The Pretender

Billy Wilder's less-talented elder brother William (Billy's real name was Samuel) is best known for the notoriously awful sci-fi Killers From Space. But don't let that deter you from this dark little gem. Albert Dekker plays a failing investment broker who plots to marry his wealthy young ward for her money. When he finds she is about to be engaged to a doctor, he hires a gangster acquaintance to rub out the rival, but things go awfully awry. The twisty plot, John Alton's magnificently oppressive lighting, the near-Gothic settings and the spooky theremin score make this an absorbing, if melodramatic, portrait in paranoia. Two other noirs from Wilder are of note - The Glass Alibi and The Vicious Circle.

This independent noir thriller release by Republic has a collection of second line players that give the plot a nice ring of authenticity. It's headed by Albert Dekker who plays an investment banker who gets himself in a nice little jackpot of his own making.

Dekker is the manager of the estate of Catherine Craig chosen by her late father and he's made some bad investments. As he's been friend of the family for years he decides to marry Craig. She says she's getting married to someone he doesn't know.

After that Dekker arranges a hit on the new husband whomever it is. But then Craig breaks it off and marries Dekker after an elopement. Someone takes a picture and it lands in the society page without his knowledge.

It gets worse and worse. He tries to call off the contract, but the broker is killed and he doesn't know who the hitman is.

Dekker is the perfect picture of paranoia. Craig is the concerned wife who is frightened of the mental breakdown she sees coming on. Charles Drake plays the psychiatrist she almost married and now turns for help.

Some people in surprising roles are Alan Carney usually a buffoon plays it straight and nasty as the contract arranger. His right hand man Tom Kennedy is usually a thick as a brick blockhead plays it serious. Charles Middleton best known as Ming the Merciless plays a mysterious butler Craig hires.

This is one good thriller. Good because I couldn't guess the end which always scores high with me.

The Pretender, directed by Billy Wilder's much less talented brother, at time resembles nothing so much as an extended (though not by much; it runs 69 minutes) version of a TV show like The Twilight Zone. Albert Dekker plays a middle-aged financial advisor who has been plundering the accounts of his rich "ward," Catherine Craig. As he gets deeper in the hole, he dreams up the scheme of marrying her. Alas, she pops up with a fiance, who he arranges to have bumped off. Through several twists of fate and screenwriting, he ends up the target of the unknown hitman. Though living in the lap of luxury as a well-married husband, he refuses to eat food served by a series of butlers and gnaws on crackers and cold canned food in his room. His paranoia overtakes his life, until... Dekker plays the part with a convincing mixture of unction and fear, almost making a human being out of this contrived character. This is one of the first movies to score for theramin (oo-EEE-oo), which became a cliche in 50s it-came-from-beyond films, but here adds to the unsettling atmosphere.

Kenneth Holden (Albert Dekker) is a sleazy banker who has been misusing the funds of an heiress in order to cover his losses in the stock market. He owes nearly $100,000 and his plan is to hide it by marrying the heiress. But Claire informs him that she's already engaged...so Holden arranges for the boyfriend to have an 'accident'. However, Claire unexpectedly changes her mind and insists that Holden marry her. So he does and then tries to cancel the contract...as, after all, the contract was to kill Claire's fiancé...and the killer might just think that's Holden. But this goes amok when the man behind arranging the 'accident' is murdered...and he's unable to stop the contract! Holden is at his wits end...realizing that some unknown killer might just be waiting for him!

This is an exciting and sleazy movie...and I mean sleazy in the best possible way! It has many film noir sensibilities and ends as such a film would end. Very exciting and well made.

A banker named Kenneth Holden (Albert Dekker) has been stealing funds from an estate and wants to marry the heiress named Claire (Catherine Craig) to basically keep the cashflow going. However, she has a fiancé. Holden orders a hit on him, simply saying to kill the guy the heiress is with. However (part 2), in short order, Claire breaks up with her fiancé and begins seeing Holden. But wait a minute, wasn't there something about a hit...?

There's another movie or two like this I've seen with the same general premise, but I can't remember the names. For all I know, maybe this predates them. I will say that for the first 2/3 of the movie, it's somewhat slow...but man does it pick up in the last 1/3! It gets really interesting and kinda twisty. A good plot gets better and better, anchored by Dekker's even-keeledness, never going overboard even when things got really bad.

In the end, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I'd see it again someday, in fact!

P.S. Recognize the second butler? It's Charles Middleton, probably most famous for playing Ming the Merciless. :)