Dull programmer from dull journeyman megger George Sherman, breaking from his usual quickie Westerns to helm this jerry-built film noir.* Too bad, it’s nutty enough to have been dumb fun. John Payne, fresh off a surprise hit with MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET/’47, plays front man to a gang of con artists run by reliably amoral Dan Duryea. On this job, Payne’s wooing small town war widow Joan Caulfield (in fast career decline), feeding her a line about raising cash for a memorial to her late husband while really planning to take the money and run before anyone’s the wiser. But to the surprise of no one, he falls for the lady and tries to get out of his bargain with Duryea. Even with avaricious moll Shelly Winters doing every low-down trick she can think of to keep Payne off the straight & narrow. (Winters still in youthful flush, jaw-line intact.) With plot & characterizations already tumbling toward inadvertent non-sequitor, we rush toward a third act where things turn positively ludicrous. Easy to imagine someone else bringing a little pace & style to the proceedings to get away with this crap. But with Sherman giving the orders, don’t get your hopes up. Dreary stuff, right down to the repurposed dialogue and sets. The cast phones it in, protecting themselves with indifference. All except Caulfield who, as an actress, proves some kind of terrible.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: To see what can be done on this sort of thing (and with this sort of budget) check out next year’s noir thriller IMPACT/’49. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/01/impact-1949.html OR: *Just as Sherman’s career was winding down, he finally got an A-list/full budget assignment when John Wayne tapped him for BIG JAKE/’71, one of the generic Westerns Wayne cranked out post-TRUE GRIT. In the event, Sherman took ill and Wayne directed much of the pic himself sans credit.
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