen to acquire this masterpiece, never let it go. These are classic books, and will never become dated. I personally prefer The Long Goodbye to The Big Sleep, and found the former a longer and more satisfying read. In every story of both collections, there is to be found a depraved tapestry of gilded greater Los Angeles society, quite literally ripped from the headline news of the day. Most mystery fans will love the idea of an honest man in a thoroughly dishonest world, on a righteous quest for justice.
Once you get this triumph of American literature in your hands, mix your favorite drink, disappear to a quiet place with a comfortable chair (with good lighting), and enjoy the Great Master at work. If only more writers could write like this, then I would not need cable TV...
Average customer rating:
- Tangling With a Cobra
- Although I'm not very fond with James M. Cain's works........
- Classic Film Noir in Well Written Prose
- Double the Fun
- The darkest side of a railroad track
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Double Indemnity
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0679723226
Release Date: 1989-05-14 |
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When smalltime insurance salesman Walter Huff meets seductive Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of one of his wealthy clients, it takes him only minutes to determine that she wants to get rid of her husband--and not much longer to decide to help her do it. Walter knows that accident insurance pays double indemnity on railroad mishaps, so he and Phyllis plot frantically to get Nirdlinger on--and off--a train without arousing the suspicions of the police, the insurance company, Nirdlinger's dishy daughter, her mysterious boyfriend, or Nirdlinger himself. This brief but complex novel is a perfect example of the ordinary-guy-gone-disastrously-wrong story that Cain always pulls off brilliantly.
Book Description
Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful,
Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.
Customer Reviews:
Tangling With a Cobra.......2007-05-30
Walter Huff is an insurance agent who visited a client about renewing an automobile insurance policy. Mr. Nirdlinger is out but his wife is in. They'll call him. When Huff gets a call he finds the wife is interested in an accident policy for her husband (without his knowledge)! Huff immediately senses the danger in this; but there is a fatal attraction. Walter agrees to murder for Phyllis and the money, even though Phyllis has no cause to resent her husband. Walter explains the three things needed for a successful murder: help, planning, and audacity (as in a gangland slaying). Walter compares insurance to making a bet that something wouldn't happen (Chapter 2). Then daughter Lola Nirdlinger wants a loan against her boyfriend's car. Months pass, then an accident changes Mr. Nirdlinger's travel plans (Chapter 4). They kill Mr. Nirdlinger according to plan (Chapter 5). Chapter 6 tells about overnight train travel in those days. When Walter returns home he realizes he is now in Phyllis' power (Chapter 7).
After the accident the insurance investigators interviewed the people on the train. The insurance company believed it was a suicide so they wouldn't have to pay. Keyes uses the actuarial tables to dispute that theory, but he has no proof. It was important for a minister to be present at the Coroner's Inquest. Keyes surmises how it could have been done, and decides to have Phyllis watched. Lola has suspicions about Phyllis (Chapter 9). Lola tells Walter more about her boyfriend Sachetti, and they begin to spend time together. Lola has learned more about Phyllis! In Chapter 11 Walter decides to act for his safety in Griffith Park at midnight. He carefully plots this. But Phyllis has plans as well. Chapter 12 tells what happened that night. [The 1944 film changed the story, the book will be more intriguing.] Keyes in the Claim Department views the human race as "a little bit crooked" (Chapter 13). We learn why Sachetti was interested in Phyllis! [The 1944 film omitted this part.] Then there is still another surprise! Chapter 14 ties up the loose strings to this story.
The book is more complex than the 1944 film, and a better story. Read it before you see the film. [The basic story is similar to Shakespeare's "Hamlet".]
Although I'm not very fond with James M. Cain's works...............2007-03-07
...I thought "Double Indemnity" was one of the finest crime/thriller novels that I've ever read. Walter Huff is an insurance agent who is seduced by a woman named Nirdlinger. They decide to kill Nirdlinger's husband in order to collect his wealth. But then this leads to serious consequences.
