Special Features:
NONE

FILM
I have been reading, On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov (thanks Bobby), and when I finished the section on Double Indemnity, I decided I needed to go back and watch the film again. In my opinion this is a film of near perfection. I can watch this movie over and over and always find new things and new textures in the dialog. Even at its most absurd the dialog in this film flows so smoothly the grin on my face goes from ear to ear.

I love when actors are allowed to play against type. Up until this point MacMurray had pretty much been a song and dance man, but he was allowed to break into a much darker area with this picture. MacMurray plays Walter Neff a top insurance salesman for Pacific All Risk Insurance. He is out on a routine car insurance renewal call when he meets Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck). From the second he lays eyes on her in only a towel, at the top of the steps, he is hooked. Over the course of a couple meetings, she eventually brings up the topic of buying accident insurance on her husband without her husband knowing. Neff immediately reads the situation and declines with some of the slickest dialogue ever. This refusal doesn't last long and soon he is going over the plan he has played with in his head for years. Now, not only will he get rich, but he is going to have great sex. In typical noir fashion, things can only go downhill from there.

I do not want to go into the plot anymore than this for those who have not seen it, but it is a perfectly told story. One of the highlights of this film is the brilliant performance of Edward G. Robinson as a claims investigator. Also, look for the great visual touches by director Billy Wilder and cinematographer John Seitz. Most specifically in the introduction of Barbara Stanwyck's character,  the murder scene and the ominous lighting throughout.

VIDEO
A new print of this film was released to theaters a couple of years ago and why it was not used for this DVD is beyond me. This looks like the same transfer that you see on TV and that was used for the laserdisc over ten years ago. The encoding is actually pretty good but the grain in the print gets so excessive in a couple of scenes that your attention gets drawn away from the story. This is about the worst thing a transfer can do.

AUDIO
Soundtrack is fine. It 1940's mono but it is fairly solid. Not a lot of excess noise and all dialog is clear.

EXTRAS
It has images for menus, if you can call that an extra. (It is and extra if you look at the original Columbia releases, like In the Line of Fire.) Hopefully we will see a DVD of the new print that is a full deluxe edition sometime in the future.

SUMMARY
This film is a classic and is a must see. I would not necessarily recommend everyone to go out and buy it because of the image quality, but shell out a couple of dollars and rent it. You won't be disappointed.