The Reel Schmooze on 'Double Indemnity': Billy Wilder's film noir masterpiece

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

We have two Jangles this week. Borschel-Dan explains how Boy George released a reggae-inspired track, titled “Od Nirkod” in Hebrew, "We Will Dance Again," on his social media accounts on Monday. The duo chews this over.

Hoffman is still jazzed from a Phish show he had seen the previous night. He brings us a fascinating and statistically rare sound sample.

The main feature this week is Billy Wilder's 1944 "Double Indemnity," which is considered by many -- including our very own movie maven -- as one of the best pieces of film noir to date.

Wilder was born in 1906 in Sucha, Galicia, today's Poland, to a Jewish family. He moved as a boy to Vienna, eventually working as a journalist and screenwriter, and moved to Paris as the Nazis rose to power. By 1934, he had made his way to Hollywood and begun working on films.

Last week, Hoffman dared Borschel-Dan to find the Jewish themes of this week's film. Set in 1938, "Double Indemnity" probes the banality of evil even as Wilder's own family was being massacred in Nazi Europe.

Wilder won the first of his seven Oscars for the film, which stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and the Jewish actor Edward Goldenberg Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg).

Let’s hear who gave this film an “oy,” “meh” or the prized “not bad” this week on The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

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