DETOUR. PRC, 1946. Tom Neal, Ann Savage , Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald, Tim Ryan. Screenplay by Martin Goldsmith, based on his own novel. Director: Edgar Ulmer.

   Fate laughs at a nightclub pianist, hitch-hiking to Los Angeles to see his girl friend. The man who picks him up dies in a strange accident, and when he takes the other man’s money and identity, the events that follow are unstoppable.

   Ann Savage plays the girl that Neal picks up in turn, and she knows he is not who he says he is.Neal is under her constant thumb from then on – willingly or not, we are not quite sure. A low budget film that makes a much larger impact than you might expect.

THE DARK PAST. Columbia Pictures, 1948. William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb, Adele Jergens, Stephen Dunne, Lois Maxwell, Berry Kroeger, Steven Geray. Director: Rudolph Maté

   You might think that, with the title The Dark Past, that this Columbia production was a film noir. And, in some ways, you’d be correct. But overall, this feature is way too optimistic about human nature to be considered a proper noir.

   Let me explain.

   Lee J. Cobb portrays Dr. Andrew Collins, a college professor/psychiatrist whose family home is invaded by notorious outlaw Al Walker (William Holden) and his crew. Over the course of a stormy evening, Collins takes the angst-ridden Walker on as a veritable patient.

   Apparently the distraught and criminally-minded Walker has been having a recurrent nightmare that is slowly driving him to the brink of insanity. Collins, who seems to believe many criminals can be “cured,” breaks down the symbolism of the dream and helps Walker break from his murderous ways. That’s the gist of The Dark Past.

   Supporting cast members include the lovely Nina Foch as Walker’s girlfriend and Adele Jurgens as one of Collins’s houseguests. Truth be told, however, the movie – which is based on a play – centers around the performances of both Cobb and Holden.

   Both do well enough with the material, even the psychobabble. But the material simply isn’t that particularly compelling, at least from the vantage point of 2025. Still, I surprisingly somewhat enjoyed watching this movie, perhaps due to the short running time and the commitment that both leads gave to the work.

THE BURGLAR. Columbia Pictures, 1957. Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy. Screenplay by David Goodis, based on his novel of the same name. Director: Paul Wendkos.

   Watching it recently. this was the second time that I’ve seen The Burglar, a criminally underappreciated film noir starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield. Adapted for the screen by David Goodis, the author of the book upon which the film is based, The Burglar has the always impressive Duryea front and center the majority of the time. He portrays Nat Harbin, the ringleader of a gang of thieves.

   After stealing a priceless jewelry necklace from a rich spiritualist, the group must contend with the police, their decision as to where to fence the goods, and their own internal squabbles. Along for the ride with the men is blonde bombshell Gladden (Mansfield), the daughter of a man who took Nat   in when he was a young runaway.

   Directed by Paul Wendkos, this crime movie reminded me very much of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956). Much like Kubrick, Wendkos had an eye for faces. Indeed, the movie isn’t so much filmed as it is photographed in beautiful, crisp black and white. Filmed largely on location in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, the movie immerses the viewer into the action. This includes a final sequence in an Atlantic City fun house which is as creepy as it is well executed.

   I recommend this sweaty, rough around-the-edges noir highly for those who haven’t yet had the occasion to see it.
   

711 OCEAN DRIVE. Columbia Pictures, 1950. Edmond O’Brien Edmond O’Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger, Barry Kelly. Director: Joseph M. Newman

   Edmond O’Brien stars in this remarkably average crime drama about the bookmaking racket. He portrays Mal Granger, a telephone company technician who works his way up in the criminal world, eventually becoming a top Syndicate figure on the West Coast. Along the way, he has a rival murdered, steals the rival’s girl (Joanne Dru), and then proceeds to knock off the hitman who he hired in the first place. All the while trying to outwit the Syndicate’s Cleveland-based boss (Otto Kruger).

   Tough stuff, with O’Brien giving a solid performance as a man whose heart is increasingly hardened by his chosen line of work. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for the movie to get going. The first half hour or so, especially, is a drag. Too much time is spent on Granger’s ability to rig a telephone system for a low-level bookie, one that would allow said bookie to get near instantaneous results from the track.

   This might have been interesting in 1950 – and I say might – but it is a drag now. The movie does perk up in the second and third acts, with the film culminating in a well executed and photographed chase and fight sequence set in and around the Hoover Dam in Nevada.