With memorable characters, terrific tension, and good pacing, "Double Indemnity" is highy recommended if you're in the mood for murder and money. And try not to judge this book by its publication date. Crime and punishment from the 1930's can be a very interesting thing.
Classic Film Noir in Well Written Prose.......2007-01-18
I saw Billy Wilder's 1948 movie before I read the original 1936 novel by Cain; the movie was exceptional - well paced, taught storytelling. The book is even better.
This is a simple story of love, murder, and insurance fraud. But the complexity of the written landscape by Cain is absolutely engulfing. Walter Huff, a scheming, self-serving insurance agent falls for Phyllis and they scheme to kill her husband for love and the insurance check. But, of course it is never that easy!
With snappy, well constructed dialog, Cain spins film noir better than any camera can.
Double the Fun.......2006-05-05
James Cain followed up his controversial THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE with another thin crime novel DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Like POSTMAN, it brings the reader into a world of moral indifference. In other words, it's great!
The action follows insurance agent Walter Huff, who has at some point come up with an insurance scheme to off a guy and collect the insurance. He discovers his partner in crime, Phyllis Nirdlinger, when she inquires about accident insurance for her husband. But this is James Cain writing. It is not going to be that easy, is it? You bet not.
Phyllis turns out to be way, waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy more dangerous than Walter ever imagined her to be. He learns too late that he is just one more patsy in Phyllis's own plans, much bigger and nastier than the ones Walter himself formulated. Complicating the matter is Phyllis's step-daughter, Lola, whose wholesomeness actually touches some soft spot in Walter's heart.
Perhaps Cain mellowed a little bit between POSTMAN and DOUBLE INDEMNITY. The main character actually feels some degree of guilt for the crime and actually shows concern for someone besides himself. Jeez, what a softie. Do not worry, though. There is enough human darkness here to satisfy even the hardest of readers' hearts.
The darkest side of a railroad track.......2006-04-14
At some point, the narrator of James M. Cain's "Double Indemnity" starts a chapter stating "there is nothing so dark as a railroad track in the middle of the night". The scene that is set in the railroad track is one of the most important in this novella noir about love, deceit and betrayal. It is not impossible to make some connections between this mentioned dark and the dark side of the human soul.
This is a short book and very fast, and, at the same time, very interesting. Cain makes his characters and plot very engaging and dry as well. There isn't much time for many descriptions and digressions. The writer is very matter-of-fact throughout the whole narrative, keeping focus on his story. And as a consequence, keeping his readers' eyes glued to the pages.
The main characters are beautifully developed little by little as the story progress. As such they are able to surprise the readers -- since we don't know everything about them. And they really surprise us! By the end of the book they have gone through the most shocking transformations -- so have the readers' sensibility. This is a classic novel that will last forever.
Average customer rating:
- The Master, Masterfully Done
- "Noir at it's very best".
- Welcome to the Inferno
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The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics)
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
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Binding: Hardcover
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Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
ASIN: 037541438X
Release Date: 2003-07-22 |
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain’s indelible hallmarks.
The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain’s first novel–the subject of an obscenity trial in Boston, the inspiration for Camus’s The Stranger–is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an erotic obsession, and into a murder. Double Indemnity–which followed Postman so quickly, Cain’s readers hardly had a chance to catch their breath–is a tersely narrated story of blind passion, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories–“Pastorale,” “The Baby in the Icebox,” “Dead Man,” “Brush Fire,” “The Girl in the Storm”–that have been out of print for decades.
Customer Reviews:
The Master, Masterfully Done.......2007-07-13
If you haven't read James M Cain yet, you have to check him out.
This Everyman's Library edition is a great introduction. You get a lot of story in a tidy little hardback. Good paper, readable print, a volume that practically begs to be held and a nice wee ribbon for a bookmark. And the price is right, too.
