Forging the template for dozens of films to come, Wilder teamed with legendary crime bard Raymond Chandler to adapt James M. Cain’s novel. The resulting masterwork garnered seven Oscar nods, including Best Picture and Best Actress, the latter for Barbara Stanwyck’s quicksilver portrayal of the married woman seducing insurance agent Fred MacMurray into committing what might be the perfect crime— until dogged insurance investigator Edward G. Robinson shows up.