One Way Street

....which ruined the ending of this movie.

"One Way Street" from 1950 stars James Mason, Marta Toren, Dan Duryea, and William Conrad. Mason plays Dr. Frank Matson, a mobster, John Wheeler's (Duryea) doctor. It isn't clear why the doctor isn't in practice; one assumes he botched an operation or something.

Matson steals $200,000 from Wheeler by telling him he has just given him poison, and that he'll call in one hour with the antidote. He then leaves with the money and Wheeler's girlfriend Laura (Toren). They wind up in a small village in Mexico where the two become fixtures - Matson provides medical care for the people and animals, and Laura says it's the only place she has ever felt safe.

However, Wheeler is looking for them, so Matson makes a tough decision.

Well the code wrecked the end of this film. I was very disappointed.

Someone commented that Mason was miscast - he certainly has a lot of class and expertise for a mob doctor, who are usually drunks whose hands shake. Marta Toren was so beautiful, but she died at the age of 31. Tragic. Dan Duryea is his usual mean self, and William Conrad is on hand as a fellow thug.

Good movie except for...the end.

The Noir genre occasionally crossed the Mexico's frontier where the story takes place, but mostly of time with a bunch of American characters with a few Mexicans only, usually as bit players, I mean part of the backdrop so to speak, in One Way Street it's totally opposite, the producers used a massive of Mexican on the cast as secondary roles as few times, to the point to be called as Noir-Spaghetti by two key reasons, firstly by Hugo Fregonese on direction and lastly countless Mexicans on supporting casting, attached on a small Mexican Pueblo, it's a little intro over this thematic an unusual Noir picture.

The plot summarized consist in a post robbery at Los Angeles's apartment where the gang boss John Wheeler (Dan Duryea) is misleading by the cunning Dr. Frank Matson (James Mason) ends up stolen a bo.oty of 200.000 dollars cash and slipping away of the town bring together Wheeler's gorgeous escort girl Laura Thorsen (Martha Toren) and heading by small plane to Mexico City, nonetheless by gas pump's failure the pilot has been forced to landing in rural area, meanwhile expecting a pump's repairs in a weak or so they meeting a local friendly Father Moreno (Basil Ruysdael) who lodges them in nearby warm pueblo.

Soon the long awaiting allowing for to embittered Doctor a possibility to return in clinical practice again, even treating a sick mule, after a successful healing he turns your eyes to the careless people in town, often sponsored by the enthusiastic Father, backing on a pleasant way plenty, in other hand the charming Laura also finally figures out an easy mind in that peaceable village insofar has in touch with a welcoming smooth people, both finally get together in an veritable affair at last, thus wondering a quiet life there Dr. Frank is willing to be back the stolen money to easy the angry Wheeler, aiming for keep there forever in peace.

Too many posted here countless complains concerning the fatalist outcome, whereof I don't agree whatsoever, the storyline is full of holes as the brainer Boss Wheeler has been deceived by an implausible gimmick, he seems not so smart as he at the outset thought, over an British character to fill in this role I suppose that would be an native American guy could fits better than James Mason surely, anyway an fine entertainment at all.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5.

I quite enjoyed James Mason's performance here as the calculating "Dr. Matson". He is frequently summoned to treat the hoodlums of gangster "Wheeler" (Dan Duryea) and during one such visit espies a bag, similar to his own, that contains $200,000 in stolen loot. After a bit of macho banter with his patient, he picks up the bag and makes for the door. He has given the boss some pills and any interference will prevent him from getting the antidote! This is the moment that moll "Laura" (Märta Torén) has been waiting for and she decides to abscond with the doctor. Their escape plan doesn't quite go to plan, though - a car and a plane accident - before they find themselves in a small town where his skills and their burgeoning love start to make them wonder if their master plan is still the best one. Meantime, though very much on the back burner, the mobsters are determined to avenge themselves on both of them. It does rather run out of steam with half an hour to go, and though the ending is actually quite fitting it was all just a little bit rushed and, I felt, frustrating! Still, there's some chemistry between the two and Basil Ruysdael's priest, a sick horse and some really lightweight banditos all play to the story quite well too. You'll probably not recall it afterwards, but it's a bit different.

In the Citadel Film series book on The Films Of James Mason, Mason himself said that he was never told by viewers that they saw this film or was ever questioned about it. I guess that One Way Street might be overlooked in the big budget films that would shortly follow in his career. That's a pity because this one is a good, but fatalistic noir film, something along the lines of Odd Man Out.

In One Way Street Mason is a doctor whose practice is on the wrong side of the law, patching up criminals and not reporting about it. We're never told brought him to this because no one starts this way in the field of medicine.

While on a house call to Dan Duryea's mob after they've pulled a heist, Duryea rides Mason once too often and through a rather ingenious bluff he winds up stealing the loot from a robbery the gang just pulled off. Not only that, he winds up stealing Marta Toren away from Duryea so Dan has two reasons for going after him.

Mason and Toren have to land in a remote village in Mexico when the plane they've chartered develops engine trouble. Even a defrocked doctor is welcome among these people where Mason and Toren settle and start to enjoy life a little, but life and the past do catch up.

Duryea's henchmen include William Conrad, King Donovan, and Jack Elam who are as scurvy a lot as you'll find. Basil Ruysdael who is always an authority figure of some kind is fine as the local priest at the village where Mason and Toren are staying. Look fast or you'll miss Rock Hudson in a bit role as a truckdriver with one line in the film.

Marta Toren who hoped to succeed both Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman as a cinema sensation from Sweden died tragically young. She never broke into A pictures in America, but she was for me one of the most beautiful women the big screen ever saw.

If your genre is noir you cannot go wrong with One Way Street.

Dan Duryea and his gang have just pulled off a big haul. Doctor James Mason scoops the loot and Duryea's girlfriend, Märta Torén. The two fugitives head to Mexico City, but the plane they're in is forced down in a poor coastal village by a busted fuel pump. The canny and kindly local priest. Basil Ruysdael, talks them into staying and giving medical help to his parishioners. However, Duryea is still looking for them, for vengeance.

It's a well produced story of redemption, and Ruysdael steals the show. He was born in 1878 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA as Basil Spaulding Millspaugh. From 1910 through 1918, he was a bass-baritone for the Metropolitan Opera Company, before going on Broadway and then radio. His movie debut was in THE COCOANUTS in 1929. Aside from some voice-over work in shorts, he next was seen on the screen in 1949. He died in 1960.