   Overall, 711 Ocean Drive is, as I said previously, average. I just don’t know what the title refers to! It’s never mentioned in the film (as far as I could tell) and it doesn’t seem to indicate anything special, other than possibly Granger’s fictional Malibu address once he becomes a big shot.

THE WINDOW. RKO Radio Pictures, 1949. Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Bobby Driscoll. Based on the story “The Boy Cried Murder” by Cornell Woolrich. Director: Ted Tetzlaff.

   Adapted from a short story penned by Cornell Woolrich, The Window is an above average thriller and a suspenseful yarn that holds your attention from beginning to end. With child actor Bobby Driscoll as the glue that holds everything together, the film is never dull or lifeless.

   Driscoll, whose adult life was marked by tragedy, portrays Tommy Woodry, an excitable, imaginative young boy living with his working class parents in a modest apartment building in Manhattan. He’s known by both his peers and his parents for telling tall tales, stories about gangsters, Indians, and whatnot. So when he actually does witness a murder, no one believes him. He’s the boy who cried wolf.

   Aside from Driscoll, the film benefits from some talented actors. Arthur Kennedy portrays Tommy’s father, a man who is torn between the love he has for his son and his embarrassment at how the boy is seemingly turning into a compulsive liar. The upstairs neighbors, the ones who actually do commit a murder, are portrayed by radio star Paul Stewart and the prolific Ruth Roman. They make a great villainous couple.

   There’s a lot to admire in The Window, from the acting to the cinematography and lighting. There’s a shadowy menace to the stairwell in the Woodrys’ apartment building, one that is used to heighten the dangerous situation in which Tommy has found himself. There is also a white knuckle ending that takes place in a nearby condemned building.

   This was the second time I’ve had the occasion to watch this movie,and I enjoyed it even more this time. I realized how very much it’s both a Woolrich movie and a New York City one. As much as anything else, this film is about the struggles of postwar life (and death) in the Big Apple.
   

THE INFILTRATOR. Warner Brothers, 2016. Bryan Cranston, Juliet Aubrey, Diane Kruger, John Leguizamo. Benjamin Bratt, Amy Ryan. Director: Brad Furman.

   In this 2016 biopic based on true events, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) shines as Robert Mazur, a Customs Agent tasked with an undercover assignment to bring down a Colombian drug cartel and their money laundering collaborators.

   Assuming the fake identity of a New York mafioso named Bob Musella, Mazur develops a close friendship and business partnership with Colombian kingpin Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt), a man who seeks his role in the cocaine trade as strictly business. Mazur/Musella also interacts with a coterie of oddball characters, killers, and criminal bankers all too eager to take the cartel’s cash and launder it through Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

   Much of the movie is devoted to showcasing how very dangerous Mazur’s assignment was. More than once does he narrowly escape death. Fortunately for him, he has reliable partners in Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) and Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger), who also goes undercover and poses as Musella’s fiance.

   The Infiltrator isn’t the type of movie that holds your hand and guides you gently through the proceedings. It moves at breakneck speed, particularly at the beginning, and rarely gives you a chance to catch your breath and decipher who is doing what to whom. This music video style of filmmaking doesn’t always serve the movie well – there are some scenes which are just too short and confusing – but overall, when it works, it works extraordinarily well.

   Overall, I enjoyed this one. More than I thought I would, I should add. Cranston really holds it all together. Without him, I am not sure the movie would have clicked for me the way it did.

PICKUP ALLEY. Columbia Pictures, 1957. Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard, Bonar Colleano. Directed by John Gilling.

   Victor Mature portrays Charles Sturgis, a federal narcotics agent tasked with bringing down the enigmatic Frank McNally (Trevor Howard), a man also responsible for the death of his sister. Sturgis travels widely – there are a lot of shots of planes taking off and landing – in order to bring McNally to heel.

   There are a couple of subplots, but essentially the gist of the film is about a federal agent seeking to bring a devious international criminal to justice. Sounds compelling enough, right?

   Let me be blunt. For an international thriller, Pickup Alley aka Interpol is remarkably unadventurous. Dull, even. Part of this is Mature’s fault. But the script doesn’t help, either. Sure, you have the on location shots of Lisbon, Rome, Athens, and other cities.

   And then you’ve also got Anita Ekberg as a drug courier tasked with moving heroin from city to city. That must count for something too, right? Sadly, no.

   When all is said and done, this British crime film punches well below its weight and remains a case of ‘what might have been’ had the producers used the locations more to their benefit.

   Overall assessment: a structurally sound film with a not particularly captivating story about the international narcotics trade.

