Crime Against Joe

Crime Against Joe is a modest noir thriller with much to be modest about. Red herrings as murder suspects are fine, but in this case too many were created in the story leaving a lot of loose ends in what should have been a more coherent script.

The title character is John Bromfield a returned Korean War veteran with a severe drinking problem. That's how we first meet him, living with mom Frances Morris and trying to become a painter. Another Toulouse L'Autrec, taller, less talented and as big a boozer.

But one night when Bromfield has had a snootful and gets a ride home from buddy Henry Calvin a cab driver, there's a murder of a woman and he's the number one suspect. Back in high school he was a big man on campus, but he's a flop now.

Here's where it goes completely haywire. From the town drunk he sobers up real fast and with the help of Julie London a rollerskating server and singer at a fast food place he puts the pieces together.

I knew Henry Calvin was in the cast. But the man with the girth best known as the rabblerouser from Ship Of Fools, the Wazir in Kismet and most of all Sergeant Garcia in Zorro is absolutely unrecognizable. That deep bass voice is not employed at all.

Granted this was a program filler, but little care was taken with the preparation of Crime Against Joe.

Crime Against Joe (1956)

The point of seeing a B movie like this isn't always to find a great masterpiece in the rough. There are the moments or originality, the bit performances, the style of photography or writing. But there is also the glimpse into a time period that sometimes seems more real exactly because it isn't all polished up and idealized.

And this is a pretty interesting, not so bad movie. It's set and shot in Tucson in 1955 (there's a calendar on one wall), a very low point for Hollywood movies, and this is coming from the fringes of that (one of the producers was the "third writer" in "Casablanca). There is one star, of sorts, a white crooner (and looker) named Julie London, who is lovely and sincere and not half bad..

John Bromfield is the centerpiece, and if he's a hair clunky, this makes him kind of more believable as a good-looking guy named Joe Manning on the outs. He's an ex-soldier who thinks he's an artist but knows not a very good one. He drinks too much. He wants a woman in his life, and the movie begins with him kissing his wise mother goodnight and he goes out on the town. "Well, I'm looking for a girl," he says to the singer from the bar (another torch singer, Alika Louis, who appears here in her only movie).

One of the social revelations of the movie is attitudes toward drinking and driving. Joe gets hammered while sitting in his car, drives to a diner, and is visibly drunk as a couple of cops say hello to him (one even chuckles, as if it's kind of funny). More chilling encounters with the cops come later. A killer is bumbling around town, and it looks like it's either Joe (and we don't know it) or the cops are going to think it's Joe (and it's not). It's a pretty tense situation held back only by some occasional awkwardness.

What makes it work, though, is the down to earth acting because it builds up the Hitchcockian mood of a wrong man under suspicion. Witnesses misinterpret things, evidence gets piled up based on presumptions. It's good stuff. And then Joe has to figure out the crime for himself, which he applies himself to with intelligence. (His acting gets better as he sobers up.)

And by the end you see why the movie has its title. It's no masterpiece, but it has enough going on to keep a movie lover glue, I'm sure.

Amateur night in Tucson! Melodramatic (and rather fruity) murder-mystery/character portrait, made quickly and on the cheap in Arizona, could be called "The Shame of Sleepwalking". Unemployed artist named Joe--still living at home with Mom, whom he calls "Nora"--is wrongly accused of attacking girls at night. He's temporarily released from police custody after a smitten carhop comes to his defense (she lies because she loves him!). Unfortunately, her alibi doesn't hold up, so the two become fast-working sleuths to get Joe off the hook. Co-feature from Bel-Air Productions, distributed by United Artists, is surprisingly enjoyable despite wooden acting and directing. As Joe, John Bromfield is a lousy drunk but he improves (his unself-conscious manly swagger is also winning). Playing Joe's secret sweetheart--nicknamed "Slacks" (no girlie business with this lady)--Julie London is a bit too mature and refined to be convincing as a drive-in waitress, yet her stoic demeanor proves appealing as well. The denouement is satisfying, plus there's an amusingly weird side plot about a society girl suffering subconscious distress while living under the thumb of her possessive father. *** from ****

Struggling artist, Joe Manning (John Bromfield) goes out on a drinking binge. His evening takes a bizarre turn when a sleepwalking woman (Patricia Blair) crosses his path.

From this point, Joe's luck changes, and he gets mixed up in a murder. With the cops on his trail, Joe sets out to prove his innocence and track down the real killer.

CRIME AGAINST JOE is an enjoyable crime drama / mystery. There are some nice twists and a satisfying finale. Bromfield is convincing in his desperate role.

Co-stars the incredibly beautiful, Julie London, years before her Dixie McCall days!...

Despite a very low production budget, and a no-name cast (except for the talented Julie London), Crime Against Joe pulls off a bit of an upset as an entertaining film. Although I figured out the killer after about fifteen minutes (and disregarded the enormous red herrings that followed), I was still entertained by the film and its dynamics of a small town, where everyone seems to know everyone else. A libertine mother of a supposed "artist" finds Joe living off of his mother. This is not a crime against humanity, but it does put Joe in a bad light. Slacks, played by London, works at a drive-in burger joint and goes out with Joe's best friend. A couple of late-night murders are committed and Joe is a prime suspect. See if you can figure out the killer quickly. It will surprise some folks.