A Man Betrayed

After a young man supposedly commits suicide after leaving a nightclub in New York, a rural lawyer named "Lynn Hollister" (John Wayne) travels from the same hometown as the victim and goes to the Big Apple to investigate. When he gets there he finds that clues leading to the truth are hard to come by and eventually they lead to a corrupt politician named "Tom Cameron" (Edward Ellis) who knows more than he admits. But rather than simply give up he decides to continue his investigation with the help of the politician's daughter "Sabra Cameron" (Frances Dee). What he doesn't know is that Sabra may not have the same intention of finding the killer as he does. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a typical John Wayne film which benefited from a good plot and a decent script. I was especially impressed with the scenes involving the nightclub called "the Inferno" which could have easily come from a movie filmed 20 or 30 years later. On the other hand, the one thing I didn't care for was the rather jumbled ending which I thought should have been more fully developed. Likewise, I would have preferred a bit more drama as well. Even so, it was a fairly decent movie for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Going out for the day and seeing the BBC had a John Wayne movie on for the afternoon I left and set the tape running. Later I started to watch it expecting a western, I was disappointed at first and then pleasantly surprised. I have seen very few John Wayne movies that were not westerns and not always good but this I enjoyed. Good storyline and a plot which was well thought out. This is the first time I have seen Frances Dee and she was very convincing in her conflict of emotions in loyalty to her father and love for the "Duke". Edward Ellis was wooden but he was old school so I could put up with that. Ward Bond was unnerving in his role as the simple-minded killer henchman. I shall keep the tape and look for more Frances Dee movies, a good actress easy on the eye - and married for 57 years to the same man - respect!!

I enjoyed watching this movie, but there is no use pretending that it has any particular merit. It is interesting to watch early John Wayne movies where he is not playing a cowboy and not fiddling with his revolver. The female lead, Frances Dee, was very interesting to watch, lively and attractive. She reminds me of Geena Davis when young as in EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (1988, see my review). She stopped acting in 1954, aged 55, and had made 56 films by then. The story of this film is so unconvincing and implausible that it is not even worthwhile attempting to describe it. It is nonsense from beginning to end. The Hungarian émigré director John H. Auer directed the film. It is both easy to watch and easy to forget.

One wonders how the script came to be written.

Wayne and the other performers do an OK job but as it is neither comedy, romantic thriller or anything else it is all rather disappointing.

One feels as if one of the threads had been pursued it could have been something worthwhile. It is nonetheless interesting to see a real turkey of a story made just before the USA became directly involved with the war. I wonder if the surrounding politics had something to do with trying to make a movie for all tastes but ending up with something that pleases no one.

Nonetheless it has historical value.

John Wayne has the ability to shine through even the poorest of scripts. Its an interesting story where the Duke has to deal with his morals and conscience when moving to a corrupt city and falls in love with a dirty politicians daughter.

Francis Dee and Wayne have good on screen chemistry but this can be seen as the strength of Waynes acting rather Dees performance.

The show has the classic 40s slapstick comic relief. If you want to sit with some Wayne nostalgia then you will enjoy this movie. But if your looking for an exciting story with a well written script and good acting, then don't rush to this movie. It not a classic of the 40s, but its a classic example of 40s movies :-)