Loaded with potential, this R.K.O. film noir gets off to a great start right from the credits which scroll over a blacktop roadway as we speed ahead. Most unusual for the period. Then tops itself with a fake-out prologue you won’t guess before it’s all explained. Alas, this first half-reel is the best part of the film. Not a steep drop at first, that smash opening keeps you involved, as does a meet-cute which is more like a meet-dirty, but we’re running on fumes by the third act. Pity. Hard to assess blame, it’s a well-constructed story (co-authored by Daniel Mainwaring) following Charles McGraw’s insurance dick falling hard for femme fatale Joan Dixon (adventuress/chiseler) who leaves him for easy money as a mob mistress. So when McGraw gets assigned to take down the mob guy, he’s more than a little conflicted, especially after Dixon confesses she loves him back, but won’t live on his puny salary. McGraw so crazy for her, he’s tempted to play both sides of the fence for love and money. Director Harold Daniels runs hot and cold (some of the office interiors so flat they might be from Jack Webb’s DRAGNET) and Dixon’s moll is chilly when she needs to be warm and vice versa. But the film keeps coming back to life on plot & character twists. Try it out with low expectations and be pleasantly surprised . . . or watch it after another tricky McGraw noir (like Richard Fleischer’s THE NARROW MARGIN/’52 https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-narrow-margin-1952.html) and you’re sure to see what’s missing.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: A final car chase, leading up to the titular ROADBLOCK, may be the earliest use in film of the Los Angeles River bed. What took so long?
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