Runtime: 100 minutes
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon
From: International Pictures
Yesterday I saw two film noir pictures starring Edward G. Robinson/Joan Bennett/Dan Dureya and directed by Fritz Lang; it was a double feature on Turner Classic Movies last night. The other review will be up sometime tonight; both are worth seeing if you are a genre fan.
Robinson plays a typical staid college professor; his wife & kids go on vacation and he spends his time hanging out with his pals, who are also rather stodgy cigar-smoking dudes that are part of a club. Not that they are boring people, but not exactly “cool.” Right away he sees a painting of a lovely lady hanging in the window of a store, and soon meets said lady. As it's Bennett and is not unattractive, he becomes smitten... along with turning into a poor old sap. He even realizes early on he shouldn't be having drinks then visiting the apartment of a random woman he doesn't know, but he does it anyway and is roped into a bad event he just can't escape, no matter his attempts to use his smarts to get out of this jam. The fact that one of his buddies is the district attorney and he can hear the inside scoop on his own situation without the lawyer knowing he is the suspect... what a pickle of a situation.
Of course the cast as a whole does a nice job and the Lang direction is on-point. G. usually has an “Oh, s***” expression on his face as he constantly fears being exposed for his misdeeds; despite his actions, he is always sympathetic in a story that has its twists & turns, including an ending some won't like. But I was most impressed by Dureya's small yet critical role where he oozed a mix of sleaze, menace, cool charm and intelligence. As for the ending, Lang wanted things a certain way and this was the only way to do it and have the movie be approved by the censors. That did not ruin the experience for me-at the very least, the final 10 seconds was a great gag. Furthermore, a great technical achievement was pulled off practically for the sake of a shot that was done with no cut. Without spoiling anything, tricks were done to pull it off successfully in seconds.
This and Scarlet Street made me realize I should not only see more Robinson, but also more Lang. Metropolis and M are legendary but I know he had his share of bangers once he emigrated to America.
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