NOBODY LIVES FOREVER. Warner Brothers, 1946. John Garfield, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan, Faye Emerson, George Tobias, George Coulouris. Screenplay by W.R. Burnett, based his novel. Director: Jean Negulesco.

    When Nick Blake (John Garfield “People like me don’t change.”) comes back to New York from the war he finds his girlfriend night club singer Tony Blackburn (Faye Emerson who has a nice number, “You Again” in the club) has double crossed him and given the $50,000 he left with her to her boyfriend. Nick gets the money back and heads to Los Angeles with the $50k for seed money with his pal Al Doyle (George Tobias) to take up his old life of con man.

    Once he reaches L.A. Nick meets another old con, Pop Gruber (Walter Brennan), who tells him about Gladys Halvorsen (Geraldine Fitzgerald) a widow with two million dollars and Nick sets out to woo her, win her, and fleece her, but he finds he is falling for her, and when he tries to back out of the con runs afoul of one time partner Doc Ganson (George Coulouris) and ends up having to rescue the kidnapped Gladys after a number of well handled plot twists and Blake’s struggle with his unexpected reform.

    The slick little exercise in romantic noir is a neglected little gem from both Burnett and director Negulesco. Brennan and Tobias are scene stealers as usual, Fitzgerald gets a rare chance to shine as a romantic lead, and Garfield gets a showcase for his tough but tender screen persona.

    Coulouris had a long colorful career in such bad guy roles (he was still at it as late as the Lord Peter Wimsey adaptation of Clouds of Witness, where he plays a murderous farmer), and gets to shine here. Emerson has a nice turn as a none too honest blonde bombshell who sets up a nice contrast with Fitzgerald later in the film.

    The film is true to the book, as might be expected, since Burnett wrote both, but Garfield can’t help but bring a layer of vulnerability to Nick that may not be as obvious on the printed page, and Brennan makes the most of Pop Gruber (you have to wonder if this is a nod to Frank Gruber with whom Burnett sometimes collaborated on screenplays).

    Nobody Lives Forever isn’t major noir, but it is an attractive and well done little film that delivers what it promises, with an outstanding cast that never falters or missteps.

    It may be noir in a minor key, but nary a false note is struck, and at 100 minutes the film is lean and stripped down, yet has time to develop character and a plot that has some nice touches, such as a scene in which Cole Porter’s “Don’t Fence Me In” plays on a juke box in the bar in counterpoint to Nick’s internal debate.

    Humphrey Bogart allegedly turned the role of Nick Blake down. Just as well, it fits Garfield’s persona like a glove.

    This isn’t a great film, but it is an example of the kind of intelligent and entertaining fare the studios used to turn out with surprising regularity. Like Jules Dassin’s Two Smart People, it’s well made and stands on its own merits.

    It’s one of those films that succeed so well at what it sets out to do that you may have to watch it a second time to recognize just how artfully it is constructed and played.