Appointment with a Shadow

1957
Approved
1h 12min

NOTE IMDb

MA NOTE

Joanna Moore and George Nader in Appointment with a Shadow (1957)

Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueGeorge Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.George Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.George Nader plays a reporter whose career is ruined by liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when he is a bystander at the arrest of a well-known criminal.

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6,5/10

517

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Photos82

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Rôles principaux16

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George Nader

Paul Baxter

Joanna Moore

Penny Spencer

Brian Keith

Lt. Spencer

Virginia Field

Florence Knapp

Frank DeKova

Dutch Hayden

Stephen Chase

Sam Carewe

Ralph Brooks

Joe - Newspaper Man
(non crédité)

Raoul Freeman

Burlesque Club Patron
(non crédité)

Bill Hickman

Farrell - Police Detective
(non crédité)

Rusty Lane

Pat O'Connell - Bartender
(non crédité)

John Phillips

Reporter
(non crédité)
…

Fred Sadoff

Jeffrey Sayre

Burlesque Club Patron
(non crédité)

Charles Sherlock

Reporter
(non crédité)

Bert Stevens

Burlesque Club Patron
(non crédité)

Hal Taggart

Burlesque Club Patron
(non crédité)

Réalisation
- Richard Carlson
Scénario
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Avis des utilisateurs15

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Avis à la une

10tiffanie_says_stay_in_your_lane

Character study meets noir

Well, I don't know about anybody else, but it gave off character study vibes to me. I'm fascinated by movies that examine someone's personal struggles, even more so if they grow and develop throughout the course of the story. Otherwise, if they're one-dimensional, and don't learn anything as they go along, that's just boring. Appointment with a Shadow is an exceptionally crafted film about former newspaper reporter Paul (George Nader) who lost his job as a result of his alcoholism. His girlfriend Penny (Joanna Moore), also a reporter, believes he has the potential to bounce back, so she gives him a tip that could help him re-launch his career. There is one condition: he has to go without a drink for 24 hours. Despite experiencing major withdrawal, he accepts the challenge. Penny's brother, Lt. Spencer (Brian Keith), thinks she's wasting her time trying to help him become sober. So essentially, Paul has to prove himself. This is one of many B films that contains brilliant performances. George Nader was so convincing as an alcoholic who was trying his hardest to stay sober for a full day. You could see the desperation, physically and emotionally. He was shaking, sweating, unable to stay focused on a task, jumpy - he got startled by every little noise. You don't see acting like that anymore. Also, a couple of amusing things were added in to lighten the mood: two beatniks playing music in a hotel room that he fell into through a window. The nerdy guy who works backstage in a gentleman's club and spends all of his time reading, completely unphased by the women around him. I just thought that was clever. The pacing was consistent and the characters were engaging. I was glad Paul wasn't made out to be a stereotypical alcoholic. He wasn't violent or nasty. He was an affable person, thus making his character likeable. Otherwise, if he was the raging type, I probably wouldn't have been interested. And to think, this was inspired by a story that was published in a magazine. It's a fantastic noir that will hold your attention. Don't pay attention to the negative reviews.

10clanciai

The Phoenix passage through horrors just to stay sober

Richard Carlson was one of Hollywood's most underrated stars, as he never really achieved stardom but from the beginning was rather modest in his appearances. He made some brilliant performances in the 40s and then gradually also started to direct. His direction here is flawless. His penetration into the problems of an alcoholic, the detailed close-up curtailing of his Via Crucis into sobriety with too many death traps on the way, is on the level with Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend" with Ray Milland 1945, but the ordeal is more arduous and intensive here, as George Nader only has one day to go through it all. He gets the chance of his life as a journalist when he gets the opportunity to witness the capture of a long sought murderer at close hand, while this sensational adventure turns out the wrong way, and he is faced by worse sensations than he bargained for. You will bite your nails through in this tremendous challenge of life and death, following the nasty trials of the unwilling hero. Fortunately the film is only 70 minutes, so you will get through it all alive after all, but you would never for your life want to be in a similar situation. George Nader's passage through hell to sobriety leads to some kind of redemption, but that one day through that hell would teach you more than a lifetime of infernal passages.

7adrianovasconcelos

"Hamlet, take Shakespeare for a walk" - things improve sans booze

I had no idea actor Richard Carlson had also directed APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW - and a competent job he does, too! Mind you, he is not overly helped by Alec Coppell's and Norman Jolley's screenplay, which focuses for too long on the booziness of character Paul Baxter, fitfully played by George Nader (nadir more like!) as a newspaper reporter lushing up every drop of alcohol he can imbibe.

Thankfully, highly organized and stunningly beautiful girlfriend Joanna Moore (what does she see in Nader?!) manages to convince her cop brother Brian Keith to give Nader another chance and let him witness the capture of rotten criminal Dutch Hayden. Whether that would have been approved by police leadership even back in 1957 is highly debatable. Incidentally, Hayden is believably played by Frank deKova, who is rumored to have undergone cosmetic surgery, and might now look completely different. Still, that is the only extant photographic record of the wanted criminal, and all Nader can guide himself by when he spies from the rooftop with the Lawson whiskey advertisement.

In order to get that job-saving breaking news, Nader must follow a very specific time table drawn up by his meticulous sister, who demands that he scuttle the bottle for good.

