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Double Indemnity

When I was a kid, the only time I'd ever see Fred MacMurray was on a worn-out VHS of his roles in The Absent-Minded Professor or Son Of Flubber, where he played a kindly but scatterbrained scientist who created a strange goo that bounced very high. So, you can imagine the surprise I registered when I first even heard about the 1944 classic film noir Double Indemnity, where he starred as Walter Neff, a sleazy insurance salesman who helps a femme fatale off her husband for the money. What's more amazing is how easily MacMurray, who did time as a villainous type in some films before he stepped over to making family movies, is able to hold up against one of the great sirens, Barbara Stanwyck. As Phyllis, the gorgeous but evil woman who convinces Walter to go to the dark side, Stanwyck is icy yet completely convincing. In one moment, you completely understand why Walter falls for this beauty, and in the next, you want him to run as far as he can from her. Everything about this movie is quality, from the script by director Billy Wilder and famed noir novelist Raymond Chandler, to Wilder's slick helming, to even the supporting performance from well-known baddie Edward G. Robinson, who's on the good side here. As Neff's friend and boss, Robinson does a lot with a little, even in the final scene. This is a friendship for the ages, even if it may not last. As an entry into the genre of film noir, Double Indemnity is perfect for those of you who don't like either the classics or black-and-white.

The General

This last entry is about as daring as I can get. Not only is 1927's The General a very old film that is shot in black-and-white, but it's also a silent movie. Hopefully, very few of you have run for the hills. I realize that most people have a special dislike for movies with no spoken dialogue, but how can you pass up great comedians like Buster Keaton? Usually, I favor Charlie Chaplin over Keaton, but in this case, I think that The General is a slightly better choice than even City Lights. Like that 1931 Chaplin comedy, The General has a love story, as Johnnie Gray (Keaton), our lead character, has a fiancée whom he loves very much. Gray is a Confederate in the Civil War and would love to fight, but is considered too valuable as a train engineer; this turns into a big misunderstanding that makes everyone around him think he's a coward, so Johnnie goes off on his train. Eventually, some major complications arise and...well, silent or not, you can guess the ending is happy, even if the lead was on the losing side of the Civil War. The politics of that war don't come into play; Keaton is all about big laughs. One classic scene features him accidentally derailing a train with soldiers on his side of the fight and being helpless to fix this mistake. The only drawback to talking about silent movies is that it's much better to see them than to describe them. Let me say this much: if you love comedy of any kind, you can bet that it owes a debt to Buster Keaton. Even modern comedies owe this debt of gratitude; for just straight comedy with only a hint of romance, The General is a great place to start.

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