A perfect and quintessential noir film. First-time watching this is a revelation. The sultry performance of Barbara Stanwyck left me so transfixed I did not notice that she was wearing a wig and that this would be remarked upon in the special features as a way of conveying her fraudulent, self-absorbed nature. She is the definitive femme fatale. Consider that shot of her in the car as her husband is murdered off camera in the seat right next to her and we don't see it. Her eyes beam in German expressionist style, full of delight and conveying her depravity.

Fred MacMurray gives a textured performance as insurance salesman Walter Neff, a flawed bad guy in over his head, and yet sympathetic too. His voiceover narration is exquisitely written and oozes noir at its finest. Darkness and light are thoughtfully composed in virtually every shot. One immediately notices the shadows produced by the blinds and dust wafting through Stanwyck's house as a virtuosic touch.

Edward G. Robinson plays the smart insurance company boss who is close with McMurray. Their relationship is fascinating and the final scene poignant because of how the movie built them up to be like a father and son. At the end as MacMurray is mortally shot by Stanwyck and after all his flashbacks and confessing on recording, Robinson had been listening to the tail-end of it in the doorway. As MacMurray shambles out of the office and then crumbles near death, a wonderful exchange of dialogue occurs. "You know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes?" MacMurray asks. "'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya." "Closer than that, Walter" Robinson replies. Neff says "I love you too" at the end, a sentiment that modern audiences would find confusing and homosexual, but indicates instead what male relationships could be in the 40s: close bonds, not romantic at all.