Double Indemnity: Differences between the film and novel

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Differences between the film by Billy Wilder and novel by James Cain, Double Indemnity
The film by Billy Wilder
The film Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder starts by Walter Neff going to his workplace in the middle of the night. Walter works at Pacific All-Risk Insurance building, where he has to present a report to his boss and best friend, Barton Keyes, that night (Studlar, 389). The conversation is enabled by the use of a speaking Dictaphone (Studlar, 390). However, the employee is going through great pain, as revealed in the audio during the dictation of the report. He had committed murder, and it is all over his voice even before confessing to Keyes. Although Keyes has always had a deep insight in identifying insurance frauds, his friendship and love towards Walter blindfold him. Hence, the case escapes his impeccable instincts, and he does not realize the plot behind the report he had received from the worker. The conversation leads to a staging that establishes a relationship between Walter, Phyllis, and Keyes. Walter is proud of his courageous action and step of reporting the issue to the boss, but a cloud of sadness and regret evokes him, and he almost regrets his decision. However, the fact that he confessed to his friend makes his situation better as he thinks or instead knows Keyes would never betray him.
The close relationship between Keyes and Walter leads to the latter turning the office into his home. He knows for a fact that this is the only place he can get comfortable and standard social interactions. The film indulges a flashback of association between the two lads, and Walter seems quite pleased to interact, engage, and work with Keyes. The former confesses that he knew his boss is a good person, not knowing that Phyllis' involvement posed a significant threat not only to their relationship but also to his life. This scene brings out the understanding that the film is not made to reveal adultery or murder only, but a struggle betrayal as well when Keyes and Phyllis struggle for Walter’s souls where Phyllis wins (Studlar, 390). However, he institutes the betrayal scene by breaking Keyes's trust in him, who later desires to see him executed for the action.
The film reveals flashbacks in various scenes like the first meeting between Walter and Phyllis. The former gets in a mess when he cannot overcome the temptress nature of the latter, and he ends up in chaos by falling into the flirtatious tricks by Phyllis (Studlar, 391). According to (Studlar, 392) the film is sexually suggestive as Walter gets involved with a married woman informed and willingly, turning the staging to a crime scene. Ironically, despite Walter’s betrayal to Keyes, the film reveals a close relationship between them towards the end. The stage shows a view where Phyllis shoots Walter once on his shoulder, but she is overcome by sympathy and cannot shoot a second time to kill him (Allyn, 116). On the other hand, the victim shoots her to protect Lola and makes audio for his confession to protect her son.
The Novel by James Cain
The novel stands out with great satisfaction with genre requirements. Cain surpasses the expectations of his readers by writing an excellent novel in the time and even for their future generations. The novel reveals not only adultery and murder but also the corruptible nature of the insurance agent (Matt, 1). Also, betrayal unfolds when Walter Kills Phyllis' husband in a conspiracy by the latter and latter on lies to his friend Keyes insinuating that the incident was an accident. The three major characters in the play, Walter, Phyllis, and Keyes, take their roles responsibly with hard-boiled performances, suggesting they enjoy their parts in the staging of the drama. “Suddenly it came over me that everything would go wrong,” Walter says. “It sounds crazy, Keyes, but it’s true, so help me. I couldn’t hear my own footsteps. It was the walk of a dead man.”, (Matt, 1). Walter realizes his mistake, and he not only regrets but also asks Keyes to him dealing with the issue because he could not betray Lola. Matt, 2 argues that Double Indemnity still stands out for more than sixty years after release.
The play begins with Walter Huff, an Insurance agent visiting Herbert Nirlinger, one of his clients, to discuss on auto-renewal of the latter's' policy. However, Nirlinger is not home at that time, and his wife asks Walter to come back after dinner, but she informs his office that the scheduled time is not appropriate, and she will inform him of the best time (Cain, 4). Phyllis has an ill motive of insuring and killing his husband to eventually get all his benefits as the next of kin after the execution of her plan. In this case,...