La sirène des bas-Fonds

... as almost everybody in this noir makes terrible choices that make no sense. It seems to be the grand champion of bad decisions in noir, just like The Big Sleep is the undisputed champion of indecipherable plots.

The plot is involved but inane but I'll try to explain. Lawyer Walter Colby (Zachary Scott) represents mobster Hap Richie (Douglas Kennedy) and is in love with the titular Flaxy Martin (Virginia Mayo). But Flaxy is just using Colby so she can get information for Hap. Flaxy's only true love will always be money. Colby gets tired of the illegal dealings of Hap - just what was he expecting? - and tells Hap he is quitting AND going to the police about some perjury that ocurred.. Bad decision number one. The mob doesn't like people who quit or inform. When Flaxy is implicated in a murder -because she was involved AND allowed herself to be seen - she goes to Colby. Colby foolishly decides to confess to the killing himself but claim it was self defense. The mob can't believe the beauty of its situation and pays off another witness to say he saw Colby kill the girl and that it was not self defense.

On the way to prison, Colby knocks the cop accompanying him unconscious and hopes he actually has the key to the handcuffs on him - he does - and then escapes. A mousy woman sees Colby unconscious on the side of the road (Dorothy Malone as Nora Carlson) and, knowing he is an escaped prisoner convicted of murder, just thinks he has such a darned honest face that she takes him home and shields him anyways. Can you count all of the bad decisions here? From that point I'd say watch and find out if you want to know how it ends. But just let me say that the ending depends on being able to lock somebody INSIDE of their own apartment from the outside. I can't believe that the fire marshal would be OK with this.

I don't know why this film was named after character Flaxy Martin since she actually is not on the screen that much of the time. It's rather ironic that it is Dorothy Malone who is the real lead actress, still with her brown hair and playing the nice girl. Because Malone will later transition to blonde and play the kind of characters in the 50s that Mayo played in the 40s. Actually, Elisha Cook Jr. Is probably on camera just as much if not more than Mayo, and that is fine because he is a joy to watch, playing a very determined homicidal maniac who seems to love his work.

In spite of the goofy plot, this really is fun to watch with lots of good noir atmosphere, themes, and action.

Zachary Scott has most of the best lines and Virginia Mayo gets the complete glamor treatment in the title role of FLAXY MARTIN. Both of them score heavily in this tight little crime melodrama that suffers only when the plot's loopholes begin to show. Dorothy Malone gets third billing as the wholesome librarian who sticks her neck out to help a man she almost runs over on a dark and stormy night. Her motivations for taking him in and then discovering he's a man on the run from the law are never completely believable.

Nor is the way Scott tries to shield Mayo from the police by pretending that he's the man who murdered a woman the mob wanted to get rid of. He's a lawyer for the gangsters and sticks his own head into a noose by thinking that he can back himself into a corner and then get out.

But aside from these plot contrivances that don't ring true, the story about a lawyer being double-crossed by the gangsters he was protecting is tight and suspenseful. The supporting cast includes Douglas Kennedy, Elisha Cook, Jr., Tom D'Andrea and Douglas Fowley, all well-used and fitting into the noir-like atmosphere of the melodramatic turn of events.

The amusing tough guy talk from Zachary Scott gets the kind of delivery that shows he was a very capable actor who deserved more recognition with better roles in A-films. He's excellent here and Virginia Mayo is so convincing as a scheming tramp that it makes me think Bette Davis was right when she told Warner Brothers they should have offered the role of Rosa Moline in "Beyond the Forest" to Mayo. She's that good.

Odd little noir film with Virginia Mayo as the title character, a total conniving bitch! This must surely be Mayo's most unsympathetic character and shows that she was a better actress than we remember. She played so many "glamour" parts that we forget she could act.

Here she plays a moll working both sides of the fence. She's with a local racketeer (Douglas Kennedy) but also plays his lawyer (Zachary Scott) for a chump. Lots of murders here and there and plot twists aplenty.

Dorothy Malone plays the nice country girl, Tom D'Andrea is Sam the mechanic, Helen Westcott is the hapless Peggy, Elisha Cook plays the gunsel again, Marjorie Bennett is the nosy neighbor, Douglas Fowley is the detective, and Bill McLean is the hotel desk clerk.

Scott actually gets the most screen time because Mayo disappears while he has his country adventure and meets Malone. But everyone is good and works well together. While Malone is stuck in frilly frocks and aprons, Mayo does the glam bit and looks just great.

Aside from solid work from the trio of stars--Mayo, Scott, and Malone--D'Andrea and Westcott are very very good as well. For those of us who remember D'Andrea as the neighbor on The Life of Riley it's always pleasant to see what a good supporting actor he was. I'm not that familiar with Westcott but she is solid here as Peggy. And I always enjoy seeing Marjorie Bennett!!

Virginia Mayo is a man trap in "Flaxy Martin," a 1949 noir starring Zachary Scott, Dorothy Malone, Helen Westcott, and Tom D'Andrea.

Scott plays a mob lawyer Walter Colby, who's sick of the cases handed him by mobster Hap Ritchie (Douglas Kennedy). He's in love with Flaxy (Mayo), who is two-timing him with Hap, though Walter doesn't know that.

Flaxy talks him into staying until they have enough money to take off. When Walter finds out a witness (Westcott) was paid off to give an alibi to one of Hap's henchmen in a murder case, he threatens to go to the D. A. about it.

Before he knows it, with Flaxy's help, he's been framed for the witness' murder. He escapes from custody and, going on the run, meets Nora (Malone).

Compelling film with excellent performances by Mayo, Westcott, Malone, and Elijah Cook, Jr., as one of Hap's ruthless thugs.

Mayo is as cold as they come, sexy and convincing as she manipulates her men. It's always fun to see Tom D'Andrea, whom baby boomers remember as Gillis in "The Life of Riley" as well. He has a small role, but he's very good.

Zachary Scott is Zachary Scott - he has a strong film persona, a good speaking voice, and does tough well. He's not that slimeball Monty from "Mildred Pierce," though, just someone who works for a low-life.

Well worth seeing.

A really good cast puts over a noir feature from Warner Brothers that's undone by an incredibly, unbelievable plot component. As another Warner Brothers star used to say, "what a maroon".

Zachary Scott plays a criminal attorney who gets off mob hit man Elisha Cook, Jr. on some perjured testimony by Helen Westcott. When Scott finds out about the perjury he fears bar association sanctions and determines to break with mob boss Douglas Kennedy. But Kennedy has other plans that involve Scott's girl friend Virginia Mayo who is in the title role of Flaxy Martin.

Mayo's trading up and she goes to Scott with a tearful story about how she's suspected in the murder of Westcott. So what does this brilliant lawyer do who is now thinking with his male member? He offers to confess and says he's so good at his job that he can win acquittal at trial. But not against some perjured eye witness testimony that Kennedy gets to help the prosecution along.

Of course Scott escapes and starts looking for more than vindication. In that he's aided by friend Tom D'Andrea and farm girl Dorothy Malone who feels sorry for him.

After that horrible premise, the film does pick up and ends rather well. If you've seen Virginia Mayo in White Heat you know how it ended for her there. Ends even worse for her here, but similarly. In fact I'm sure Mayo was cast in Flaxy Martin on the strength of White Heat.

As for Zachary Scott the part he has is one I think might have been written with Humphrey Bogart in mind, but Bogey left Warner Brothers the year before.

Though it's rather unbelievable Flaxy Martin is good display of the talents of both Virginia Mayo and Zachary Scott.