7. Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder proved to be one of the most versatile Classic Hollywood Directors, making such classics as "Some Like It Hot" and "Sunset Boulevard", two films that couldn't be anymore different. With "Double Indemnity", Wilder cements his mark on the film noir genre. All the conventions that you recognize when you watch a film like "LA Confidential" or any other noirish film can be found from watching Wilder's film. Fred McMurray is nebbish to the point of being pathetic while Barbara Stanwyck exudes Femme Fatale sexiness as she tries to get this insurance salesman to murder her husband. Wilder uses to full extent the shadows, even innovating the light through the Venetian blinds creating a depth of space that produces the image of being a captor in a jail and juxtaposition of light and dark. Taking its cues from German Expressionism, "Double Indemnity" seems to relish in the shadows as the audience fell in love with characters whose morale compass is just as shadowy. By 1944, the anti-hero of the gangster films were no longer in style with prohibition over, and in its place were the noir films thanks in part to Wilder's seminal classic.