Double Indemnity (novel)

''Double Indemnity'' is a 1943 crime novel by American journalist-turned-novelist James M. Cain. It was first published in serial form in ''Liberty'' magazine in 1936 and later republished as one of "three long short tales" in the collection '' Three of a Kind''. The novel later served as the basis for the film of the same name in 1944, adapted for the screen by the novelist Raymond Chandler and directed by Billy Wilder.

Plot summary

Walter Huff, an insurance agent, falls for the married Phyllis Nirdlinger, who consults him about accident insurance for her unsuspecting husband. In spite of his instinctual decency, and intrigued by the challenge of committing the perfect murder, Walter is seduced into helping the ''femme fatale'' kill her husband for the insurance money. After killing him in the Nirdlinger train car, they stage an accident from the rear platform of a train. But they cannot enjoy their success. The crime backfires on them, and soon afterwards, with the insurance company's claim manager Barton Keyes becoming more suspicious of them, he decides to kill her, too "for what she knew about me, and because the world isn't big enough for two people once they've got something like that on each other". With her own distrust mounting, Phyllis decides to kill her accomplice. One night, he tries to ambush her, but she forestalls him and shoots at ''him'' instead. He survives, though, and the end sees both of them on a steamship heading to Mexico: Keyes has given them an ostensible chance to escape formal justice by booking their passages - without them knowing about the other. With "nothing ahead of" them (Cain, p. 113), they finally decide to jump off the ship and commit suicide.

Publication History

In the autumn of 1934, shortly after the release of his first novel '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'', Cain and wife Elina Tyszecka purchased a home in the Southern California city of Beverly Hills. Anticipating work as a screenplay writer in Hollywood, Cain decided to write a serial to help pay for the expensive property. The plot for ''Double Indemnity'' was derived from two independent sources:

1) An incident shared with him by Arthur Krock, assistant publisher when Cain worked at the New York World in 1924 intrigued him: A printer at the Louisville Courier-Journal had gratuitously altered the word “TUCK” in a routine advertisement for ladies underwear to form a vulgar four-letter word. The ad was published in the next edition. When Krock confronted the guilty employee, he responded: “Mr. Krock, you do nothing your whole life but watch for something like that happening…and then you catch yourself watching for chances to do it…” Cain was fascinated with the dramatic possibilities implicit in this reckless and self-destructive act.

2) Cain was familiar with aspects of the insurance business, having sold insurance in Washington D. C. at the age of twenty-two He obtained additional insights into how fraud was committed from his father who worked for an insurance company. Cain was impressed by comments from an auto insurance salesman he had consulted when researching details for The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1933. They assured him that “the big crime mysteries in this country are locked up in insurance company files.”
With a story and a dramatic element in mind, Cain informed his agent Edith Haggard that he would model the style of the serial on ''The Postman Always Rings Twic''e:

The novel was completed in late summer 1935 with the title ''Double Indemnity'' provided by Cain’s agent James Geller. When Haggard’s effort to sell the serial to Redbook failed, and book publisher Alfred A. Knopf showed no interest, Geller took manuscripts to several Hollywood studios, generating tremendous enthusiasm. When the Hays Office examined the work for film adaption, they emphatically rejected it. Cain considered rewriting the serial, but Haggard had succeeded in selling ''Double Indemnity'' to Liberty magazine for $5000, and it was published in early 1936.

Adaptations

1944 film adaption

Directed by Billy Wilder with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, ''Double Indemnity'' was “the first significant film created from a Cain book, and it remains the best.”

In 1935 when Liberty magazine was preparing to release ''Double Indemnity'' by installments, M-G-M studios requested the Hays Office evaluate the piece for film adaptation. Joseph Breen emphatically condemned the depictions of murder and adultery, killing any Hollywood interest in the novel.

With the 1943 inclusion of ''Double Indemnity'' in '' Three of a Kind'', a hard-bound collection of Cain novellas, interest in the work was revived. Cain’s agent H. N. Swanson brought the work to the attention of Austro-Hungarian writer-director Billy Wilder, and Wilder instantly acquired the rights for $15,000. Cain was chagrined that the piece, valued at 25,000 in 1935, was still discounted by the waning censorship risks imposed by the Hays Office. Initially, Wilder enlisted Cain to help write the film script. His dialogue, which was pitched to his literary forms, did not translate well to film. Wilder hired Raymond Chandler, author of ''The Big Sleep'', and he and Wilder completed the screenplay. The scenario and story remained “as close as possible to the original story” but gave centrality to the relationship between Neff and Keyes Literary critic Paul Skenazy observes that “Wilder and Chandler shift the focus from the lovers’ passion to the cost of that passion, and from Neff’s relationship with Phylis to the conflict of loyalties brought on by Phylis.” The script was approved by Joseph Breen.

Cain was deeply gratified at the critical and commercial success of ''Double Indemnity,'' as well as the lead performances. Cain wrote to actor Barbara Stanwyck who plays Phyllis Nirdlinger hyllis Dietrichson in the film version“it is a very creepy sensation to see a character imagined by yourself step in front of your eyes exactly as you imagined her.” To actor Fred MacMurray who plays Walter Huff alter Neff in the film versionCain wrote:

The film was remade in 1973 as a television film starring Richard Crenna. This credits for this version state that it is based on the original novel by James M. Cain as well as the screenplay for the 1944 film by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler.

A stage adaptation by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, directed by Kurt Beattie, opened at ACT Theatre in Seattle on October 27, 2011.ACT Theatre production history
. Retrieved 18 May 2014. The same production moved to the San Jose Repertory Theatre and opened on January 18, 2012.

References

{{James M. Cain

1943 American novels
Novels by James M. Cain
American crime novels
Works originally published in Liberty (general interest magazine)
Novels first published in serial form
American novels adapted into films