Dillinger

1945 - Monogram
Directed By Max Nosseck



SYNOPSIS

John Dillinger (Lawrence Tierney) is arrested for a petty theft and is sent to prison for several years. While behind bars, the somewhat innocent Dillinger makes several friends and is released a hardened criminal. He launches an escape attempt and frees his pals. The group launches one successful bank robbery after another and soon Dillinger is labeled ”Public Enemy #1” Soon the FBI catches up to the group and arrests or kills all but Dillinger, who hides away in Chicago. One night his girlfriend suggests they go see a movie…
                                                  
  MY THOUGHTS

A not-so-completely accurate take on one man who’s crime spree captivated a nation.

It’s very odd the first take on John Dillinger’s story would be from B-movie ‘powerhouse’ Monogram. With Dillinger’s popularity, you would expect a major studio, especially Warner Brothers, home of the gangster, or another would have tackled the story. It has a very clear beginning, middle, and violent end complete with a great crime doesn’t pay message. Instead, a super-low budget version was released in 1945.

That low budget is clearly evident time and again. Throughout the film, several sets turn up again and again barely redressed.
During a montage of the gang’s violent exploits in the Midwest, a map is superimposed over the action. You can clearly see El Segundo and Culver City! Dillinger the movie may have been filmed in the Los Angeles area, but Dillinger the man was not robbing banks there! It must have been the only map they had on hand?
Despite the low budget, the filmmakers were able to capture something special by doing the film as a noir, with excellent actors.

Lawrence Tierney shines in his first major role as Dillinger. He’s not very accurate to the real Dillinger, but comes across genuinely ruthless and frightening. It’s a perfect example of some of the dark characters he would later play from Born To Kill through to Reservoir Dogs. 

His gang is also not accurate and are not the famous actual gang members like Pretty Boy Floyd and the like. The group is made up of some unknown characters with the familiar faces of great character actors Eduardo Ciannelli, Marc Lawrence, Edmund Lowe and Elisha Cook Jr. All are equally outstanding. They all have distinct personalities despite little time to fully develop their characters.

The dark story and the cinematography perfectly fit with the film noir aesthetic popular at the time. The cinematography is not as artfully expressionist like noirs from the major studios, again due to time and budget, but it still works.

“The Woman In Red” may just be the ideal film noir ‘femme fatal’ from the real world, but Anne Jeffreys falls flat. The character knows just how evil Dillinger is from the start (he robs her) but is somehow able to turn a blind eye, even after she sees him gun down an elderly couple. Even after that she stays with him and helps him to escape. We never understand why. How could someone love another who is so ruthless and vile to the world and uncaring toward them? The character never develops into a fully realized person and suffers from a lack of screen time.

Despite this wasted element of the story, Dillinger is still both an excellent gangster film and a solid noir.