Shield For Murder

Shield for Murder (1954)

Runtime: 82 minutes

Directed by: Howard W. Koch... and Edmond O'Brien

Starring: Edmond O'Brien, John Agar, Marla English, Emile Meyer, Claude Akins

From: Camden Productions Inc.

This is a film noir I saw last night; tomorrow Kino Lorber's releasing it on Blu but right now it can be watched either for a few bucks on Amazon or if you have Prime, it's one of the many noir titles they offer for free. It's something many fans of the genre would likely dig, me thinks. I explain why below in my Letterboxd review.

Yep, also I found out about this noir from a messageboard post. In this case, someone mentioned that tomorrow, Kino Lorber will be putting this out on Blu. As it's available for free on Amazon Prime, I figured I should check it out and give it some publicity.

This has Edmond O'Brien as bad Los Angeles cop Barney who murders someone for 25,000 dollars. Not that a cop could do this in these modern times... he's a loose cannon copper in the worst ways. To be frank, this could describe how some members of law enforcement are now. Someone starts off as a “good person” but due to all the stress and dangers of having to deal with the worst members of society, they change and become pretty awful, despite them trying to justify their actions. Between that and the Boys in Blue deciding to protect their own from any outsiders, and it seems rather modern today. I don't mean to sound like I am bashing all police officers, as I am sure most of them are quality human beings and do their jobs well. It's just that there's always some bad apples that spoil the entire barrel. The movie says as much in a soliloquy given by a supporting character.

Anyway, Barney wants to move into a nice new house with his gal Marla English. That is the impetus of him wanting all that cash. That murder is literally the opening of the picture and for Barney Nolan it somehow gets even worse. He tries to control the escalating situation but he's unable to; when you rip off a leader in the underworld... the cast is nice and has some familiar faces, like John Agar, Claude Akins and Carolyn Jones... as someone who watched The Addams Family in reruns as a real young'n, it was nice to see her, and she played “a tough dame”. But to me it was O'Brien as the standout as he did a nice job playing a real A-hole who ends up doing some awful things. There is also a quality setpiece near the very end set at what is pretty much a YMCA.

This is a hard-hitting noir which pulls no punches and as a bonus you get to see a bit of how LA used to be back in those days before urban sprawl and smog-choked air dominated the scene. If you enjoy watching the genre, I think this is definitely worth checking out.