Analyzing James Cain's 'Double Indemnity'

Double Indemnity Double Indemnity, the movie and the book that describes how a perfect crime or what was thought of perfect went wrong. The author of Double Indemnity, James Cain shows and tells the audience a summary of what is going to happen in just the opening scene of the book and in the movie. The opening scene is significant because it reveals what is going to happen in the story. The opening scene in the movie begins with a car speeding through a dark, wet Los Angeles intersection where a railway crew is working. Running a red light, the car swerves to avoid hitting a newspaper delivery truck before coming to a stop. Looking at this one step at a time, the car speeding makes gives the audience an impression of the driver, that …show more content…
The first way is how Huff talks with Phyllis he tries to get into business right away but get distracted by Phyllis’s looks and what she was wearing. He then talks with Phyllis in a fast sexually way. The second way speeding is shown in the book and movie is when they killed Mr. Nirdlinger and went and pretended that he fell from the train while they were going back home.”…We came to a street. On Sunset she went through a light. ‘ Watch that stuff, can’t you, Phyllis?’… She hit a zone, and must have been doing seventy.” (D.I. pg 51) This also represents running the red light. This shows how the opening scene foreshadows the …show more content…
Nirdlinger falling from the train. The railway also represents their downfall because the plan did not go as plan there was a man that saw his face. The last obstacle huff faces in the opening scene is the newspaper truck. The newspaper truck represent the truck at the beginning of the story of the man who filed a claim that his car blew up by accident and that he had insurance and wanted money. The only problem with that is that Keyes finds out that it was not an accident and that the truck owner did it on purpose to get the money. The newspapers were an important part in the film when Huff approaches the house of Mr. Nirdlinger. “I drove out to Glendale to put three new truck drivers on a brewery company bond, and then I remembered this renewal over in Hollywoodland. I decided to run over there. That was how I came to this house of death, that you’ve been reading about in the papers.” (D.I. PG 3) This shows from the beginning of the story that the story is going to have a crime or more in it. The second place that newspapers were shown in the story was when Mr. Nirdlinger died, the story of his death was known to the people. The third place would be at the end when the plan failed and Huff was found guilty. The story of the true killers was