With Anthony Mann, the art of the western developed during the 1950s, placed very high in the hierarchy of cinephilic values (The Devil’s Door, Winchester 73, The Man of the Plain …), somewhat masks its know-how in the well-defined darkness that preceded it. Reason why, at Rimini Editions, we emerge two, unfortunately dissociated. The Suicide Squad, produced in 1947, the release of which is scheduled for August 24. And Bull market (1948), that any ceasing business can be obtained. These two B series are filmed as part of Studio Eagle-Lion, produced by Edward Small, lit by the brilliant John Alton, and starring Dennis O’Keefe, actor of B movies today completely forgotten by the greatest number.
Joe Sullivan (O’Keefe) escapes from prison with the complicity of his girlfriend, Pat Cameron (Claire Trevor), who would die for him. In his escape, he kidnaps Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt), the young assistant of his lawyer, with whom he is secretly in love. In this crew, he seeks to find the formidable Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr), a model of Machiavellian bastard who not only betrayed him but who, plotting his escape, expects him to be shot by the cops. It is therefore a double story that is linked to this runaway, that of Joe’s indecision between these two antagonistic women, and that of the choice between his thirst for revenge and the possibility of erasing everything by following Pat on a boat to destination of Panama.
Unforgettable scenes
Many such ingredients are at work here. The voice-over of a protagonist who punctuates the story as from the other side of life (that of Pat). Female bipolarity. The darkness of the human soul. The treason. And, of course, this sticky fatality that sticks to the hero’s basques, sealing from the outset a tragic fate which has no other way than to be accomplished. Narrative or psychological inconsistencies are carried away by the atmosphere and the dryness of the movement.
Lots of ingredients
like are
here at work
The character of Anne Martin, figure of good and moral, undeniable weak point of the film, also seems to be remotely controlled by the censorship office headed by Joseph Breen. We are not here at the top of the genre, but the fact remains that the expressionist photo of John Alton (alias Jacob Altmann, born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire), its spiral seashores reminiscent of Edvard Munch, his back-dives exacerbating the psychopathy of the character played by Raymond Burr, his woman’s face inscribed on the clock which gives the time of the hero’s death, his fight to the death and his final conflagration, make many scenes unforgettable. And the film itself deserves to be rediscovered in every way.
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