When reviewing a movie as old as Double Indemnity, I always feel the need to preface it by saying that I understand that old movies aren’t for everyone, and that huge distance in production value with modern movies can make them a bit hard to watch for modern audiences. So, when it comes to a lot of these old “classics” that film buffs tell you that you need to watch, a lot of times I’m with audiences in saying that they’re usually kind of boring. I usually end up “appreciating” them more than I actually enjoy them. There are a few exceptions to this, though, and Double Indemnity is one of them. This is a classic that I legitimately enjoyed, and think that people should give it a chance if they want to explore some of the better movie classics.

For one thing, the premise is really compelling. This is a film noir (yep, complete with the voiceovers and everything) where an insurance salesman meets a housewife. The two end up forming a bit of a connection, and so the housewife reveals that she wants her husband dead because of how awful he is. So, she asks the salesman to help her get accident insurance for her husband, so that they can kill him and collect the insurance money for him. The salesman agrees, but lets her know that it won’t be easy to pull it off. It’s a really interesting idea, and one that I think you’d find still replicated in movies today. I think it’s one that a lot of general audiences will be able to get behind, which makes it so easy to recommend.

Double Indemnity is so interesting because it has such an interesting story. The movie does a great job at building tension, which I find to be a lot harder with older movies. I know people tend to feel this way especially about old horror movies, where they’re really not actually scary in comparison to what came later. Double Indemnity is able to craft genuinely thrilling tension, and so there were certain scenes where I was on the edge of my seat wondering where things would go next. It’s the kind of movie where a lot of the fun is in not knowing where it’s headed. The acting also really helps this, though. The two leads do a great job at carrying this, but there is also a character that’s a claims specialist who is easily the highlight of the movie. Whenever he was on screen, I was taken in by his performance.

An easy marker for me to determine whether or not I actually liked or simply just appreciated an old classic is whether or not I’d actually be interested in rewatching it again. There are movies like Citizen Kane or The Great Dictator, where I can appreciate what they’ve done for film, but after seeing them once I don’t really have the desire to ever rewatch them. But then there are also old classics like The Wizard of Oz or Gone With the Wind, where I genuinely really love them and would gladly watch them more than once. Double Indemnity actually falls more into the latter category. While I’m not sure how I’d feel about some of the more suspenseful moments on repeated viewings due to knowing what happens, I still think it’s an enjoyable enough movie that I’d gladly sit down and rewatch it just because. Like I said, I can understand the disconnect modern audiences feel towards old movies, because I feel the same a lot of the time. However, this is one that I think you should actually give a chance, because it’s really good, even today.

4.5/5