Double Indemnity - Movie vs. Novel - Part 2

Just a follow-on to my previous post. Double Indemnity was written by James Cain - who also wrote "The Postman rings twice".  DI basically has the same story, just bottled differently. Instead of the fall guy being a handsome drifter, he's an insurance salesman.  The femme fatale is a housewife instead of a waitress, and the murdered husband is an Oil executive and not a Greek restaurant owner.  Cain's novel is only 115 pages and Cain leaves out everything extraneous to the crime story:  Characterization, atmosphere, motivation, and social commentary. There's no wit and no memorable lines.  

We start with Neff meeting Phyliss and end with their deaths.  Every character is described in one or two sentences.  We get the following descriptions:

• The husband is bulky, middle aged man with glasses.  
• Phyllis is small blonde who fills out a sweater.  
• Lola is pretty and young. 
• The President is young man in an expensive suit.
• Keyes is middle-aged and running to fat.

 Nothing physical is described in detail.  Phyllis' house is "Spanish Style" with "Red drapes". Neff has a fireplace and bungalow.   The Pacific Risk office gets no description.  And we only learn Neff's thoughts and feelings - and no one else.  The novel is an easy read.  It has some twists and turns that would've surprised me if I didn't already know the story. Caine writes in a concise manner with zero fat.  Its NOT great writing but it keeps you interested. 

Here are the main differences between the novel and movie:

1) Memorable Dialogue

People love the script for all the great hardboiled lines. Like:

Neff: Know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? I'll tell you. 'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from you.
Keyes: Closer than that, Walter.
Neff: I love you, too.

But none of that is in the novel.  

Its all from Chandler, or the great bulk of it.  Why do I say that? Because I've seen Blue Dahlia (written by Chandler) and read all his novels, and all the hardboiled dialogue in Double Indemnity sounds exactly like Chandler.  Certainly, it doesn't sound like Wilder, who never wrote hardboiled scripts.  There's not much dialogue in the novel, and its straight-forward, concise and to the point.  There's nothing wrong with it - its just not funny, witty, or memorable.  IOW, its not Chandler.

2)The Framing Device and Ending

Starting the movie with Neff being shot and narrating the story in flashbacks was a stroke of genius. It  allows Neff to get off a lot of great Chandler lines, and gives us the story and characters in the first five minutes.  The novel is straight chronological narrative.  The movie also has a much better ending.  Will Neff live? And if he survives his wound, will he die in the Gas Chamber? We don't know.  Its left open.  A great ending.  

By contrast, the novel's ending is absurd. 

Phyllis and Walter commit suicide by jumping off a Boat bound for Mexico.  The idea these cold-blooded killers would commit suicide is unbelievable. Even worse is the notion that Keyes would let them escape to Mexico to avoid "Bad Publicity".  Hello? Is the company going to get GOOD publicity when the police get ahold of Neff's confession? Are they going to get good publicity if they're caught in Mexico and brought to trial anyway? 

3) Phyllis and Walter made more likable

Of course, having likable actors like Stanwyck and MacMurray does the trick without changing a word of Cain's novel, but Chandler/wilder make other adjustments.  For example, in the movie (but not in the novel) the husband is described as a mean drunk who hits Phyllis and refuses to give her a divorce.  He's later shown  drinking and bad mannered, which gives support. And in the novel,  its Neff who suggests they kill the husband, and he does it without any prompting.  Finally, in the novel, Phyllis doesn't rebuff Neff's advances at first.  Instead, she has sex with him right away, and has sex several more times, before she declares her love and agrees with Neff to murder the husband. 

4) The Expanded Roles for Keyes and Phyllis 

In the book, Phyllis more or less disappears after the murder (which is at page 55).  This makes sense, since Neff and Phyllis don't want to be seen together until Phyllis gets the insurance money.  Their only contact occurs via telephone calls.  Cain focuses in on Lola in the 2nd half and Neff falls in love with her.  Wilder vastly reduces the Lola role, eliminates Neff falling in love, and adds meetings between Phyllis and Neff.  He also gives Phyllis/Neff the climatic scene where she's killed.

The same is true of Keyes and EG Robinson.

Almost all of Robinson's lines and the business with the cigar/matches were added by Chandler/wilder.  Almost all the banter/Friendship between Keyes and Neff is not in the novel. Wilder adds the following scenes for Robinson:  the ending, the job offer to Neff, the interrogation of the man from Medford,  the brow-beating of the truck driver, the visit to Neff's apartment, and the discussion outside the cigar stand.