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Double Indemnity Double Indemnity (1944) was director Billy Welder's classic film noir masterpiece. The story was based on James M. Cain's book, which was based on a true crime in 1927. Double Indemnity refers to a clause in an insurance policy that states the company will pay twice the settlement if the insured party is accidentally killed in a certain way. The screenplay for double indemnity has a unique structure for a movie made in 1944. The story is told completely in flashback. The film begins with Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray), a successful insurance salesman, staggering into his office building. He sits down at his desk and begins recording a message for his co-worker Keyes. The message is a confession to murder. Throughout the film Neff changes his voice, alternating from a confession to a narration, as he links together the scenes in flashback. As in most film noir, this story isn't about the crime; it’s about the people who commit it. We already know Neff is guilty, now we need to know why. Why would a successful insurance salesman commit murder? The flashback takes us back to the beginning, of how this all happened. Neff is going to Mr. Dietrichson’s home to renew an auto insurance poli