Cain's prose is lean, tight and wickedly sharp. Like a back-alley razor-fight, you don't even feel the cut until after you see the blood. By then, it's too late.
Movies have been made of Cain's work. Quite a few, actually. He's stayed in print in Europe for the last fifty years. His work has cast a long shadow over many of our most popular noir authors today.
Way too good to miss.
"Noir at it's very best"........2007-02-21
I haven't been able to put this down since it arrived two days ago. I had
read some of James Cain's stories a long time ago, but in my opinion he is
the best detective writer of all. The movies don't follow his stories in
all cases, but they are still wonderful to read. A great collection!
Welcome to the Inferno.......2004-07-02
Although Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler are better known today, James M. Cain (1892-1977) is at least their equal--and many consider that he bested both in his finest novels, which combined sin-blacked characters, sordid plots, terse prose, and all the power of a blast furnace. This anthology collects all three of his landmark novels as well as several short stories, all of them showing Cain at the height of his powers.
Published in 1934, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is the truly deadly story of a drifter who squirms his way into a job at a California truck stop--and then squirms his way into the bed of a sexy waitress. Trouble is, the waitress is married to the boss... and she doesn't like it, not one little bit. Dripping with lust, deception, and irony, POSTMAN is at once sickening and fascinating, a true powerhouse of a novel that festers long after the story has ended.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY, published in 1936, is equally hot--the tale of an insurance sales man who stays on the right side of the law until he is tempted by a psychopathic femme fatale who doesn't see anything wrong with picking up a few bucks on the unexpected death of her unwanted husband. MILDRED PIERCE, published in 1941, is equally memorable in its portrait of a driven housewife with a wayward husband who discovers that she will do absolutely anything for her vicious, serpentine daughter.
All three novels have been famously filmed, but while the film versions (most created during the 1940s) stand well on their own, the novels out distance them in nothing flat. Cora, begging Frank to bite her lips until they bleed; Phyllis with lipstick splashed across her mouth like a bleeding gash; sleek Monte and his viper-like stepdaughter Veda--all portraits of reckless abandon so powerful that they blister the page.
The volume also includes five hard-to-find Cain stories that are often as memorable as the best of his novels, most notably I think "The Baby in the Ice Box" and "Brush Fire." But whether it is novels or his shorter works, you simply can't go wrong when it comes to the best of James M. Cain. Welcome to the inferno. Brace yourself for the straight-down ride.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Book Description
A history of the sensational New York City love triangle murder case that held the attention of the nation in 1927.
Few incidents in crime history have been as notorious—yet mundane—as the 1927 murder of Queens suburbanite Albert Snyder by his wife and her lover. Resonant of the footloose Jazz Age, it made persistent headlines and led to a sensational trial, spawning a 1920s Broadway play and the classic noir film of the 1940s: Double Indemnity. This book assesses the entire case, from grisly slaying and shabby cover-up to sharp police work and aftermath. Moreover, it explores sociocultural questions that beg to be answered: what effect does news reportage exert upon high profile cases, and why did such a transparent crime earn such an enduring place in the popular psyche?
Customer Reviews:
The Best Ruth Snyder Book Yet!.......2007-01-17
Landis Mackellar is to be commended for writing the most readable, and inclusive, account of the 1927 "Double Indemnity" murders yet published. The book is scholarly, but not dry, and I read it all in one sitting. True, the major points have been covered many times before, but Mr. Mackellar provides enough new supporting detail, drawn from the trial transcripts, other archival sources, and the newspapers, that I, who have read everything published on the Snyder case that I have been able to get my hands on, did not think to myself, "oh great, another rehash" and put it aside for later reading. He is also to be commended for NOT using recreated dialogue, an authors' conceit that usually causes me to view a book with distrust if it purports itself to be a "true account." My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that given the wealth of photos available of every aspect of the case, the book seems under illustrated. But, I'll gladly do without a photo section if a book on a topic with which I am well versed keeps me interested and does not irritate me with recreated dialgue or speculative 'insights' into the minds of people long dead whom the author never met. Good work, Mr. Mackellar!
