Abgekartetes Spiel

Glenn Ford plays a stranger who drifts into town one day. However, he soon finds himself in a tiny bit of trouble and a beautiful lady (Janis Carter) comes to his rescue. However, this is NOT a kind lady but a femme fatale with an evil plan. Her and her married lover (Barry Sullivan) plan on murdering him in order to cover up some embezzlement. However, two huge monkey wrenches are tossed in--Carter's character is evil more evil than you might expect and Ford's is not nearly as stupid as she hoped. While the plot is decent (not great), the film is ultra-stylish, smoking hot and full of femme fatale badness--exactly what I like in a film! Not quite as hot and exciting as Ford's later film, "Gilda" but still quite good. It makes you wonder why Carter never really took off as an actress--she was exquisitely nasty and hot.

Mining engineer Glenn Ford (Mike) trucks into town and is befriended by barmaid Janis Carter (Paula). She's a bit too friendly isn't she? The clue to this film is in the title.

You know Janis Carter is up to something from early on. Always be suspicious of people who are too friendly. Carter is plotting with bank vice-president Barry Sullivan (Steve) and they are looking for a scapegoat. There are twists along the way and Glenn Ford is a sympathetic character to identify with as he begins to suspect and unravel what has been happening. Who gets all that money? Someone starts the film with nothing….and ends the film with nothing.

Glenn Ford is Mike Lambert in "Framed," a 1947 noir also starring Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan, and Edgar Buchanan.

Ford plays a man who takes a job driving a truck that ends up having no brakes. Once at his destination, he enters a bar/restaurant called La Paloma and comes to the attention of waitress Paula Lambert (Carter) - and vice versa.

Turns out she's been waiting for someone like Ford to come along. Well, hasn't every woman? Paula and her boyfriend, Steven Price, need someone to be identified as Price in a car accident/explosion so that she and Price can take off with the $250,000 Price has embezzled from his bank. Unfortunately for them, they're pretty sophomoric, and Mike gets suspicious.

I can't share the deep thrill others have expressed about this film, though I love Glenn Ford's combination of gentleness, toughness, and sexiness. He had really just hit big stardom around the time of this film.

As beautiful, slender and accomplished a Broadway performer as Janis Carter was, I thought her acting was - well, awful is the only word for it. This is a Lizabeth Scott/Ann Sheridan type of role - smoky, mysterious, ambiguous as to motive.

Carter had none of these shadings, offering instead wooden line delivery with nothing going on underneath. A better actress would have made this a much stronger film.

The plot (to me anyway) was very predictable, in part due to the casting. As for the denouement, there was no explanation as to how it all came together, i.e., there were holes.

Ford and Edgar Buchanan, who plays a miner hoping to get a loan from Barry Sullivan's bank, are very good in their roles. Sullivan is fine, but he has a non-showy part.

A stronger female lead and a little more developed script at the end would have helped "Framed" immensely.

I can't think of a movie in which he lost out, anyway.

Here he is a drifter who falls in with a treacherous woman. Initially, he offered work by her romantic interest, the king of film noir, Barry Sullivan. Someone once asked what movie star I felt I identified with most and it was Sullivan. The guy never gave a bad performance.

His girl here is played by Janis Carter. Her biography says that she was a hit in musicals on Broadway. I can see that. She has a boyishly cute look. (Ann Savage is hard to imagine in a musical. But look at Constance Towers, so fine in two Samuel Fuller movies and a Broadway darling.) Carter plays one evil woman! Wow, I would keep my distance from her! She's a waitress at a place called La Paloma when Ford meets her by she has high ambitions.

Edgar Buchanan is exceptionally touching as the miner who's willing to give engineer Ford a job. We can see he's kind of a loser but he is a very decent guy.

This is a tough little film. I recommend it highly.

Ford was a natural for film noir, and "Framed" illustrates this. He is a more vulnerable character than we're used to seeing him play in his other films, and he seems to be easily duped by a beautiful blonde(Janis Carter).

Carter puts in a solid performance and should have been in more films of this type. She is perfect as the scheming and seductive Paula.

Barry Sullivan is a bad guy here, the co-schemer with Paula. While the plot is somewhat predictable, it does include enough surprises to make it a good film noir.

It puzzles me that Framed has apparently not been released on any format in video in either Region 1 or Region 2.

Perhaps Sony will produce a Volume 4 of Columbia film noir and include Framed.