The Music Hall: Double Indemnity (1944)

Description

Double Indemnity stars Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurrary, Edward G. Robinson and a cheap blonde wig. The wig was purposely chosen by director Billy Wilder to make Stanwyck’s character of a wife scheming to murder her husband with the aid of a hapless insurance salesman as sleazy as possible. And it succeeds. Co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, this classic film noir was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Stanwyck’s third Oscar nod. A big hit with audiences, the film received additional publicity when “American the Beautiful” singer Kate Smith urged the public to stay away on “moral grounds.”