Double Indemnity (novel)
1st separate edition by Avon Books
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| Author | James M. Cain |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Hardboiled, psychological thriller, psychological horror |
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Publication date
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1943 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Double Indemnity is a highly influential 1943 crime novel, written by American journalist-turned-novelist James M. Cain. The book was first published in serial form for Liberty magazine in 1936. Following that, Double Indemnity appeared as one of "three long short tales" in the collection Three of a Kind.[1] The novel later served as the basis for the classic film of the same name in 1944, adapted for the screen by fellow hardboiled novelist Raymond Chandler and directed by Billy Wilder.
Contents
Plot summary
Insurance agent, Walter Huff, falls for the married Phyllis Nirdlinger, who consults him about accident insurance for her husband. In spite of his basic, instinctual decency, Walter allows himself to be seduced into helping the femme fatale kill her husband for the insurance money.
Adaptations
The novel was adapted for film in 1944. Double Indemnity was directed by Billy Wilder (Chandler collaborated on the screenplay) and starred Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson.[2] In the adaptation, Wilder and Chandler changed the names of the main characters: Walter Huff became Walter Neff, and Phyllis Nirdlinger became Phyllis Dietrichson.[3]
A stage adaptation opened at ACT Theatre in Seattle on October 27, 2011. It was adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright and was directed by Kurt Beattie.[4] The same production moved to San Jose Repertory Theatre and opened on January 18, 2012.
Sources
James M. Cain based his novella on a 1927 murder perpetrated by a married Queens, New York, woman and her lover, whose trial he attended while working as a journalist in New York.[5] In that crime, Ruth Snyder persuaded her boyfriend, Judd Gray, to kill her husband Albert after having him take out a big insurance policy with a double indemnity clause.[6] The murderers were quickly identified, arrested and convicted. The front page photo of Snyder's execution in the electric chair at Sing Sing has been called the most famous news photo of the 1920s.[7]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/?ref_=nv_sr_1
- ↑ Irwin, John T. (2006). Unless the Threat of Death is Behind Them: Hard-boiled Fiction and Film Noir, p. 242. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ↑ ACT Theatre production history. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ While the story certainly used the Snyder case as a framework, it lacked an important ingredient of the Double Indemnity structure: the "inside-guy accomplice" to the murder—the Walter Huff character. Cain later recalled this key innovation stemmed from a conversation he had years earlier with reporter Arthur Krock about Krock's days at the Louisville Courier-Journal. An ad for ladies' underwear was typeset to read: IF THESE SIZES ARE TOO BIG, TAKE A TUCK IN THEM. But when the paper hit the street, the T in tuck had been changed to an F. A furious Krock reset the ad for the next edition and demanded an explanation on how it happened. After two days of bullying the printer, the man finally confessed, "you do nothing your whole life but watch for something like that happening, so as to head it off, and then, Mr. Krock, you catch yourself watching for chances to do it". Cain also recalled another conversation he had with some insurance men in Los Angeles while verifying facts for Postman. Said one: "[People] think this stuff all comes from the police. That’s wrong. All the big crime mysteries in this country are locked up in insurance company files, and the writer that gets wise to that... is going to make himself rich." And thus was born Neff, who jumped the tracks after fifteen years playing it straight in the insurance business. Armed now with a sense of his hero-gone-wrong, Cain sat down to begin writing the story in 1934. (Source: Hoopes (1982), Cain.)
- ↑ Gallo, Bill (2005). "When 'Dem Bums' Were Kings," New York Daily News, October 4, 2005.
