A Cilada

This is just a bit too convoluted for it's own good. It's all about a scheme to retrieve some gold from Germany buried at the end of WWII by Richard Denning ("Frank"). Frank Lovejoy ("Stan") and his gal Mari Blanchard ("Joanie") are the pair trying to manoeuvre their mark into taking them back to find the loot, but they also they have an ulterior motive of which poor old "Frank" is unaware. It's got a few twists and turns to keep the plot moving, but much of the story seems to exist in order to perpetuate itself, rather than offer us anything to get our teeth into and after a while it becomes a bit dull. The performances are weak, the dialogue really wordy and I found the music got on my nerves a bit, too. Director Nathan Juran usually had a good eye for a story and phototography at his best; this isn't it.

Holy cow. Completely ridiculous, unbelievable crime (not noir) drama that would put Ed Wood and Harry Stephen Keeler to shame.

The movie is acted and directed OK, and it's oddly watchable, but the plot is laughable. It's quite simply, ludicrous.

Yes, the cast is great. Yes the first ten minutes or so, up to and including the first twist, is a great movie.

But after that it goes so completely insane in a way that's super not fun or campy or bombastic. It somehow manages to be both boring, and implausible. The plot folds in over on itself. It's just very, very bad writing.

Right now, this has an average of a six. I just think that's way way too high. This deserves a four at best, and so I'm on here to try to push that to happen. I love noir, and I've now watched so many, to relive the high of first seeing the greats. I've seen so many bad ones. This is the worst one I've ever seen.

This noir film is unusual in that its biggest surprises occur in the first half of the movie. The user reviews that consist mostly of recounting the plot thus spoil the effect of seeing it for the first time. If you think you'd like to watch it, I recommend avoiding them.

It's usually best to save surprises for the end of a story, but given the film's plot it would have been difficult.

Without giving away too much, Frank Lovejoy plays an LA drive-in restaurant owner and compulsive gambler who gets inveigled into a plot to recover Nazi loot hidden during WW II.

The second half of the film is straight adventure and suspense, much of the latter coming from trying to guess who is or isn't in on what seems to be a rather large conspiracy for a relatively small goal.

Co-stars Mari Blanchard and Richard Denning are enjoyable in juicier parts than Lovejoy's. An enjoyable watch even if a tad implausible in spots.

As far as I know, that's the second film noir that director Nathan Juran offered us, besides HIGHWAY DRAGNET. He who was mostly a western and science fiction maker, working for Universal and Columbia studios as well. I like here more the atmosphere and photography than the story. This is a pure good B thriller typical of the fifties. Very agreeable to watch, and also a rare film, at least not the most known of the director. Yes, the story is not that exciting for a crime film noir, but it remains bearable. I have seen it several times already but always forget about it. I understand why after the watching.