Der verheiratete Versicherungssachverständige John Forbes verliebt sich in die Femme fatale Mona Stevens, während ihr Freund im Gefängnis sitzt, was schwerwiegende Folgen für alle Beteiligte... Alles lesenDer verheiratete Versicherungssachverständige John Forbes verliebt sich in die Femme fatale Mona Stevens, während ihr Freund im Gefängnis sitzt, was schwerwiegende Folgen für alle Beteiligten hat.Der verheiratete Versicherungssachverständige John Forbes verliebt sich in die Femme fatale Mona Stevens, während ihr Freund im Gefängnis sitzt, was schwerwiegende Folgen für alle Beteiligten hat.
- Auszeichnungen
- 1 wins total
- Desk Sergeant
- (as Dick Wassel)
- Prison Visitor
- (Nicht genannt)
- Fashion Show Attendee
- (Nicht genannt)
- District Attorney's Man
- (Nicht genannt)
- Man in Diner
- (Nicht genannt)
- Bartender
- (Nicht genannt)
- Police Lieutenant
- (Nicht genannt)
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Waiting for him in his office is `Gruesome,' private investigator Raymond Burr, who's done some legwork concerning a convicted felon who has defrauded the company. The felon (Byron Barr) squandered most of his ill-gained money showering his girlfriend (Lizabeth Scott) with furs, an engagement ring and even a little speedboat. Burr, in the course of his sleazy sleuthing, has taken quite an obsessive fancy to her, but Powell warns him off, saying he'll wrap the case up himself.
At first Scott dismisses Powell as just `a little man with a briefcase,' an assessment that tallies too well with his own worst self-image. But to no one's surprise, in this climate of Pacific air and marital dissatisfaction, he ends up taking his own fancy to her, one that turns out to be mutual. They tear around the harbor in her boat, then fritter away the rest of the afternoon in a dim cocktail lounge. He doesn't get back to hearth and home till the wee small hours.
One night when his son is awakened by nightmares, Powell lectures him: `Take only good pictures and have only good dreams.' It's a case of do what I say, not what I do. By veering off from the straight and narrow, Powell has set into motion a chain of baleful events. The vindictive Burr assaults him outside his garage. Scott discovers that Powell's been hiding his life as a married father. Ex-cop Burr starts visiting Barr in stir, sowing seeds of jealousy and plans for revenge. Events converge one dreadful night with an unplanned pair of killings that leave the quick, arguably, worse off than the dead....
Jay Dratler's script (from his own novel) shows a progressive streak in dealing with the short and unpredictable fuses of controlling, potentially violent males stalkers. The script also serves the assembled cast well. True, there's not much to be done with Wyatt, with her cap-sleeved house-dresses and finishing-school elocution, but she's more plausible than she would be two years later as a highly unlikely femme fatale in The Man Who Cheated Himself. Here, she's the distaff side of those male dictators, a wife whose ideals of suburban decorum are chiseled into cold marble (she's a faint forerunner of Joan Crawford's Harriet Craig).
But Powell gets to tap deeply into his key emotion, snappish discontent, and lets it deepen into something close to small-time tragedy. Scott, always an iconic presence but an actress with limits, finds a comfortable part as a bewildered and vulnerable victim of the men who come into her life, bidden and unbidden. Burr, billed fourth (after Wyatt!), possibly fares best. Much in demand in the late 40s as one of the creepiest heavies, he earned that demand by providing extra (and maybe unasked-for) dimensions to the thugs he played. Like the giant Fafner in Das Rheingold, he lets a bit of yearning, of desperation, show under all his intimidating bulk (and in sheer avoirdupois, it's one of his biggest roles).
De Toth, better remembered for his westerns and 3-D horror pix like House of Wax, made, in Pitfall, one of the more distinctive titles of the noir cycle. Not often mentioned in top-ten lists, even those of black-and-white crime films of the post-war era, it has the effrontery to situate deceit and duplicity and betrayal where it surely ought not to belong not in road houses or tenement flats but right at the heart of a storybook American family (it's one of the more subversive films of the era).. Yes, there are lapses, chief among which is a score that keeps trying to crack corny little jokes. But in the denouement far from unleashing a hideous storm of terror, De Toth opts for cold detachment he casts a chill that lingers still.
"Pitfall" is a magnificent film-noir with a realistic story and well- developed characters. The direction and performances are top-notch and the cast gives credibility to the plot with excellent lines. Dick Powell and Jane Wyatt perform a mature couple that expects to supersede their problem. The gorgeous and sexy Lizabeth Scott is perfect in the role of a seductive femme-fatale. But Raymond Burr steals the show in the role of a despicable and Machiavellian villain. The open end is another plus in this great film. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Caminho da Tentação" ("Way to Temptation")
Naturally, every guy falls in love with Scott. Director Andre De Toth draws out a believably warm, human quality in her performance. Powell's character is so bored stiff at home with super-sweet wife Jane Wyatt that he chases the first dame who bats an eyelash at him. His wry delivery of some very clever lines seems fresh to this day. Burr's character is a nasty creep who probably murders h00kers in his spare time so his stalking Scott is completely believable. Once they mix in the old boyfriend, who gets sprung from jail in time for the Third Act, things get murder-y.
To be honest, I expected a different character to die. Or at least get arrested. In any event, the wrong character got the comeuppance. It may have had something to do with the Hayes Office. Would be fun to see a remake.
Unfortunately, the men in Lizabeth's life are a psycho stalker, beautifully played with understated menace by Raymond Burr, a cheater having a mid-life crisis, and a jailbird. And my impression is every one of them would blame Lizabeth for their own failings.
Taken with the film's other major female character, who has man problems of her own, this movie thinks little of men (unless they are very young or very old), and pretty highly of women.
For me the standout performances were Burr and Scott, but the funny thing about this movie is that, outside of Burr, no one here at IMDb seems to agree much about who's good and who isn't.
While noir films are associated with the detective genre, what makes something noir is its exploration of the darkness within its characters souls and the awful things people are capable of, and this movie takes that on very effectively. It's not a great movie, but it keeps you interested.
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- WissenswertesThis was independently produced by Regal Films and released through United Artists. For decades, the film was rarely seen. It can be seen today through the preservation efforts of the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
- PatzerThe public elevator indicator in the Los Angeles Hall of Justice building shows floors 1 to 19. However, in reality, the building is only 14 stories tall.
- Zitate
Tommy Forbes: Dad was a boxer in college!
Doctor: I think he was wise to go into insurance.
Doctor: [handing a prescription to Sue Forbes] Take this up to the drug store.
Sue Forbes: What is it?
Doctor: A course in boxing.
- VerbindungenFeatured in Noir Alley: Pitfall (2018)
Top-Auswahl
Details
- Erscheinungsdatum
- Herkunftsland
- Sprachen
- Auch bekannt als
- Die Falle - Pitfall
- Drehorte
- 5424 Bradna Drive, Los Angeles, Kalifornien, USA(Forbes Family Home)
- Produktionsfirma
- Weitere beteiligte Unternehmen bei IMDbPro anzeigen
Box Office
- Budget
- 1.000.000 $ (geschätzt)
- Laufzeit1 Stunde 26 Minuten
- Farbe
- Seitenverhältnis
- 1.37 : 1