film Home > Movie Reviews

A bored sexpot married to a rich older man she hates; a weak-willed schmuck who's not as smart as he thinks; a grizzled old guy who knows all the angles. An early directing effort from Billy Wilder, this 1944 gem is an exercise in the precise geometry of film noir, with Wilder's trademark snappy, black-humored dialogue (he co-wrote the screenplay with Raymond Chandler) guiding the compass point. Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray play the sexpot and schmuck, respectively, pulling the film's sexual tension as taut as a violin string; the heated, double entendre-laced repartee in their first meeting is a classic example of why movies were sexier back in the days of the Production Code. Edward G. Robinson nearly steals the picture, though, as MacMurray's wily, ulcer-plagued insurance-company boss.