The Crooked Road

Edmund Lowe (Johnny) is an escaped prisoner from England who has become successful in the USA. One day, he is blackmailed by fellow ex-prisoner Arthur Loft (Gobel). Loft will betray him and lead him back to custody in England if Lowe doesn't pay him a large amount of money. When Loft is killed, Lowe's friend Henry Wilcoxon (Bob) involves himself in the investigation. It's pretty tense for Lowe as the truth unfolds....

This film zips along at quite a pace and you'll need to pay attention to follow the different characters. If you are prepared for that, you will be pleasantly surprised as the story unfolds. And you won't second guess things.

Edmund Lowe is a successful businessman, about to marry Irene Hervey. In steps Arthur Loft. They were in prison together in England; Lowe was there for manslaughter, even though Loft had done the deed. Lowe escaped and now Loft wants a lot of money or he'll tell the authorities. Once that's done, he figures, his wife, Claire Carleton, will stop playing around with Paul Fix. So Lowe kills Loft and frames Fix.

But Miss Carleton and her lawyer, Charles Lane, aren't letting it go at that. They enroll lawyer Henry Wilcoxon, who is a friend of Lowe's and falling in love with Miss Hervey, to get him out. At that point, the story becomes complicated.

This high-speed Republic murder mystery has some film noir touches, like shadows thrown by Venetian blinds in the courtroom, but it's not actually noir, but a complicated murder-and-law mystery, with a plot that's a lot of moving parts. Director Phil Rosen started out as a cameraman, so the visuals on his films was important to him; with the coming together of film noir in the late 1930s, he was probably intrigued, and cinematographer Ernest Miller -- the American one, usually stuck in B westerns -- and art director John Victor Mackay were happy to oblige.

The actors are good, the story interesting, and it moves along at such a clip that it is consistently entertaining. Even if this title was a frequently used one over the years, it's striking on its own terms.

Back in the early to mid 1930s, Edmund Lowe and Henry Wilcoxen were both big stars in Hollywood. However, by 1940 both were in the latter part of their careers...with their best and most productive years behind them. So, it's not surprising that the pair were reduced to playing in B-movies by 1940. What is a surprise is that it's a particularly good B-movie...an intelligent one well worth seeing.

John Vincent (Lowe) is a very successful man. So successful that he is a prime target for a blackmailer. It seems that long ago, Vincent was known as Danny Driscoll...and he escaped from a prison in England. Now the blackmailer gladly admits that although Driscoll isn't really guilty of the crime that sent him to prison, he's still more than willing to bleed Vincent/Driscoll financially...or else.

As for Vincent, he's not going to accept this....and in a similar situation, most wouldn't either. So he concocts a complicated but brilliant plan to murder the blackmailer and pin in on someone else. Now the man who was wrongly blamed and convicted is no saint...and Vincent relies on this leading to a quick arrest, conviction and execution. Is it really going to be THIS easy and will he get away with it?

Although the film is under an hour in length, it's very well written and works very well. It doesn't hurt that the acting was also very good. Too bad this film didn't restart Lowe's and Wilcoxen's careers...they were both excellent. It also didn't hurt that there was a neat twist ending!