It's time for another milestone here at Blues In The Night - My 200th film review. I will be taking a few days off to celebrate and I'll hopefully be back this coming weekend with many more reviews. Thanks again for reading! On with the show! - Andrew
Dead Reckoning
1947 - Columbia Pictures
Directed By John Cromwell
SYNOPSIS
WWII Paratrooper Captain Rip Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) returns from the war with buddy Sgt. Johnny Drake (William Prince.) When Drake runs away shortly before receiving the Congressional Medal Of Honor, Murdock is baffled and goes in search of him. Murdock discovers Drake wasn't the man he though he was, and was an accused murderer. Murdock is sure of his friend's innocence and when Drake's charred corpse turns up his search turns toward a gangster (Morris Carnovsky) and Drake's mysterious girlfriend (Lizabeth Scott.)
A serviceable but lackluster film noir.
The script of Dead Reckoning has many twists and turns to it, but none are really shocking and those twists seem to be there because they are expected to be. The screenwriter is clearly a fan of pulp novels, Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler, etc. and everything seems to be a hodge-podge of that idiom. The cookie-cutter script offers no new take on these stories and it robs the film of any punch.
The film begins strong with a good hook (Drake running off) and builds to a rousing fast-paced conclusion but everything in-between moves at a snail's pace.
Dead Reckoning can clearly be defined as noir. The use of light and shadow is expertly done and the subject, themes and characters make it a perfect fit.
Humphrey Bogart is good as always playing the tough cynic, but Murdock is just a retread of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon... except he's a sleuthing paratrooper instead of just a detective. At the time he made the film he was 47, far older than anyone who just got out of the Army as a paratrooper and he looked even older thanks to his smoking and drinking habits. That makes him a little unbelievable for the role but he somehow makes it work. His voice-over narration is one of the rare instances in cinema history where narration actually helps the film, rather than hinder it.
There is just something about Lizabeth Scott's performance that just bugged me the whole time she was onscreen. She comes off as a second-rate Lauren Bacall but does bring ample strength, mystery and sex appeal to the role. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong.
The supporting players uniformly turn in memorable performances, especially Morris Carnovsky as Murdock's gangland opponent.
As readers of the blog may realize by now, I'm a sucker for film noir. This is far from the best the cinematic style has to offer, but it is still a damn fine film.
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