Guerra di sessi

After a good start, this crime drama gets bogged down from time to time, and ends up being just average, or perhaps slightly above average. Besides the interesting story setup, it features a good core cast, with Claire Trevor getting a good role that allows her to play a variety of material, Raymond Burr well-cast as a brutish villain, and Fred MacMurray.

The story starts with Trevor as a police officer working undercover in Mexico. Her initial dealings with Burr and MacMurray set up some interesting possibilities, and create some suspense from the start. The rest of the story is not really bad, but it too often allows the pace to stagnate, and it does not make the best use of some of the possibilities. Aside from a couple of good scenes, it plays out in a more routine fashion.

"Borderline" is still worth seeing for fans of the genre. Besides the main story, it has some occasional comic touches that come across all right. If it ends up seeming like a bit of a disappointment, it is simply because it showed signs of becoming something better than it turned out to be.

This is a perfectly adequate movie with perfectly adequate performances and while there's nothing bad about this film, there certainly isn't anything that good that stands out either. This film sort of like a "Film Noir-LITE", in that it has some of the outward signs of a Noir film (such as gangsters, villains and violence) but is far from a good example of the genre (mediocre camera-work and rather listless dialog compared to "true" Noir). And, despite starring Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor, I really had to struggle to keep watching the film because nothing peaked my interest. Plus, even though the film co-starred Raymond Burr (one of the greatest Noir actors of all-time--especially in RAW DEAL), he wasn't given that much screen time (his removal from the plot was way too easy and anti-climactic) and his usual sadism was absent. In many ways, I consider this film to be like eating meatloaf--it's pretty ordinary, inoffensive and nothing to get excited over. Gimme a "steak" anytime over meatloaf!

"Borderline" is a 1950 film that's just that - borderline good, borderline noir, borderline funny, borderline - well, just borderline. Though it stars Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor and Raymond Burr, you'll come away with the impression (possibly true) that once the big stars came home from the war, MacMurray's services were no longer needed and that Trevor, like so many wonderful Hollywood actresses, had passed 30 and was now diving for roles.

It's a story about two undercover cops - one Fed, one local - after a major drug dealer (Burr). Neither knows the other's true identity as they fall in love.

This is the kind of film RKO could do with one hand tied behind its back - put Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell or Jane Greer in it and you can see it working just fine. Why? The MacMurray role is perfect for Mitchum's tongue-in-cheek, lazy delivery, and Russell, who crackles with him, could give as good as she got. Their presence guarantees you'll have smiles and romance mixed in with your suspense.

But here, the chemistry is off. Neither actor is quite right for their role. MacMurray plays it too straight while Trevor is off doing another movie. The film never establishes what it is - drama, comedy, what, so the viewer is constantly off-balance.

Disappointing, though Raymond Burr is plenty menacing as the drug dealer.

Borderline has the interesting premise that two government agencies have operators working the same case and neither knows anything about the other. If they did there would be no film called Borderline.

According to a recent biography of Fred MacMurray the film was produced by Claire Trevor's husband Milton Bren and MacMurray was given a piece of the film in lieu of a salary. It doesn't look like to much was spent on production values so it probably made a profit for its investors who were also its investors.

Trevor is with the LAPD and she's sent in looking for dope smuggler Raymond Burr while MacMurray is with the Feds and he's worked his way into the gang of rival smuggler Roy Roberts. Circumstance throws these two together as MacMurray takes Trevor for what she is, a wisecracking moll whom he starts to fall for. Nevertheless his duty is clear.

Borderline is not quite an easy fit between film noir and comedy which both stars have done their share of. Nevertheless MacMurray and Trevor work well together. Borderline is the kind of film Fred might have done with Carole Lombard had she lived.

Fans of this most underrated actor will like this film, Fred carried worse in his career.

Hi, Everyone,

I bought the DVD of Borderline at the 99 Cent Store. One buck for the movie makes it low cost but also there is no menu or chapters to make it easy to find a specific place in the movie.

There are some fun moments in the film. If you are an old car buff, you will see a 1939 Buick (pushed front end first into a shallow ravine), a 1949 Mercury, an old Nash and other vintage cars and trucks and buses.

Some mistakes from the movie include at the 45 minute point, Fred MacMurray looks into his rear view mirror (39 Buick) to see a motorcycle cop who is chasing him. The only problem is there is no rear view mirror. It was common in these old movies to remove the rear view mirror at the top of the inside of the windshield so the camera could see the driver and the passengers in the car. At 76 minutes into the movie watch the 1949 Mercury as it comes toward the camera and merges with traffic. It is supposed to be a convertible with 2 people inside. This is a stock footage insert of a '49 Mercury 4 door sedan with one person inside.

Two excellent scenes to watch for include a plane landing beautifully on a beach and taxiing up to the camera (63 minutes into the film), and a scene where a dead man is in the back seat of Fred MacMurray's car. The man playing the corpse keeps his eyes wide open for what seems like a minute or longer without blinking. That is at the 44 minute spot in the movie.

The story is OK. It straddles somewhere between comedy and serious detective chase film.

A better Raymond Burr movie might be "Rear Window." Fred MacMurray was more memorable in "Double Indemnity."

Tom Willett