Atormentada

...because cop Johnny Saxon (Preston Foster) is literally haunted by his old relationship with recently released ex con Laura Mead (Belita). Four years ago she was his girl, but then the jewels from a robbery showed up in her apartment, and her brother was involved, but before he could say anything about Laura's involvement he was murdered. Laura went up the river for four years, vowing to kill her attorney and Johnny when she got out. This either means she was very guilty or very innocent.

So one minute Johnny is acting cold towards Laura because he thinks she played him for a fool by acting the good girl when she was actually a thief, and the next minute he is getting her a job at an ice rink(???). Yes I said ice rink, and there is even about a 5-10 minute number with Laura (Belita) figure skating in all of this in the middle that has nothing to do with the plot. But I'll get to this later.

So after Johnny spends a significant amount of time wandering around tormented about Laura, trying to get back to where he was emotionally in a way that reminds me of James Stewart in Vertigo, wandering the streets of San Francisco looking for a lost love he knows is gone, suddenly Johnny is OK with Laura. He believes her. Surprisingly Laura accepts Johnny's acceptance and seems to return this double minded man's love.

But then over one hour into this 84 minute film Laura's lawyer is found shot to death in his apartment with one of Laura's personal belongings lying close to the body. So has Johnny been made a fool of by this woman AGAIN, or is she really that unlucky? Watch and find out.

This is not one of those non stop action noirs. It is mainly just Johnny and Laura and their verbal dance of regret and attraction combined with some great cinematography and some classic noir scenes - the 40's diner, the bus stops, the long haul truckers, the line ups and inquisitions under hot lights. And there are a couple of LOL moments that are probably because this came from poverty row. Why is it every time there is a break in one of Johnny's cases the entire police force comes to a stop while he recovers from a punch or a wound or whatever? Can they not go after the suspect themselves? Then there is the case of X-Ray eyes Johnny has where he enters a room and goes straight to the place where a gun is hidden! Make this guy officer of the year!

Earlier I said I would explain the ice skating. Belita was a championship figure skater before her short acting career. I think her uncertain and untrained acting style worked for her in the films in which I've seen her, because you really don't know where she is coming from, and that adds to the suspense. I recommend it, especially if you've seen or heard Eddie Muller's comments on the film.

One of those very good, but forgotten film-noirs, it's a relatively strong story, of a girl who spent 4 years in prison for a crime she may or may not have done, and a cop who loved her and turned her in. It has good, tight execution and it's a film for film-lovers. The female lead is excellent in her portrayal, and it's too bad she only got used in several films, mostly for her skating and dancing abilities; and you should keep an eye out for the name of Jack Bernhard, the director, as he has other great noirs, such as The Decoy.

"The Hunted" starts off very well and showed tons of promise as a film noir picture. However, by the time it ends, I found myself incredibly disappointed.....as the movie seemed afraid to really allow itself to be tough and cynical like most noir pictures. Plus, the happy ending just seemed stupid and like a wimp out!

This movie stars Belita, a one-namer who was a skating star and appeared in just a few movies. Much of it might be because although she IS pretty, she's not traditionally pretty and her looks are a tad tough...which is a plus for noir. It seems that Laura Mead (Belita) just got out of prison, where she'd been for four years after being convicted of robbery. However, to complicate things, her old boyfriend, the Lieutenant (Preston Foster), is the man who arrested her! Now that she's out, he is interested in re-starting their relationship...though he's not sure if she can be trusted. See the movie to find out the answer.

Belita was excellent--mostly because they gave her some amazingly snappy dialog. But the ending....it was as if they'd lost the ending and just EXPLAINED the ending...a terrible way to wrap up any film. Plus, the upbeat ending just didn't seem to fit...hence me score of only 6. I really wanted to like this movie more than I did.

A B movie noir from 1948. The only reason I bring up B movie is that this particular outing had a cheaper budget than most in this tale of a recently released woman from prison & the cop who arrested her re-entering her life to see if she really is walking the straight & narrow. Starring Belita (a once popular ice skater, I kid you not) who parlayed a film career specializing in noir roles, plays the ex-con & since she wasn't trained as an actor, most of her line deliveries sound strange & ill prepared but it actually works in the narrow confines of this story. Shot handily on minimal locations, this slight nugget of noir may not redefine the genre but it does what it sets out to do.

In this detective story, a private eye must send his fiancee to prison as he truly believes that she was involved in a bank robbery. Unfortunately, she is innocent. Still she serves her time. Upon her release someone frames her for murder. The detective is in quite a quandary until the real criminal is found. The woman finally returns to her beloved private eye. More romantic melodrama than 'noir' 'The Hunted' still shines as 'Belita ' the "Ice Queen" who was in the 1936 Olympic games as a figure skater for England ; serves up a great cat and mouse performance as Laura Mead . B-film crime story ably directed by Jack Bernhard. The Hunted is lit on 'noir' but is still a great Crime, Drama and Film-Noir in the end . Highly entertaining .