The 'Double Indemnity Murder'.......2007-01-03
Landis MacKellar's new book, The Double Indemnity Murder, explores one of the most sensational murders of the 20th century. When Albert Snyder was killed in his bed by his wife Ruth and her lover, Judd Gray, some eighty years ago in March of 1927, Queens Village, New York City, and much of the United States was captivated by the aftermath of this notorious crime. The slaying became a symbol of the jazz/flapper era and resulted in a Broadway pla and a 1940's noir movie, and has gone down in the annals of crime literature.
Ironically, the murder involved little intrigue. Due to excellent police work and an ineffective cover-up from the co-conspirators, Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray were brought to justice with swiftness unheard of in the 21st century.
MacKellar's research for this book was exceptionally thorough. Broken up into three parts - the crime, trial, and last days, with three appendices, the book provides a psychological profile for both killers and the victim, as well as their unfortunate cast of on-lookers. Because the crime was so transparent, Double Indemnity doesn't quite read like a mystery. However, MacKellar's profiling is enough to allow each reader the background to make their own assessment as to the motivation behind this legendary crime.
A Rerun.......2006-11-14
Double Indemnity Murder: Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray and New York's Crime of the Century is just a rehash of other written books on the subject. It offers no new information about this famous murder case. The author just offers the reader the same information using trial transcripts, newspaper arrticles etc that other writers have used.
For a unique and more realistic version on this real life murder I would recommend Karl Schweizer's Seeds of Evil: The Gray/Snyder Murder Case. Dr. Schweizer incorporates the trial transcripts and newspaper articles as well as reconstructing conversations thus offering a motive to the murder; namely, having to do with the spiritual condition of the murderers. Schweizer's story draws the reader into the inner thoughts of Ruth and Judd and takes the reader through the downward spiral of their actions. His book is much more interesting and engaging than Mackellar's.
Book Description
On every level -- writing, direction, acting -- Double Indemnity (1944) is a triumph and stands as one of the greatest achievements in Billy Wilder's career. Adapted from the James M. Cain novel by director Wilder and novelist Raymond Chandler, it tells the story of an insurance salesman, played by Fred MacMurray, who is lured into a murder-for-insurance plot by Barbara Stanwyck, in an archetypal femme fatale role. From its grim story to its dark, atmospheric lighting, Double Indemnity is a definitive example of World War II-era film noir. Wilder's approach is everywhere evident: in the brutal cynicism the film displays, the moral complexity, and in the empathy we feel for the killers. The film received almost unanimous critical success, garnering seven Academy Award nominations. More than fifty years later, most critics agree that this classic is one of the best films of all time. The collaboration between Wilder and Raymond Chandler produced a masterful script and some of the most memorable dialogue ever spoken in a movie.
This facsimile edition of Double Indemnity contains Wilder and Chandler's original -- and quite different -- ending, published here for the first time. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction contextualizes the screenplay, providing hilarious anecdotes about the turbulent collaboration, as well as background information about Wilder and the film's casting and production.
Customer Reviews:
Classic script for classic movie.......2007-01-03
Billy Wilder may not have been born in America, but he knew America inside and out, from the vernacular of the ordinary folks to the sleezy ambitions and passions of the middle class. He captured all of that in his brilliant screenplay for DOUBLE INDEMNITY, turning the novel into a masterpiece of what has come to be known as Film Noir. He always stressed structure when he talked about his scripts and this is perfectly structured, tightly coiled like a spring, with the suspense building moment by moment -- along with the decaying relationships. Brilliant.
