Showing posts with label John Payne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Payne. Show all posts
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| Percy Helton is roughed up by John Payne |
THE CROOKED WAY (1949). Director: Robert Florey.
Ex G.I. Eddie (John Payne) gets out of the hospital with a head full of shrapnel and a case of amnesia that the doctor tells him will never be cured. He goes to his home town and discovers that he turned state's evidence against a friend and associate, Vince (Sonny Tufts), who did a stretch in jail, and who is dying to get even with him. A strange woman named Nina (Ellen Drew) turns out to be his ex-wife, who claims he brutalized her. Vince has Eddie beaten up and tells him to leave town, then enlists Nina's aid in getting him to stay -- he's cooked up a scheme that might send Eddie up the river forever. The Crooked Way -- not to be confused with The Crooked Web -- is a standard crime thriller with some good performances. It's only "originality" is the amnesia angle, and even that has been done before. Payne is quite credible as the confused, one-dimensional G.I.; Tufts is surprisingly good as the mob boss; Drew [Crime Doctor's Man Hunt] is competent; and Percy Helton nearly steals the picture as another typically weaselly character whom Eddie comes to for help and winds up roughing up at one point, even if he's half his age and twice his size [poor Percy!]. The picture would have us believe that amnesia can turn a criminal, jackal and wife-beater into a decent guy. Sure! One of director Florey's less interesting pictures.
Verdict: Percy helps liven things up, but not enough. **.
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| Evelyn Keyes and John Payne |
Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is a bitter prize-fighter and current cab driver whose career ended when he received a serious injury to his eye. Driscoll also discovers that his unsatisfied wife, Pauline (Peggie Castle), is having an affair with a diamond thief named Victor (Brad Dexter). Then an aspiring actress he knows, Linda (Evelyn Keyes), tells him that she's in trouble, leading to the movie's best scene, which is, unfortunately, only midway through the movie. One clever if unlikely sequence isn't enough to save this standard potboiler, where Driscoll has to settle accounts with Victor while dodging police for an incident with Linda -- and worse. Payne and Keyes are okay, as is Frank Faylen as Driscoll's buddy, but Castle [Beginning of the End] makes a better impression and Dexter is terrific as a smiling homicidal reptile, matched by Jay Adler as the man who engineered the diamond heist but now won't pay off. Michael Ross, the space giant and bartender in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, appears as a cabbie and Glenn Langan [The Amazing Colossal Man] is a theatrical producer. Keyes made a better impression in The Killer that Stalked New York but Dexter is much more vital in this than he was in Macao.
Verdict: Unimpressive film noir despite some decent moments and one surprise. **.