Feeble Nader kinda promises her that he will try, but neither Moore nor Keith are convinced... and rightly so, for a while, with repeated shots of Lawson's whiskey (that must have paid for production) shining in neon to emphasize the point.

But!... when Nader begins to beat the libation habit by the hour, resulting in rising self-confidence, you can tell that he will meet Moore's demand.

APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW is not particularly memorable, but not bad either - certainly worth watching and my 7 stars.

6blanche-2

George Nader as a washed up reporter with one helluva story

An alcoholic, out of work newspaper reporter is given another chance in "Appointment with a Shadow," from 1957, starring George Nader, Joanna Moore, Brian Keith, and Virginia Field.

Nader plays Paul Baxter, whose girlfriend Penny (Moore) is a reporter as well. After he is dropped off at her place by her brother, Lt. Spencer (Keith) and sobered up, she tells him she has the inside scoop on a story. It's his if he can stay sober for the entire day.

Penny's brother is a police detective and has agreed to allow Paul in on the arrest of a wanted criminal (Frank DeKova). He will then scoop all the crime reporters and get a newspaper job. Her brother thinks she's crazy and doesn't think she should bother with Paul, but she insists that she loves him and can't give up on him.

Paul manages to stay sober for the day. Penny calls him with the information about the stakeout and arrest. Unfortunately, once Paul gets to the scene, something goes terribly wrong. He's the only one who knows how wrong it went, and no one will believe him.

While the film deals realistically with an alcoholic's struggle to refrain from taking a drink, it doesn't really deal realistically with the illness. Still, it's an involving story, if a little too pat, directed by actor Richard Carlson.

George Nader was an attractive man who had a decent career in television and later did films in Europe. He never reached stardom in the U..S. because Universal outed him to Confidential magazine so the publication wouldn't out Rock Hudson. He was a good type for noir and detective stories - he played Ellery Queen on television as well as two other TV series.

lor_

A quality sleeper

Richard Carlson, trying his hand at directing, does a fine job with "Appointment with a Shadow", a neo-noir from Universal in glorious black & white CinemaScope.

George Nader is quite empathetic as a down & out alcoholic news scribe, given one last chance by his selfless girlfriend, Joanna Moore with an alluring pixie hairdo. Aided by her brother, tough-guy cop Brian Keith, she's got all the research ready for George to hand in a scoop, the capture of wanted hoodlum Frank de Kova, delivered on a silver platter, and guaranteed to revive Nader's newspaper career, That's if things go as planned.

A terrific plot twist at the movie's halfway mark sets in motion a quite suspenseful test of our hero's commitment to sobriety and his resourseulness, leading to a solid climax and denouement.

Rooting for an underdog is a classic Hollywood staple, and is engaging escapism heightened by this familiar B-movie cast (of couse Keith becoming quite the TV star later on).

Histoire

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Le saviez-vous

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Anecdotes
Filming began with Jeffrey Hunter in the lead, but a serious case of hepatitis caused him to be replaced by George Nader after one day of shooting.

Citations
[In an apartment, a woman can be seen approaching a door when she hears the bell ringing. This is Penny Spencer. When she opens the door, she sees Police Lieutenant Spencer carrying a man, the latter is Paul Baxter]
Lt. Spencer: Do you mind if I say I'm glad this is the last time I'm gonna have to do this?
Penny Spencer: [starts walking towards another room] Bring him in here, Spence.
Lt. Spencer: [looks at the intoxicated Baxter] Come on...
[Penny and the Lieutenant enter a room where they lay Baxter on a bed. After positioning him, they take a closer look at him]
Lt. Spencer: Look at him. Paul Baxter and clean sheets they just don't add up. Do they, sis?
Penny Spencer: A shower and shave will help.
Lt. Spencer: It'll take a lot more than a shower and a shave to make anything add up for him again.
Penny Spencer: You just don't have any faith in him at all. Do you, Spence?
Lt. Spencer: Penny, I got more faith in these guys than most people have. In fact, I got so much faith in them I can predict exactly what'll happen when you clean them up and turn them loose. He'll go get drunk again.
Penny Spencer: Anybody deserves another chance.
Lt. Spencer: We got him another chance on every newspaper in town.
Penny Spencer: [turns towards the door] Well, he still needs help.
Lt. Spencer: Oh, come on, sis, why don't you just settle for being a good newspaper woman till the right guy comes along, huh?
Penny Spencer: He is the right guy.
Lt. Spencer: And the top reporter in town at twenty-five and he's an alcoholic bum before he's thirty. You call it right?
Penny Spencer: You made me a promise, Spence.
Lt. Spencer: I know, I know, I just don't want to see you through your life away, I want to see you happy, that's all.
Penny Spencer: Then keep your promise... I love him.
Lt. Spencer: Alright, you'll love him. You're my sister, I happen to love you. Believe me, that's the only reason I'm going through with this deal. I took me a long time to make Lieutenant you know, I could be back pounding a beat in thirty seconds if the department found out what I'm up to. So I think that gives me a right to make you promise.
[Penny remains silent]
Lt. Spencer: Look, if he goofs this one up, you see him for the last time. I mean it, Penny. I want you to promise me this is the end of the line.
Penny Spencer: [softly] It's the end of the line.
Lt. Spencer: [puts his hand on his sister's shoulder] Good night, sis.
[the Lieutenant leaves the apartment]