The Guilty

It's hard not be a little jaded about this from the outset. For at least a couple decades, kindred features were a nickel a dozen as they starred a dark-haired, white male actor as a protagonist whose voice was grizzled and weary, but not altogether haggard, and who dressed themselves with a long coat and a wide-brim hat. Opening narration has Mike remarking on how this street remains unchanged after so much time, and then we learn he means a mere six months. Then we start to wonder whether it's just us, or maybe either an accident of birth or the intention of contemporary filmmakers, that makes most every actor sound alike and speak with an almost indistinguishably similar cadence and timbre in the 40s (if not also the 50s, and 30s). More substantively, I would argue that the script (not least the narration) and John Reinhardt's direction feel kind of imprecise to me as the minutes start to tick by, if not outright sloppy in places, and all of a sudden I'm not so sure about the prospects of 'The guilty' to hold up over time.

There remain enough issues throughout for me to stand by my initial impression, including sometimes unconvincing treatment of relationships between men and women, or treatment that's even more dubious than it's meant to be, and even something as small as the normal life of protagonist Mike (are we really supposed to believe he's a student?). In fairness, though, maybe I'm too cynical for my own good, for the plot begins to pick up more with a certain phone call a little before the one-third mark. The tension is palpable as the grim drama mounts - and just as importantly, helping to balance out the more questionable choices, there are splendid details along the way that make the narrative feel a tad sharper. Just as much to the point, when the ending rolls around and all is revealed, there's just enough cleverness in Robert Presnell Sr.'s screenplay, adapting Cornell Woolrich's story, to make us want to possibly watch again and see it with a new perspective. I don't think that new perspective alters the indelicacies or lesser first impressions that we get along the way, but when all is said and done this flick shows itself to have a bit more meat on its proverbial bones than one may be inclined to assume from the beginning.

In other regards it's not necessarily a picture to write home about. The acting is good, but doesn't specifically stand out, and much the same goes for the contributions of the crew behind the scenes. Rudy Schrager's music ranges from suitable to arguably overwrought; Jodie Copelan's editing is fine, except for some instances that are perhaps a tad cliché. And so on, and so on. At the end of the day I do like 'The guilty' and I think it's reasonably worthwhile - with the caveat that it's hardly some revelation, and it is probably the type of movie best reserved for a lazy, relaxing day. So long as one can get on board with the more unremarkable and prototypical side of film noir and is just looking for something relatively light, this is good enough to earn a soft recommendation.

Decent noir that captures Cornell Woolrich's world of isolated, tortured men and the women over whom they obsess. Love the fact that it's all shot at night since nothing weakens this genre more than too much light, literally and otherwise. Congrats to cinematographer Henry Sharpe. And I must say I did not see the denouement coming until it was almost upon me, so congrats to scenarist Robert Presnell, as well.

Problems center around the rather languid pacing, for which director John Reinhardt must take the fall. Too much of the film, undoubtedly trying to communicate Woolrich's sense of moral deadness, itself feels half dead. And Don Castle, the "poor man's Clark Gable" who is actually more like Lee Bowman's kid brother, is, to put it mildly, not a skilled enough actor to enliven the somnolent proceedings. I will say, however, that Bonita Granville does a credible job of portraying a femme poised between fatale and decent. And Regis Toomey's somewhat smarmy cop is so good that I wish he'd been in the film more.

Bottom line: I've seen a lot worse noirs. Give it a B minus.

Both somewhat dull and weirdly fascinating, the flick starts with a long voiceover and lengthier flashback to explain how two army buddies, later roommates, (one incapacitated by PTSD, the other attending night school to better himself) get mixed up with a pair of twin sisters of opposite character (Bonita Granville). When one of them suddenly disappears, the investigation begins. Don Castle plays the straight upstanding veteran beside Wally Cassell's nervous wreck, and the two find ways to ward off a cloud of suspicion over their possible involvement in the disappearance. This is a rough-and-ready B movie but all the more authentic for that. Shot entirely in the gloom of night, it's dreary, rain-soaked and confined to about three locations - but the strange relationship between the ex-soldiers and the twins keeps one engaged, as does the whodunnit aspect, which turns out to be overly convoluted. A palpable sense of ennui, existential angst and cynicism runs through the film which, with some excellent use of shadow and light, elevate this low-budget Monogram movie into something very watchable. There's plenty to like here.

From 1947, "The Guilty" is a film noir starring Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, John Litel, and Wally Cassell.

This is strictly poverty row, Monogram. Bonita Granville plays twins, Linda and Estelle. One is sweet and the other is a vamp. I had a hard time figuring out who was who.

Castle and Cassell play roommates Mike and Johnny. Johnny is the nervous type. When the sweet twin is killed, Johnny is sure he will be blamed and makes himself seem guilty by acting like such a wreck.

This movie is dry as a bone. Castle is one of those stereotypical B movie tough guys who talks out of one side of his mouth. Granville was always a good actress, but the twins' characters aren't well fleshed-out and I'm sure she had no time to work on differences between them. By the way, her husband, Jack Wrather, produced this, and if you're a baby boomer, you know that Bonita Granville Wrather produced the Lassie series.

Regis Toomey plays the detective, and he's pretty one note. He and Castle sounded like they were imitating hard-boiled detectives.

What bothered me is that we knew before we even saw Estelle and Linda that the two were identical twins. So Estelle keeping her back to Linda while she was talking to her in the beginning was a big waste of time.

When she walks out to face her sister, she does it in a grand way, like the audience should be surprised that she looks like Linda. The Castle narration mentions TWICE that they're lookalikes beforehand. Not very well done.

(1947) The Guilty MYSTERY CRIME DRAMA

Adapted from Cornell Woolrich short story "Two Men in a Furnished Room" from "Detective Fiction Weekly" with the narrator Mike Carr (Don Castle) narrating both the story and the events when one of the 2 twin sisters (Linda to be exact), both played by Bonita Granville is murdered all pointing to her spouse, Johnny Dixon (Wally Cassell)as the guilty suspect evading the police. And of course, the surviving twin, Estelle Mitchell helps Mike Carr since him and Johnny used to serve one another get involve into uncovering the murder. A moderate entertaining thriller that keeps viewers guessing until the very end.