Review of Desperate (1947) by Dave J — 08 Aug 2016

Early film noir from Anthony Mann that contains some great moments (for example, a swinging overhead light that alternatingly reveals the bad guys and casts them into darkness) although the happy ending shakes off a bit too much of the desperation that a fully-fledged noir would leave intact.

Typical of the genre, Mann places the innocent hero into a tough position, caught between the cops and the gang, and having to flee with his pregnant wife from both. En route to the conclusion, things get rather picaresque but Raymond Burr, the chief heavy, keeps coming and coming.

It's not clear whether our hero did anything wrong (in needing to make money so badly) or whether it's just the fickle finger of fate that laid in wait for returning servicemen of all moral persuasions - but this guy doesn't deserve the things that happen to him.

Mann would go on to make a few more, darker, noirs and then a string of really great dark westerns with a morally ambiguous Jimmy Stewart.