Review of Crossfire (1947) by Ben H — 20 Jan 2012

Often engaging film noir finds three Roberts (Ryan, Mitchum, and Young) embroiled in a murder mystery. A group of soldiers come into town and one ends up dead. A police officer (Mitchum) involved in the case tries to clear one of the soldiers, to whom is a friend of his, by retrieving a witness (Gloria Grahame), who is a sultry prostitute.

Meanwhile, the investigator (Young) is concerned that one of the soldiers (Ryan) is behind the murder due to his strange behaviour. Not as good as other film noirs, but still intriguing enough for a watch.

Grahame and Ryan have the best performances of the cast. It is a shame, though, this good, not great, film noir was one of the few nominated for Best Picture, while other great ones from the 1940's, such as "The Third Man," "Notorious," "The Big Sleep," and "Shadow of Doubt" to name a few, were not.