FINGER MAN. Allied Artists, 1955. Frank Lovejoy, Forrest Tucker, Peggie Castle, Timothy Carey. Director: Harold D. Schuster.

   Frank Lovejoy stars in Finger Man, a decidedly average 1950s crime film, about a career criminal who gets a chance to go straight – with a catch. After getting nabbed by law enforcement, Casey Martin (Lovejoy) is given a choice: either serve life in prison or collaborate with the Treasury Department to nail bootlegger and syndicate leader Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker). After seeing what Becker’s goods — presumably heroin — have done to his very own sister, Casey decides that he’ll take the deal and work to bring down Dutch.

   Unfortunately, the movie is slow to get going. It takes a while for the premise of the film to come clearly into focus. Fortunately, however, things do get moving with the introduction of Peggy Castle as Gladys Baker, a former “employee” of Dutch’s who is now Casey’s love interest and Timothy Carey as Lou Terpe, Dutch’s sadistic enforcer. Both characters play a pivotal role in the plot. After the sociopathic Terpe (Carey) kills Gladys (Castle) at the behest of Dutch, all bets are off. Casey no longer wants to bring down Dutch for the cops. He is out for blood.

   As far as the cinematography, there’s nothing especially noir about it. In fact, this black and white movie often feels visually flat. Surely some more style could have been injected into the film to give it more of a shadowy look?

   All told, Finger Man is a gritty little crime film that tells a fairly basic story about a man at the crossroads of his life. It’s got some good parts and solid acting, but it’s not a “must see” by any means. There’s nothing particularly new under the sun here.
   

NO GOOD DEED. Screen Gems, 2014. Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson, Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo, Henry Simmons. Director: Sam Miller.

   Idris Elba plays against type in this suburban home invasion thriller. Elba portrays Colin, an escaped convict with narcissistic personality disorder. On a dark stormy night in Atlanta, he enters both the home and life of Terry (Taraji P. Henson), a former prosecutor and current stay-at-home mom.

   With charm and guile, Colin manages to persuade Terry that he is merely waiting for a tow truck after he wrecked his car. Little by little, and with the intervention of a friend of Terry’s, Colin’s story unravels. What begins as a good deed – inviting a stranger into one’s house to wait for a tow truck – turns into a nightmare.

   That’s the premise. What happens next is standard home invasion thriller fare. A cat and mouse game between the monster and the captive. There are some very tense moments here, which go to show most of all how talented an actor Elba is.

   There’s a moment – it’s actually quite late in No Good Deed – wherein the villain’s true motivations are finally revealed. Some might say that it comes too late. Others might rightfully consider that the reveal wasn’t presented in a manner that captures the viewer’s attention.

   Still, it’s a pivotal moment in the movie and one that makes No Good Deed a slightly more clever thriller than it might initially appear to be. Which makes one wonder why the film has only a mere 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s definitely better than that.

   Overall assessment: extremely watchable, but without a considerable amount of depth. If you choose to watch this one, do so for Elba’s performance and the claustrophobic atmosphere.

SHATTERED. Lionsgate, 2007. Pierce Brosnan, Maria Bello, Gerard Butler, Emma Karwandy. Director: Mike Barker.

   Shattered, released in the United Kingdom under the more dramatic title Butterfly on a Wheel, offers the viewer a solid cast, an intriguing premise, and a great deal of suspense. Unfortunately, it doesn’t capitalize on these positive aspects. Instead, the movie takes its leisurely time to finally get to the point. And when it finally does, let’s just say the big reveal is somewhat underwhelming.

   The premise and the plot are as follows. Suburban Chicago couple Neil (Gerald Butler) and Abby Randall (Maria Bello) are in what appears to be a happy, loving marriage. They have a young daughter Sophie whom they adore. While Neil works as a power broker at an advertising agency, Abby stays home to raise their child. Everything seems swell until one day a mysterious stranger with a gun (Pierce Brosnan) shows up in the back of their car and threatens their daughter’s life.

   For the next hour or so, the film revolves around Brosnan’s character putting the couple through a series of tests and ordeals. To what point and why, you might ask. That’s a good question and one the filmmakers should have thought of answering earlier in the movie than they did. Let’s just say it has something to do with Neil not being the completely upstanding husband he purports to be.

   I’ll confess that, despite its flaws, the movie kept me entertained. Or at least glued enough to the television that I wanted to know what was going to happen next. But would I watch Shattered again? Surely not. Overall assessment: intriguing premise, but an ultimate letdown. Brosnan deserved better than his thankless role.