I love the noir genre this first-time viewing has been a real treat. A moodily monochrome tale of a simple guy led astray by a femme fatale told in flashback by an investigative insurance salesman. That's right, it's Billy Wilder's 'Double Indemnity'- again.
Don't get me wrong, it's a very good movie. It zips along with a series of well-drawn and interesting characters providing strong support for the lead actors (a young Burt Lancaster looking for all the world like he's just stepped out of an eighties Levis' ad as the sap, Ava Gardner as the girl, Albert Dekker as the lead crook and Sam Levine- looking very much like Dexy's Midnight Runners genius Kevin Rowland does these days- as the cop).
The real stars, however, are the cinematographer Woody Bredell- the heist itself and the tracking shot with Nick Adams exiting the diner and running to warn Lancaster are spectacular- and Miklos Rozsa's string-heavy score. This is exactly how noir thrillers are meant to look and sound.
The first ten minutes or so are the best part by far with William Conrad and Charles McGraw as two seriously intimidating hit-men holding up a diner as they await their target. It is sensational stuff. If the rest of the film matched the standard of the opening scene, we're talking 10/10 but as it is the film gets a very strong 8/10 and a hearty recommendation.
