Passion and redemption. Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain and Billy Wilder

Abstract

In 1943, James M. Cain brings to light a collection of three stories, titled Three of a Kind. One of the three was Double Indemnity, from which Billy Wilder wrote and directed a film with the same title, presented in 1944. The script, written with Raymond Chandler, introduces some changes in Cain’s narrative. This essay ponders about a few of those variances – such as the first scene, much tenser in the film than in the book, the redemptive elements of the characters, which vary significantly, the development of one character, Barton Keyes, comparatively secondary in the book and immensely relevant in the film, and the ending, which is almost ridiculous in the book and almost sublime in the film –, briefly discussing their narrative and dramatic dis/advantages.