Angel And The Badman - 1947 - USA

Angel And The Badman - 1947 - 6/10 

 
Wounded gunman Quirt collapses near a Quaker home.
Though warned how dangerous he is, they tend his wounds, and daughter Penny develops a crush. 
Being the West, and relatively lawless, there are several encounters with bristling guns.
The Quaker influence is a powerful moral fiber throughout.
While violence threatens to explode, it seldom does.
Alternative for those who view John Wayne westerns as speechifying shoot-‘em-ups.

Madness Rules - 1947 - Switzerland

Madness Rules - 1947 - 6/10
AKA - Matto Regiert

Doktor Laduner thinks young Kaplaun can soon return to society.
The asylum director, a bullying tyrant, thinks otherwise.
New methods clash with severe discipline – until the director is murdered.
Enter police inspector Studer.

 
Murder in a madhouse suggests all manner of themes.
This goes the procedural route, with the inspector asking provocative questions and keenly observing.
Patients and their maladies are backgrounded.  This is not Mabuse.

Escape Dangerous - 1947 - UK

Escape Dangerous - 1947 - 5/10  

 
Height of the French Revolution, the Terror, and aristocrats scramble to save their heads.
Literally.
Several find shelter with a shifty female … for a large fee.
Then there is Doctor Belhomme.  Refugees who sicken either die under his care, or vanish in his hospital.
All the makings of fine Gothic Horror, except this is dismal.
The directing is lackluster.  Static sets, no camera movement, reminiscent of an early talkie.
Best is Beresford Egan (?!!?) as the villainous doctor.
Script by Oswell Blakeston disappoints in every way.

I Walk Alone - 1947 - USA

I Walk Alone - 1947 - 6/10

 
Successful bootleg partners Frank and Dink have a gentleman’s agreement.
Should one of them go to the slammer, his 50% share of the business will be intact upon release.
Honor among thieves, hey?  Make a prediction.
Yes, once Frank serves 14 years, his buddy is all smiles and excuses.
“Agreement?  What agreement?  I don’t know nothing about no agreement?”
Swanky nightclub, femme fatale singer, crooked accounting, a frame job.
Typical elements for a Noir, yet this is slow and rather boring.
Best is Kirk Douglas as the swindling, duplicitous partner.

The Thirteenth Hour - 1947 - USA

The Thirteenth Hour - 1947 - 6/10

 
Steve, swerving to miss a drunk driver, plows into a gas station.
No one saw the other car, his freight truck is wrecked, his license suspended.
How will he keep his small transport firm in business?
Especially with the larger competitor trying to quash him.
Add some murders, and Steve’s luck tumbles from bad to worse
Late entry in “The Whistler” series is a routine Noir with a few twists.
Surprisingly good restoration for a lesser B-film, commentary by historian Eloise Ross.
Richard Dix’s last film in the series, and his final film, period.

T-Men - 1947 - USA

T-Men - 1947 - 6/10

 
T, as in Treasury.  Agents mostly concerned with counterfeiters.
Two T-men go undercover to join a Detroit gang.
On the run, their own gang now extinct, they are studied and gauged by the new outfit.
Interesting mix of styles: Noir, police procedural, docu-drama.
Influential cinematography by Alton, Noir icons Dennis O’Keefe and Charles McGraw.
Listening to the commentary, the financial backers were mobster John Roselli and Production Code chief censor, Joe Breen.  Quite the odd couple.

The Lady From Shanghai - 1947 - USA

The Lady From Shanghai - 1947 - 6/10

 
A sucker born every minute.
Irish seaman O’Hara takes a shine to blonde beauty Elsa.
She is married, but her husband is much older and a cripple.
He hires on as mate on their yacht, and is soon involved in murder.
Plot is hardly a mess, yet it is confusing.
Partly by Welles’ design, partly because much was cut, reshot and reedited.
Droll humor will be lost to many; it is key to appreciating.
Much of the film was shot on Errol Flynn’s yacht, the Zaca.

