Double Indemnity becomes inseperable from its Los Angeles setting. It admittledly may have come at convenience, but it is the Los Angeles of yore which partly makes this film so compelling. Perhaps it is the L.A which was lost, ceded to growth. Perhaps it was the palms. The Los Angeles of Double Indemnity, however, departs from the modern city. There was a great dynamic in the various settings within L.A.. One could go from the urban office, to the bustling street corner and end at the Spanish abode up the canyon. This, when taken in its
entirity, becomes a grand foil for Double Indemnity. Mrs. Dietrichson's personality and circumstance mirrors her large, secluded home. Walter's role as a menial insurance man is matched by his apartment. The importance of Pacific All-Risk is reiterated by their towering offices. Most cities at the time of filming did not have this same dynamic. It would not have been the same in Chicago or New York.
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This is the nostalgia complex that is becoming so rare and expensive these days, because no one builds it anymore. My wife and I are lucky to have been able to purchase a home in an Historic District of Phoenix, Arizona. For a city that is barely 100 years old, to live in a neighborhood that is 70 years old is pretty uncommon, there aren't many of them. After falling on hard times in the 60 and 70, it has been gentrified and updated because of its close location to downtown, the fact that every house is different, the streets are not strait and the palm trees and vegetation are now considered 'old growth'. Something that modern contractors would never think of. Today, everything is cookie-cutter and from Home Depot. Our street looks like something out of a 1940 movie, and the fact that last year we had 3 movie crews in the neighborhood shooting interior and exterior shots (portions of this years "The Kingdom" were shot a block from our house)is a testament to the allure of the spaces that have retained something we have lost in the mass produced world.
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