A toss-up for Raymond Chandler fans.......2003-01-14
For those who already purchased the Library of America edition of "Raymond Chandler : Later Novels and Other Writings" (which contains the screenplay of "Double Indemnity"), here are two reasons why you should buy THIS edition of the "Double Indemnity" screenplay:
1. Unlike most other screenplays published in book form, this edition of "Double Indemnity" appears to be a facsimile of the original screenplay; It's not just a book, but a relic of classic film.
2. This edition also has the alternate/deleted "Gas Chamber" ending which the Library of America edition is lacking.
If it were not for the above two qualities, I would recommend any Chandler fan to purchase the Library of America edition of Chandler's work that contains the "Double Indemnity" screenplay instead of this one. Here's why:
In this edition, Chandler's name does NOT appear on the cover; only Bill Wilder is credited on the cover. However, Chandler's name DOES appear on the title page and first page of the screenplay (the Amazon scans of the book illustrate this curiosity). Why the exclusion of Chandler from the cover?!
Answer: This book was published while Billy Wilder was still alive and he was able to steal the limelight from Raymond Chandler one last time. Well done, Mr. Wilder.
As for the screenplay itself, I've read a lot of screenplays of movies that I have liked and "Double Indemnity" reads better than most. The voice-over dialogue for Neff (written by Chandler) is the best part of the screenplay and is worth having in print. Whether you're a fan of classic Film Noir or an aspiring screenwriter, this is a must-have for your bookshelf. As for Chandler fans, it's only a matter of which edition.
For more information on Raymond Chandler's involvement in "Double Indemnity", I recommend the book "Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir". After reading, you will see why I and other readers are so incensed by the exclusion of Chandler's credit from the cover.
A brief tangential rant........2002-05-03
Nearly everyone who is likely to view this page knows and loves the movie, and would most likely prefer watching it to reading it. This leaves devoted fans of Wilder and Chandler to consider it, as well as perhaps students of the form.
The screenplay itself is an unquestioned masterpiece, and has not even the movie's very very few faults (poor acting by secondary characters, etc.). So I will limit my comments to my assertion that this edition GREATLY underestimates the contributions of Chandler, going so far as to paint him as a pasty fussbudget ignorant of the craft of writing. Not true, bud, not by a long shot.
Wilder and Chandler got along like cats and dogs. That's no secret. Yet while Chandler had his faults, Wilder seemed to live to antagonize him, and quite uncharitably described him in some comments reprinted here. Saying how the married Chandler envied Wilder for "having all the pretty girls at Paramount" is one example of how cheap and childish the director's opinion of his co-writer was, as stated in this edition, quoting Wilder's bio. Either Wilder or Meyers had some crude bias against Chandler, if the introduction of this tome is to be believed at all. Because it's not even an accurate presentation of what Wilder really felt, as quoted in Chandler's own hit-and-miss bio written by Tom Hiney.
Anyway, much of the *structure* of the screenplay- the flashbacks, the additional scenes, the ebb and flow- is Wilder's tremendous savvy. But the things film historians seem to treasure above all else in this movie are the rapid-fire, crudely poetic, vernacular dialogue, as well as the feeling of cynical decay wrapped around the doomed couple's whole misbegotten endeavor like a shroud. And for those, I propose, Chandler must be given the majority of the credit. His novels are too sad and complex and perfect, providing ample evidence that he could not have been the doofus this book portrays.
There's my speech. Take it for what it's worth. The book is a good buy for serious students. But Chandler fans will be ticked off.
Wilders First Undoubted Masterpiece.......2000-12-11
Double Indemnity is one of Billy Wilders best films. The screenplay is taut and extremely well written. You cannot miss this opportunity to read the master at the top of his game. Among the many highlights is the supermarket scene between the two conspirators. An absolute must read
Amazon.com
Richard Schickel is a great lover of Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, one of the earliest and best examples of film noir. In this lively book, Schickel provides an engrossing account of how the movie's screenplay was written. He compares the film to James M. Cain's novel and talks about how screenwriters Wilder and Raymond Chandler tried to improve upon it. He quotes generously from the film's dialogue and waxes admiringly upon its sleekness and style. Schickel's deep affection is infectious. His book encourages you to hear the movie through his enthusiastic ears and see it through his delighted eyes.
