1937 LaSalle

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

For some reason, we had never watched Double Indemnity before, and when I saw it was on TCM this evening, I opted to wait till tomorrow night to watch Bosch, Episode II of the new season.

OK, so Fred McMurray has to get off the train and "die." Stanwyck is waiting in the family 1937 LaSalle sedan with her dead husband on the floor in the back seat. So while she's waiting for the train, she turns the car off. Barbara! You never, ever turn a flathead Cadillac engine off when it's hot, dear. Fred comes running up and gets in the car. RRRRRRRRR. RRRrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr. rr rr rr rr...

It's happened to me, years and year ago when I was driving a '41 as my everyday driver. I thought it was hilarious.

The moral of the tale. Never turn a flathead Cadillac off when it's hot and you have a dead body in the back seat.

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

The story that I read years ago that while Billy Wilder was making Double Indemnity, he was driving his Cadillac to the studio one morning when he decided to stop at a store to pick something up. When he came out, his warmed up Cadillac barely started.

They happened to be shooting that scene that day, and Wilder thought that it would be a suspenseful touch.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Hi Barry:

Great movie -- I remember that scene.

Mike