Friday 30 April 2010

THE CROOKED WAY (1949)


A rather obscure Film Noir (at least, I'd never even heard of it) directed by Robert Florey. John Payne stars as a WW2 vet who suffers from incurable amnesia due to a war wound. He returns home to Los Angeles to trying discover his identity and discovers he was a gang boss who betrayed his partner (a really strong and viscious performance by Sonny Tufts) and that he was married to a night club hostess (Ellen Drew). There is nothing startlingly original about the plot but it works well enough. What really lifts this film several notches above the routine is the atmospheric black and white photography by the great John Alton. If Noir is your game then this movie wont disappoint. Rating ***

No comments: