Post by mikef6 on Dec 19, 2017 15:27:15 GMT
I had never heard of this Fritz Lang noir gem before. I don’t even remember how it got on my Netflix queue. Maybe I have a supernatural noir angel. Anyway, set in the early 1900s, Louis Hayward plays a writer whose manuscripts have lately been returned. At first he seems like an OK guy; when he finds a bug crawling across his paper, he carefully deposits it in the grass. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. But we soon find that he will. In an early scene, appropriate to today’s news, he tries to force himself on his maid while his wife (Jane Wyatt) is away from home. When the maid fights him and screams, he kills her. This low-budget but very creepy and effective suspenser is a true noir with all the darkness, shadows, and cynicism you could possibly want. Hayward plays his sociopathic killer with much the same kind of cheerful ironic attachment that he uses in his swashbuckling films. Lee Bowman plays Hayward’s brother who finds himself framed for the killing. Highly recommended.
