Der schwarze Vorhang

Paramount's "Street of Chance" is an early, and certainly not full-fledged, entry in the film noir canon. It qualifies mainly for being based on a work by that master of paranoia and cruel fate, Cornell Woolrich -- using the familiar amnesia premise to trigger the protagonist's alienation -- and by its oppressively moody low-key lighting. The first few reels offer a true noir milieu of urban angst and displacement -- the hero, injured by falling construction material, discovers a year-long lapse in his life -- and worse, he's suspected of murder and has a completely unremembered lover in addition to his puzzled wife. As the film progresses and he narrows in on the truth, it resolves itself into something closer to Gothic melodrama, with a more traditional view of human transgression and frailty. The blending of the two genres is reminiscent of the studio's "Among the Living" from the previous year rather than the out-and-out noirs "This Gun For Hire" and "The Glass Key" of its own release year.

Paramount's B-picture unit offered a higher degree of professionalism than most, reflected by the fine level of performance and technical achievement here. Burgess Meredith's lead character is far too benign to be a true Woolrichian anti-hero, but Claire Trevor shows underlying tinges of femme-fatalité which would serve her well later in her career. Lower-rank director Jack Hively contributes a few visual cachets, particularly the unexpected discovery of a pivotal character lurking in the background, and an over-the-transom tracking shot to end the picture that is almost Antonioniesque. Unfortunately, he doesn't milk the character conflict for much intensity, and the denouement is disappointingly soft.

This film begins with a man named "Frank Thompson" (Burgess Meredith) walking on the street and being hit on the head with some falling objects from a construction site. Although he isn't seriously hurt he suddenly realizes that he has no memory of why he was on that particular street. Neither does he know why his hat and cigarette case have the initials of "D.N." on them. In any case, he eventually goes home only to find that his wife "Virginia Thompson" (Louise Platt) hasn't lived there for several months-even though he supposedly left her there early that morning. When he does finally find her he discovers that he has been gone for about a year and then realizes that he suffers from amnesia and can't remember anything during that time. To make matters even worse, he soon discovers that men with guns are chasing him and he doesn't know why. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an interesting film noir which captured the time period rather well and had a decent twist at the very end. Admittedly, the plot was somewhat clichéd and the actors weren't exactly top-notch but it was still worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

This movie hits all the buttons for Film Noir, and I'm willing to call it so. There are lots of earlier movies with elements that finally fused together to make Film Noir, and many movies that almost hit it around this time (like THE MALTESE FALCON), but Noir was a movement, and it's not leaders that make movements, it's followers, like Jack Hively, the B director of this one.

Burgess Meredith is walking down the street when he is knocked down by some rubble from a demolition job. When he gets up, he finds a cigarette case and hat with the wrong initials, and when he goes home, wife Louise Platt tells him he has been missing for more than a year. He goes to the office to get his job back, only to find Sheldon Leonard in hot pursuit. When he goes back to the part of town where he regained his memory, there Claire Trevor is, telling him to get off the street. He's her man and he's wanted for murder.

It's based on one of Cornell Woolrich's overwrought crime novels and, as usual, Burgess Meredith plays a nice, amiable fellow, rather wasted. Claire Trevor has all the good lines, and Sheldon Leonard is fine in a straight role. Despite that voice, meant for Runyonesque hoods, he was a good actor.

If the answer to the mystery is milked a bit to make the movie last a few minutes longer, the answer still came as a surprise to me. I expect you'll enjoy it, not only for its early, pure Noir, but for a fairly played, if mildly hysterical, mystery.

This noir whodunnit is manned by Burgess Meredith, who gives a textured performance, and an early career appearance of Claire Trevor, who would go to greater things. Even Sheldon Leonard, as a deadpan cop, is mildly amusing. The amnesia plot, however, wears a bit thin on the nerves, as it so cliched. and was done too often in noir.

For a B film, this is not too bad. It keeps your interest for over an hour and is decently paced by the director, Jack Hively. Initially, one thinks the protagonist is the target of gangsters, but we find out quickly it is just trigger-happy cops. There is no explanation, however, as to why Jack transforms into Naehring for a year, and dumps his loving wife for that same year. Despite that hole in the plot, the film is entertaining.

Burgess Meredith is hit in the head with some falling debris and when he comes to, he realizes he doesn't know why he's in that part of town. He also notices that his hat and cigarette case have the wrong monogram. He goes home only to be told that he wife moved a year ago.

Something happened to him and he's been suffering from amnesia. The blow to the head has restored his memory, but he doesn't know where he's been for a year. One thing he does know ... Sheldon Leonard is chasing him.

Meredith goes back to the part of town where the accident happened, and he runs into Claire Trevor who is his amnesiac self's girlfriend ... and who points out that he's wanted for murder.

This really early film noir has an intriguing set up, a nice mystery with a couple of interesting twists, and a fairly underwhelming conclusion. Still ... the mystery hinges on a paralyzed woman blinking while Meredith shouts out the alphabet. That's pure entertainment.

I can also never get enough Sheldon Leonard.