Double Indemnity: 80 Years On

Billy Wilder’s film noir classic remains an ideal entry point for those new to the genre

Credit: Paramount

Warning: Contains spoilers

There’s some debate among film scholars over which film constituted the first film noir. Generally, cineastes point to The Maltese Falcon (1941), but how can it be? It’s a remake of a film made ten years earlier. On the other hand, the film noir style, with its moody, shadowy imagery, is often considered someth…