RKO,1949, a peak year for noir, at least that's what I was expecting. But that turns out not to be the case. Instead, the production's more like TV's Father Knows Best, except this suburban dad (Lynn) has one foot in deep trouble. It's a clever, non-clichéd plot device. Dad's pulled into a suicide-to-look-like-murder insurance scheme because he needs money. In short, his job's not paying enough, plus he may be looking at unemployment. At his nice post-war home, there're two cute kids plus a loving Jane Wyatt type wife. In brief, he's living the life GI's fought for a few years earlier. And though he wavers, he can't let the American Dream slip away, even if it does involve a crime.
At first, I missed what I thought was needed noirish atmospherics. But now I figure that would have been all wrong. Noir would have pulled in the metaphysics of fate, doom, et al. And that would have detracted from the middle-class morality tale that the film is really about. It's not fate that moves Sam; it's ordinary desires for a happy home, circa 1950. In short, it's the financial underside of 50's sit-coms, where family problems go beyond a late trash pick-up or a cranky neighbor. Plus, it's filmed in that same straightforward manner.
Lynn's perfect as the low-key Dad; he's got "solid citizen" written all over him. Ditto Scott as wife and mom. And what a marvelously versatile actor Henry Morgan was. Here his limping detective commands respect despite the disability. Actually, I should have known something was up when Katherine Emery was cast as schemer Jarvis's (Gaines) wife. A favorite of horror-meister Val Lewton's, she was adept at the sinister.
I could have done with a less pat ending, but them's the hazards of the Code enforced period. All in all, it's a smoothly done 70-minutes, perhaps too low-key for its own good. Still, the crime drama shrewdly humanizes a familiar 50's stereotype, and in an appealing way.
At first, I missed what I thought was needed noirish atmospherics. But now I figure that would have been all wrong. Noir would have pulled in the metaphysics of fate, doom, et al. And that would have detracted from the middle-class morality tale that the film is really about. It's not fate that moves Sam; it's ordinary desires for a happy home, circa 1950. In short, it's the financial underside of 50's sit-coms, where family problems go beyond a late trash pick-up or a cranky neighbor. Plus, it's filmed in that same straightforward manner.
Lynn's perfect as the low-key Dad; he's got "solid citizen" written all over him. Ditto Scott as wife and mom. And what a marvelously versatile actor Henry Morgan was. Here his limping detective commands respect despite the disability. Actually, I should have known something was up when Katherine Emery was cast as schemer Jarvis's (Gaines) wife. A favorite of horror-meister Val Lewton's, she was adept at the sinister.
I could have done with a less pat ending, but them's the hazards of the Code enforced period. All in all, it's a smoothly done 70-minutes, perhaps too low-key for its own good. Still, the crime drama shrewdly humanizes a familiar 50's stereotype, and in an appealing way.