Micro-budgeted film noir really knows what’s it’s about. And why not? The sharp-eyed script is from Martin Goldsmith who did DETOUR/’45 and NARROW MARGIN/’52.* Penny-ante actor Robert Gordon makes a smooth transition to directing here, with plenty of help from vet lenser George Meehan in one of his last credits. Plus a considerable cast to carry it off, starting with Chester Morris as a soused novelist, acclaimed but uncommercial, trying to get an advance on a murder mystery he’s just cooked up, a sure bestseller. The old chestnut about a dead man in a room locked from the inside? Solved it. But his hard-ass publisher ain’t buying. Worse, Morris can’t remember the solution when sober. And he needs to, since his publisher has just been found murdered in his office, exactly as Morris described in his book proposal. Maybe he did it and was too drunk to remember. Yikes! But wait; two people were at the office and may have heard his solution to the ‘locked-room’ scenario. Successful mystery author Steven Geray and secretary/ receptionist Constance Dowling. Meanwhile, Detective James Bell figures he’s got an easy case to make on Morris. Neat stuff, with Morris serving up running commentary (sub-Raymond Chandler, but that’s okay) and a bit of zippy action at the inevitable showdown. Morris plays drunk for the first half of the pic, usually a pain, but he manages a neat trick when he gets all tongue-tied, clearing confusion by puckering up and giving off with a whistle to reset his head. He’s adorable.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Scripter Goldsmith hit the Grade-Z auteur jackpot when Edgar G. Ulmer came on to direct DETOUR. Who knew that masterful nihilistic nightmare started out as a novel?
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