Chandler, Raymond and Billy Wilder

Raymond Chandler's copy of his script for Double Indemnity, a key work of film noir and his difficult introduction to Hollywood.

Chandler was actually the third choice for a young Billy Wilder to collaborate with on the adaption of James Cain's novella for the screen. With Cain under contract to another studio and the second choice similarly unavailable, Wilder and Chandler began what was to be a contentious partnership. Chandler essentially having no idea how screenwriting worked, he was also overly concerned with money, demanding $1000 for his work, only to be turned down by Wilder. When Chandler refused the offered $750, Wilder explained that was the rate for a week, not the script alone, and with an expected 14 weeks of work Chandler quickly agreed to work with the young director.

He described it as "an agonizing experience and has probably shortened my life; but I learned from it as much about screen writing as I am capable of learning ..." (Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, p.237)

Wilder, though finding Chandler "bad tempered, kind of acid, sour, grouchy" nevertheless appreciated the experience in retrospect:

"Give me a collaborator like Chandler any day....We worked well. We would discuss a situtation ...  then we would start scene by scene, and we started with dialogue, and then with transition. And he was very good at that, just very, very good." (Moss, pp.109-112)

The film was a major critical and box office success, garnishing no less than 7 Oscar nominations at the 17th Academy Awards. A print is  preserved in the Library of Congress Film Archives and it's listed among AFI's Top 100 American films.