Double Indemnity is a 1944 noir film involving an insurance salesman, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), helping a housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) murder her husband and claim the compensation. Neff records his exploits for his friend and coworker, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), to listen to before he dies. So where does the queer characteristic come into play? At face value, we as the audience see that Neff falls for Phyllis, the housewife, and becomes involved in a heterosexual affair. However, the film was produced in 1944, so the filmmakers had to work with the censors; for example, the film implies that Neff and Phyllis have sex by cutting from them kissing to them on a couch smoking and looking distant. If a heterosexual couple can't say or show that they had sex, then how could a queer couple be shown outright in the 40s?
There are subtle hints throughout the movie that imply the relationship between these two men is more than what it seems at first glance. Some of the more innocent words said in the film are taken as sarcastic and humorous; however, it could be a hint that asks the audience to wonder“What if?” For instance, in the first scene with Neff and Keyes, Keyes argues and insults Neff who replies, “I love you too.” It has that sarcastic and humorous tone, but it does suggest a playful relationship between the two that has gone on for a long time. In the middle of the movie, Neff's recalls Keyes helping him with a scheme, he exclaims that “I could have kissed you at that moment.” Now as the audience, we don't believe that Neff could have literally meant it, but why include those lines if they don't mean anything? Couldn't the co-writer, Raymond Chandler a rumored repressed homosexual, have used different words?
The two men act familiar with each other, much differently than what we would expect in the 1940s. In their scenes together, there is always a moment when Keyes cannot light his cigarette, so Neff lights it for him. This feels very intimate considering Neff is lighting a cigarette in Keyes's mouth. Even in the final scene where Neff is dying, Keyes returns the favor of lighting Neff's cigarette. By lighting the other's cigarette, this is a casual expression of their love for each other.
At a point in the film Keyes offers a job to Neff, which involves Neff becoming his assistant instead of being a salesman. Keyes believes the job to be much more respectable than Neff's current position. He can't believe that Neff would turn it down, and he even looks insulted. The job itself doesn't seem like that great of an offer; there's a fifty dollar cut in pay and he's stuck at a desk all day shuffling papers. However, to Keyes it means Neff will always be by his side and he won't be seeing other people anymore. This is probably the closest to a marriage proposal Keyes or the film can get to.
The two have a very close relationship that Phyllis drives a wedge between by having an affair with Neff. The similarities between Phyllis and Keyes in the movie are what ties this interpretation together. Phyllis and Keyes are the two closest to Neff. They both love him and want him to themseleves. However, Phyllis is more chaotic, and Keyes is very lawful. They both show different futures for Neff to take through their different appeals. With all the hints and subtleties, the film helps provide some underground queer representation from the 40s that wouldn't be considered possible in that mainstream society.
