The Scarf

If you've read this far, you know what "The Scarf" is about, so I'll only add that after a not-so-promising start it gets wonderfully weird in so many ways that I stuck with it to the rather silly ending. Worth seeing for the actors involved and the priceless and sometimes witless dialog. John Ireland is surprisingly good in a lead role for a change and Mercedes McCambridge is wonderfully cast against type as something of a good-time girl/waitress/singer of sultry songs. John Barton has a chance to really shine in this film during a career consisting of mainly bit parts on television. You can see "The Scarf" on the Netflix instant service, as of 5/14/12.

John Ireland stars with Mercedes McCambridge in "The Scarf" which features Emlyn Williams and Lloyd Gough.

Ireland plays an escapee from a mental institution who is sure he didn't strangle his girlfriend with a scarf, but unfortunately, he can't remember anything. He hides out in a cabin owned by an isolated old man (Ezra Thompson), helps out raising his turkeys, and eventually goes to Los Angeles to see his friend David Dunbar (Williams), a psychiatrist. Along the way, he picks up a hitchhiker (McCambridge) en route to a job as a singing waitress. She's wearing the exact same scarf, but he still can't remember strangling his girlfriend.

This is a fairly convoluted story, cashing in on the interest in psychiatry after World War II. Ireland looks very handsome here and does a good job in this small movie. The character of Ezra, the old man, is interesting and likable.

This may sound silly, but for some reason, McCambridge singing "Summer Rains" was the high point of the film for me. I thought she really created an atmosphere with it and raised the level of the film.

Decent performances, but check this film out for McCambridge.

Odd and very Strange Film-Noir. An Independent Production with a Low-Budget but High on Expressionism and Striking Scenes of Low-Brow, Everyday People in Their Environment.

John Ireland and Mercedes McCambridge are an Iconic Noir Couple. He of Intensity showing a Film-Noir Staple, Amnesia. Escaping from a Mental Institution and Confused about His Guilt (imprisoned for strangling a girl with a scarf and deemed "criminally insane").

McCambridge shows up in a Flashback (another Noir staple) Hitch-Hiking on a Road to Nowhere (a gig as a singer/waitress in a Dive). Her Nickname says it all, "Cash and Carry Connie". She is as Odd as Ireland with Her "Common and Unclassical" Look, Speaking in Short Clipped Sentences that Reveal Street Knowledge, Strength and a Fearful Cynical Attitude.

The Settings are Dismal and Bleak (prison, turkey ranch, and bar). James Barton, as the Turkey Ranch Owner, takes Ireland Under His Wing as the Search for the Truth Unfolds. All of the Characters in this Noir World are Offbeat and Interesting. Besides Our "Heroes", the Cops, Doctors, Farmer, Bar-Keep, and even the Piano Player are Bizarre and Noir.

Overall, this is an Off-Kilter Movie in every sense. Disturbing, Other Wordly, Shady, and Weird. Mercedes McCambridge, in this Underseen Gem, can Walk Alongside Ann Savage in "Detour" (1945) as a Quintessential B-Girl in a B-Movie with Style, Shocks, and Suspense. One of Film-Noir's Least Known and Unacknowledged Entries.

Two years after appearing in All The King's Men, John Ireland and Mercedes McCambridge reunite in The Scarf. Talented actors both, neither of them would enjoy, in number or in quality, movie roles commensurate with their gifts. A recondite find today, The Scarf could hardly have been much less so in 1951; under the `Gloria Productions' imprint, it fell to a German-born director of little reputation, E.A. Dupont.

But while not every emigrant from middle Europe was a Fritz Lang or Robert Siodmak or Billy Wilder, most had tradition behind them and a touch of inspiration, like John Brahm and Edgar G. Ulmer – and even Dupont. Though The Scarf starts off dead slow – a long, quasi-philosophical dialogue between a turkey-ranching hermit in the California desert (James Barton) and an escapee from an asylum for the criminally insane who has sought refuge with him (Ireland) – soon enough the movie picks up its pace and shows flashes of originality and style. The cinematography is by Frank (Franz) Planer, another refugee steeped in Expressionism who had behind, and ahead of, him several noirs.

Not coincidentally, the quickened pace comes with McCambridge's arrival, as a singing bar waitress who hitches a ride with Ireland. With her distinctive organ-pipe voice and her instinct for biting off her lines clean, she brings both quirkiness and force to this standard role (tough gal, good heart). Though some of her best known roles showed noir influences (All The King's Men, Johnny Guitar) she only appeared in two obscure noirs (Lightning Strikes Twice was the other). The cycle is poorer for her rarity.

The Scarf's plot, alas, falls under the rubric far-fetched. It involves Ireland's not quite remembering the crime for which he was committed – strangling a girl with her scarf – and a sinister psychologist ( Emlyn Williams) somehow in the employ of Ireland's powerful father. Dupont can't do much with the bulk of it (who could?), but along the way sneaks in some arresting sequences. The best occurs when McCambridge has been ordered to leave town on the 11 p.m. bus for Los Angeles; as she vacillates, looking down the dark road at the sign reading `sheriff's station,' it turns into a lure for her to sell out Ireland for the reward on his head, with `$5000" spelled out in beckoning neon.

It was rumored that after his role in ALL THE KING'S MEN, John Ireland had demanded too much from the studios. This smaller production is filmed in the same slow mist of the hero's memory. Mercedes McCambridge is excellent as the female support. James Barton gives great support on the male side. It is a strong well acted performance. It should be shown more often. It is a shame that features like this are not shown on today's cable systems or available in any format.