Body And Soul - 1947 - USA

Body And Soul - 1947 - 7/10

 
Yeah, sucker, the fix is in.
Troublesome youth turns his boxing prowess into a career.
The boxing world, however, proves as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.
John Garfield is a powerhouse as the ambitious, flawed fighter.
He is enmeshed with good souls and schemers.
True to life, villains dominate ringside and behind the scenes.
Must-see Noir, although over the years, I increasingly disbelieve the ending.

Bury Me Dead - 1947 - USA

Bury Me Dead - 1947 - 5/10

 
The stables burn down, and Barbara, heiress, horse trainer, pugilist fan, is carried out, burned beyond recognition.
At her own funeral, heavily veiled, no one recognizes her.
She wonders who tried to murder her.  Her resentful half-sister?  Philandering, alcoholic husband?  The husband’s grasping, greedy mistress?  Or the butler!
Half-assed Noir has fantastic photography, courtesy John Alton, when the sets don’t wobble.
The mystery is marred by comic relief overload, along with – what? – 5 or 6 flashbacks.
This is a B-Noir, as well as a mystery comedy.  Too bad the result awkwardly straddles genres.

The Upturned Glass - 1947 - UK

The Upturned Glass - 1947 - 6/10

 
Visiting speaker Michael lectures the criminology class on murderers.
Without declaring he is the example, he narrates the murder.
He and Emma had been in loveless marriages when the romance began.
Her sudden death came as a shock, however, and Michael eyed the petty, envious sister-in-law.
An underseen thriller, splashed with Noir.
There is an absurd mistake with a body which I cannot understand.
Narrative meanders in the final act, but it pulls together.

I See A Dark Stranger - 1947 - UK

I See A Dark Stranger - 1947 - 7/10

 
Bridie is a fierce Republican.  Irish Republican.
As England reels in 1944, she decides to help the charming Reich agent with his mission.
Bridie is headstrong, naïve, innocent, while the English – well, they are descendants of Cromwell!
Galloping espionage thriller is shot through with comedy, situations and dialogue.
Script by Gilliant and Launder, plot resembles Hitchcock of this period.

The October Man - 1947 - UK

The October Man - 1947 - 6/10

 
After a horrific train accident, Jim suffers a fractured skull and is institutionalized for a year.
Upon release, he makes small steps.   A new job, room in a boarding house.
Yet, when one of the roomers is murdered, and with Jim’s history, police suspect him.
Dark looking Noir about the innocent man … or is he innocent?
Fine Hitchcock type, although Hitchcock would give the police half credit for intelligence.
Police in this are especially inept, quick to frame and curtail  investigations.

Cry Wolf - 1947 - USA

Cry Wolf - 1947 - 6/10

 
Sandra arrives at her late husband’s family home.
Wife?  Widow?  “Why, we never knew he was married!”
The narrative soon goes into one of mutual suspicion.
Is this woman a gold digger? Did her husband’s brother have something to do with his death?
One watches this to see Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck together – their only pairing.  
Noirish looking, although this is more mystery / thriller.
Not enough tension in an underwritten script.
Watchable if you run across it while surfing late night.

Framed - 1947 - USA

Framed - 1947 - 6/10

Paula spots him as soon as he enters the cafe.
Right height, weight, body size.  The perfect double, the future patsy.
Paula, the blonde waitress, contacts her boyfriend, a banker, and they start the setup.

 
So-so Noir suffers from being underwritten, and half delivered.
Glenn Ford sleepwalks his role.  To be fair, his character is nothing more than a once-mining engineer, now penniless drifter.
Barry Sullivan better as the cold and cynical banker.
Best is Janis Carter, who never climbed beyond B-roles.
Her Paula is an angelic faced fatale, her every single decision an opportunistic calculation.

