GUILTY BYSTANDER (1950)

Per IMdB: ‘Once thought to be a lost movie, it was restored in 2019 by Nicolas Winding Refn's company, NWR, from the only known print, held at the British Film Institute.’  And you’ll see what drew Refn to this remarkable, if not entirely successful, dank film noir, with the feel of an urban DETOUR/’45, Edgar G. Ulmer’s zero-budget classic.  Acting against an alarming lineup of principals in their final feature, undervalued Zachary Scott, unlike his co-stars, only playing end-of-the-line, an ex-cop drifting toward waterfront oblivion when suddenly confronted by ex-wife Faye Emerson, panicked over their missing child.  With minimal funds advanced by forgiving landlady Mary Boland (the brilliant high-style comedienne, here miraculously cast against type, slatternly/disheveled), Scott puts on his worn-out detective hat to investigate, coming up with a gang of wise guys operating out of a warehouse; a packet of stolen diamonds; unhelpful cops from his past; a dame in a bar with the info to get him back on track (for the price of a smooch); and a surprise villain close to home, trying to keep him harmlessly liquored up.  With exceptionally textured cinematography, much of it shot on ‘stolen’ locations by Gerald Hirschfield and a Dmitri Tiomkin score (who paid for that?), the film only shows its dire budget in ways that strengthen underbelly verisimilitude.  And while script & plotting fall to talky confusion, the film is still easily worth the trip.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: As mentioned, DETOUR. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/09/detour-1945.html  OR: While it doesn’t match up, try Zachary Scott in Ulmer’s best shot at a conventional pic, RUTHLESS/’48.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/01/ruthless-1948.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Is that really Kay Medford playing the sexy broad-in-a-bar Scott picks up to pick her brain, then shockingly using as a human shield during a failed rub-out?  (Or is he pushing her out of harm’s way in this rare bit of action; scarifying stuff.)  Medford would make her rep playing nagging Jewish mother types, famously on-stage/on-screen against Barbra Streisand’s FUNNY GIRL/’68.