Double Indemnity tops list of 1944 film classics

Collider published a list 1 hour ago that ranks ten films from 1944 now considered classics, noting the year’s mix of wartime escapism, hard-edged realism and the emergence of film noir.

The roundup names Double Indemnity as the year’s standout, calling it a definitive film noir about lust, greed and ruin; Laura and Ivan the Terrible, Part I follow near the top. The piece highlights other notable entries including Going My Way — described as the biggest commercial hit of the year that grossed over $6.5 million and won the Best Picture Oscar — Meet Me in St. Louis (the year’s second-highest grossing film), Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, Gaslight (credited as the origin of the term “gaslighting”), Arsenic and Old Lace, Murder, My Sweet, To Have and Have Not, and several more.

The list, compiled by Luc Haasbroek — a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa who has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years — presents brief descriptions and context for each film and ranks what the author calls the year’s finest classics.

Key Topics

Culture, Double Indemnity, Film Noir, World War Ii, Luc Haasbroek, Billy Wilder