It Happened On Fifth Avenue - 1947 - USA

It Happened On Fifth Avenue - 1947 - 6/10

 
Above, Aloysius T. McKeever and loyal companion, resident of the O’Connor mansion on Fifth Avenue.
He is, what one might term, chronically unemployed, and a squatter.
The homeowner’s habits are known to him;  a day after O’Connor heads South, McKeever enters.
This season, add a homeless ex-GI.  Followed by a pair of buddies.  With wives and children.
Plus, the rich owner’s daughter, who declines to appraise the others who she is.
Old fashioned romantic comedy is schmaltzy and overlong, borrowing a trope from My Man Godfrey.
The plight of unemployed servicemen also rings a chord, which fueled many a Noir.
While wishful sorts declare this a forgotten Christmas gem, it really isn’t.

The Flame - 1947 - USA

The Flame - 1947 - 6/10

The rich man is given a few months to live.
He’s built a financial empire, never married, plays gloomy organ music in his Gothic manor.
And yet, late in the game, love touches him.  He proposes to his attractive blonde nurse.
Not knowing she is running a scam with his ne’er do well brother.

 
Well shot film is loaded with twists and double crosses.
Good Republic cast (even Vera Ralston is OK).
“… If your love means all the world to you, and you lose her, then you have lost the whole world.”
Slithering, duplicitous, blackmail potboiler.
Subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/the-flame/english/2932567

Key Witness - 1947 - USA

Key Witness - 1947 - 5/10

 
Embarrassing B-film, grouped with Noir, but is more a feeble attempt.
Milton is a draftsman for an architectural firm.
Spare time, he invents novelties.  Mostly, though he is a weak willed doormat
While Milton’s wife is away, his buddy drags him to the horse races then brings girls to his home!
Of course Milton, who still sleeps in twin beds with the missus, doesn’t know which end of the female is which, and he falls asleep in his bed.  While his date gets herself murdered.
From here, the plot gets increasingly inane.
For a Columbia film, this looks extremely cheap.  The photography, the sets, shoot, the clothes don’t fit!
And the script is nonsense, waddling from one idea to another like a drunken goose.

Boomerang - 1947 - USA

Boomerang - 1947 - 6/10

 
Part of 20th Century Fox Noir releases.
Popular minister is murdered on a busy sidewalk by man in coat and hat.
Police proceed to arrest every man who fills said description - poor or unemployed men, naturally.
They zero in on one and wear him down, refusing to let him sleep, until he signs a “confession.”
Case closed!  Citizens can rest easy at nights as democracy triumphs again.
Well ... no ... cause this ain’t no Noir.  It’s an early, preachy Elia Kazan film.
Corrupt small town America, themes that landed Kazan in a hotseat before HUAC.
There are better, more entertaining Noirs out there, as well as finer Kazan films, though I tend to shun this particular director.

Shoot To Kill - 1947 - USA

Shoot To Kill - 1947 - 5/10

 
Wife threatens blackmail to her crooked District Attorney husband, who is in thick with three rival gangs, after hurling a fourth leader into the slammer on falsified testimony.  Only then, the jailbird escapes and . . .
Whew!  At 63 minutes, this B-film percolates briskly.
While it has Noir photography, the plot is straight gangster flick.
Wooden acting, decent score, OK twists.
Selected this when I wanted something quick and brief.  Enjoyable time waster.

Dear Murderer - 1947 - UK

Dear Murderer - 1947 - 5/10

 
The opening was one of the longest “prepare to die” speeches I have ever seen.
Twenty minutes.
Suave, cuckolded Eric Portman, visits then subdues his rival.
Next, he tells how he learned of the man’s bush brushing while he was overseas, and how he intends to kill him.
Afterward, he spends another five minutes doing the deed and scattering the false trail.
Then all the steam escapes, and the plot plods into police procedural.
Turns out, hot, cheating wife (Greta Gynt) has a history of running around.  She’s already lined up her next man snack.  Her husband needs roller skates to snuff everyone grazing her grass.
Nice lighting, lot of Noir touches, though this is very much in the British mystery vein.
Alright, at best.  Dull and disappointing at worst.