Saturday, January 5, 2013

Double Indemnity (1944)

dir. Billy Wilder

Walter Neff’s (Fred MacMurray) car swerves down W. 5th Street at S. Olive Street, Los Angeles, California

Neff’s car careens through the intersection of S. Olive Street at W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, California. The Philharmonic Auditorium and the Title Guarantee Building (the taller structure) are visible in the background. The Philharmonic Auditorium stood at the corner of 5th and Olive. The Auditorium hosted the L.A. Philharmonic until the latter moved to the Music Center in 1964. The building was demolished in 1985.

Neff parks his car in front of his office building – 618 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, California. That's my best guess from studying the configuration of the buildings and streetcar tracks on old photographs. The office interior was filmed on a studio set.

Phyllis Dietrichson’s (Barbara Stanwyck) house - 6301 Quebec Drive, Los Angeles, California

Neff’s apartment building exterior – 1825 N. Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles, California. The interior was filmed on a studio set.

Nino Zachetti (Byron Barr) waiting for Lola Dietrichson (Jean Heather) at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California

Phyllis Dietrichson and Neff secretly meet at Jerry's Market – 5330 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California. Jerry's Market was located across the street from Paramount Studios. It has been torn down and Producers Studios now stands in its place.

Neff boards a train posing as Phyllis Dietrichson's husband – Southern Pacific Railroad Station, 201 N. Front Street, Burbank, California. It turns out it was not filmed at the Glendale Station, the sign was fake. The production had to relocate to Burbank due to the wartime dim-out regulations. The old Burbank station was damaged by a fire in 1991, and was later demolished. The archive photo below shows it indeed looked like the one in the film. Many thanks to Steven Wells for the correction.

Neff and Lola in the hills overlooking the famous Hollywood Bowl. The entrance to Hollywood Bowl is at 2301 North Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, California

See also...


Sunset Boulevard

Dark Passage

21 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this information and beautiful picture.. They are really stunning... You did a great job.
    bilder freistellen

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  2. Fantastic work here! Absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for this. I will tell others.

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  3. Really good...interesting! In movie review they state interior of Neff apt was shot at famous Hollywood hotel, Chateau Marmount?

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    1. I believe the interior of Neff's apartment was based on Wilder's apartment at Chateau Marmont but it was filmed on a set.

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  4. I never delete Double Indemnity from my DVR. Thanks for the Picts!

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  5. Nicely done. Just saw it for the millionth time and took note of this name/street of the office building, given on the phone at the end, by Keyes to the ambulance: "The Pacific Building, Olive Street". Perhaps the Pacific Mutual Bldg at 523 W 6th St?

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    1. Thank you, Benjamin. They often give fake addresses in the movies. I wouldn't rely on that. The configuration of the street and the buildings on W.6th Street don't match the screenshot.

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  6. In one of the shots of Neff leaving Keyes' office, he has to walk past a guy who's seated and smoking a cigarette, and who looks hauntingly like Raymond Chandler [a pipe man]. Could the author have been tempted to do a Hitchcock-style cameo ? It's hard not to laugh at Chandler's alleged remark,much later,on watching the
    bloated 'auteur' arriving at his home: "Look at (the/this) fat bastard trying to get out of his car!"

    /this

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    1. Yes, it was actually Chandler's cameo.

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    2. I'm sure Alfred was thinking, "I'd rather be a fat bastard than an alcoholic!" ;)

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  7. The train station depicted in the film as Glendale's was actually shot at the Burbank Southern Pacific station at 201 N. Front St.

    A photo prior to its razing in the early '90s can be found here:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/84263554@N00/6622573375/

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  8. I used to play pool at that building on Hollywood and Western, thanks for posting. I knew I recognized it!

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  9. Wow. What a great job. I love this movie and watch it over and over. I am watching it now with your commentary. Thank you
    .

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  10. Any idea where the scenes of the main insurance office, with the rows of desks, were shot?

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  11. Yuri this is an excellent article. I'm pretty sure yours is the original article I used to go and tour the locations! Many thanks for that. You did a fine job. I wouldn't have been able to see them were it not for your article.

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  12. Am seeing this right now on the two DVD set with the Richard Shickel audio commentary. Thanks for the research!

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  13. Just watched Double Indemnity (again) on TCM's 30 Days of Oscar, decided to look up locations as I live in that area, and I found your site - thank you! I love that you can share your passion with the rest of us.

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