Book Description
A new kind of film emerged from Hollywood in the early 1940s, thrillers that derived their plots from the hard-boiled school of crime fiction but with a style all their own. Appearing in 1944, Double Indemnity was a key film in the definition of the genre that came to be known as film noir. Its script creates two unforgettable criminal characters: the cynically manipulative Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) and the likeable but amoral Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray). Billy Wilder's brilliant direction enmeshes them in chiaroscuro patterns, the bright California sun throwing shadows of venetian blinds across dusty rooms, shafts of harsh lamplight cutting through the night.
Richard Schickel traces in fascinating detail the genesis of the film: its literary origins in the crime fiction of the 1930s, the difficult relations between Wilder and his scriptwriter Raymond Chandler, the casting of a reluctant Fred MacMurray, the late decision to cut from the film the expensively shot final sequence of Neff's execution. This elegantly written account, copiously illustrated, confirms a new the status of Double Indemnity as an undisputed classic.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Study of a Great Film.......2002-09-04
Overall, Schickel's short monograph on Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a nice piece of work. The information on Wilder's collaboration with the somewhat difficult Raymond Chandler is particularly well researched and well presented. Wilder is, after all, a writer's director, the way that John Ford is a director's director or Sergei Eisenstein, an editor's director. When film critic Andrew Sarris downgraded Wilder in his book THE AMERICAN CINEMA, it is because he could not understand that a director can be an artist while lacking a distinctive visual style. If Wilder's art comes out primarily during the scripting phase of the process, the resulting film can be just as successful -- especially if you have a great veteran like John B. Seitz behind the camera.
And there is no doubt that DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a masterpiece. It is a complex work bringing together Billy Wilder's bemused street smarts, James M. Cain's corrosive venom, and Raymond Chandler's poetic noir dialogue.
My only complaint with this monograph is that Schickel spent very little time on Cain's original novel except to pan it in passing. Granted that Chandler and Wilder improved on the original, the original is still one of the classic noir novels and deserves more than a passing nod.
Secondly, Schickel just mentions in passing an article on screenwriting written by Chandler and doesn't even bother footnoting it. I finally tracked down the article in the second volume of the outstanding Library of America set of Chandler's work (which, by the by, also includes the complete film script for DOUBLE INDEMNITY). Chandler was obviously very down on screenwriting. Like many writers, he assumed that the script was THE key element of the film, and that writers should be treated with greater deference. After reading it, I still think the world of Chandler, but I feel all the more respect for Wilder for how he handled his somewhat cranky associate.
First class piece of film criticism.......2000-06-25
Schickel is a first class film critic and has given an excellent introduction to the Wilder classic Double Indemnity. In may opinion it is the best so far of the BFI series.
Superb, well-researched study of noir classic.......1999-01-07
Double Indemnity is perhaps the best film noir of all; and this is perhaps the best volume in the entire BFI series of monographs on classic (and modern classic) films. Schickel's study includes the usual (for the series) personal appreciation of the film and the way it helped create the genre (Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane set the tone and the look; Double Indemnity contributed the central iconic character of noir, the two-timing blonde, and it wasn't until she was added to the mix that the genre took off). But it's also a solid job of research, detailing the work process of Wilder and his often-frustrated collaborator Raymond Chandler, the way in which they turned Cain's prose into speakable dialogue (in the process improving almost every aspect of the original), and most intriguing of all, outlining the film's original ending, in which death in the electric chair paid off the theme of mechanized people in a mechanized society riding an assembly line to doom.
Product Description
This is an OLD Avon paperback, slightly wider than today's Mass MArket PB's. Definitely the first appearance of this classic in paper covers!
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Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
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