This Side of the Law

"This Side of the Law" is a noirish film with mostly unknown or second-tier actors...but it is quite enjoyable and worth your time. It's just that the plot is REALLY tough to believe...and you must suspend disbelief to get through it.

Kent Smith plays a drifter who is up on vagrancy charges. However, a lawyer plays his fine and offers him a proposition...pretend to be someone else for a few days and earn $5000! The difficult to believe things are that the drifter could look like the long-lost Malcolm AND that he'd ever agree to such a preposterous plan. Plus, it seems pretty clear who the villain is in all this. But, it IS interesting and is well acted. Smith, in particular, was a very good actor and despite being a minor leading man, he's very good here.

Overall, it's a neat film with noir elements (such as the narration, some of the camera work and the bleak nature of the story) and one that is very good but mostly unknown. Well worth seeing...and I found a copy of this on HBO Max.

By the way, Warner Brothers evidently had little confidence in the film, as after they completed it, it sat on a shelf for about 18 months...a sure sign they thought they'd wasted their money on this one.

I really liked this one. I wasn't steeped in dark, shadowy style like many of the Noir films of the time were. And, there aren't any real stylistic flourishes really.

However, being a lover of all Film Noir I must say that the story is a solid little Thriller, well written and acted by all concerned.

I'm not familiar with the director and I don't know if he did many films, but I felt he did an excellent job setting up the situation and then slowly and steadily building the suspense and tension as you begin to realize what is happening.

I'm also not familiar at all with the star, but he really did a great job and portrayed his character in a very believable and sympathetic way. The dialog was not forced or overly 'Noirish' at all, but very natural and fit well with the ongoing story.

So, although I usually prefer the more Dark, Moody, stylish Noirs of the period, I must say that this simple little story was very effective and quite entertaining.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

Get out of that of you can. Kent Taylor (David) is at the bottom of a covered well at the film's beginning. We go to flashback to tell the story of how this has come to pass. The story develops gradually so that you are not given all the information as to what is really going on. We learn what is happening as our lead man Taylor discovers things. Lawyer Robert Douglas (Cagle) holds the strings as to what is really happening and reveals things when necessary. It is his plan to have Taylor turn up at an Estate and pretend to be the long-lost owner so that the Estate's money does not get passed on to any undesirable characters who currently live on the premises.

It's an entertaining film with a good cast and scenery that gives you a spooky vibe. It's well filmed and keeps you guessing at the mysterious relationships and who is colluding with who. It's a small cast with a special mention to Janis Paige (Nadine) as my favourite character who plays the not-so-dumb relative of Taylor.

One reviewer has focused on the cliff aspects of the film and makes a good contribution. A good cliffy location for this film to play out. An enjoyable film with a good technique for getting out of a well should you ever fall into one.

This Side of the Law is a thrilling ride of twists and turns in gorgeous Gothic settings. Kent Smith plays David Cummins, a bum arrested for vagrancy whose fine is paid by a stranger named Philip Cagle (Robert Douglas), an attorney who offers him a job to impersonate a missing millionaire named Malcolm Taylor whom Cummins resembles perfectly and for whose estate Cagle is executor. Despite not knowing Cagle's intentions, Cummins needs the money so takes the job, returning "home" to the man's clifftop estate to the shock of Taylor's wife, brother, and sister-in-law, who assumed him dead. We soon learn just how much hatred and deceit a household of merely four inhabitants can contain. The acting is mostly excellent, William Lava's score is eerily ahead of its time, especially during moments of heightened suspense, and Carl Guthrie's cinematography beautifully captures the atmosphere of the dramatic settings (cliff, beach, gazebo), especially since most scenes take place at night. Underseen and under-rated. 8/10

Viveca Lindfors Stunning beauty ......was a Swedish-born actress whose stage and screen career in the U. S. and Sweden spanned more than half a century. She was brought to Hollywood in 1946 by Warner Brothers in the hope that she would be a new Greta Garbo or Ingrid Bergman.

This Side Of the Law is a rather fun thriller from the early fifties and concerns a man hired to impersonate someone else, a greedy family and other unwholesome things. The cast is decidedly of the second-string variety; however that doesn't make it bad. Kent Smith and Viveca Lindfors were both talented performers and play their starring roles well. It's particularly nice to see Smith in a leading role for a change, as he was a decent actor who never quite made the cut in Hollywood. Character actor John Alvin does nicely in a showy supporting part. I wouldn't quite call the movie film noir, though it's close. It plays somewhat like an episode of the Perry Mason TV series, as it's full of similar plot twists and surprises. If one likes dark mysteries this is a good one to look for.