55-Double Indemnity - Director:Billy Wilder. Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.


"We had to be realistic.You had to believe the situation and the characters,or all was lost.I insisted on black&white,of course,and in making operattas I'd learned that sometimes one tecnical shot destroyed a picture.You could say that Double Indemnity was based on the principal of M(Fritz Lang),the very good picture starring Peter Lorre.I had a feeling,something in my head,M was on my mind.I tried for a very realistic picture.A few little tricks,but not very tricky.M was the look of the picture.It was a picture that looked like a newsreel.You never realized it was staged.But like a newsreel,you look to grab a moment of truth,and exploit it"
-Billy Wilder-


"...(Stanwyck) she was a freelance actor,a kind of gun for hire,and in the beginning didn't really have the backing of a big studio.I mean she had a broad range of things she could do---not the classics,but certainly heavy drama and light comedy.She could make you laugh,and she could make you cry.Chaplin,of course,could make you do both at the same time."
-Katherine Hepburn-


"With Stanwyck,I had absolutely no difficulties at all.And she knew the script,everybody's lines.You could wake her up in the middle of the night and she'd know the scene.Never a fault,never a mistake...just a wonderful brain she had."
-Billy Wilder-