Avaliações de usuários

Lee J. Cobb and John Dall give nice performances in this medium-slow paced noir thriller. It is also nice to see a 20 year-old and lovely Lisa Howard in a supporting role as Dall's new wife (famous for her news coverage of Kennedy and Castro in the early 1960s, and her subsequent suicide/overdose at the age of 35).

Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that Jane Wyatt did a fine job of playing the femme fatale. Her role is a bit different from the standard noir FF, and Wyatt is a bit strange as well. Wyatt's Lois Frazier is a rich, beautiful, seemingly naive and nervous woman suffering through an abominable marriage. Senior Police Lieutenant Cullen (Cobb) is having an affair with her.

Lois' husband has just left on a suspicious business trip, when Lois discovers he has purchased a gun. She believes that her husband plans on killing her. Eventually, he returns to their house and sneaks in through a door connected to his study. His wife shoots him twice at close range in the chest. Cullen, knowing that the husband had an airline ticket for that night (his planned alibi) dumps the body off at the airport. This is the basic premise. What follows is an edgy, tense and nicely photographed story, as Cullen's younger brother (Dall) - a smart fledgling detective - begins to unravel the plot.

The chase scene offers some really nice noir cinematography, and interesting sets. The soundtrack is also fairly good and the editing and directing are fine (though the edition I saw did have a few missing frames and other problems. The plot offers some interesting convolutions, but also mixes these with clichés.

All considered - a good film for noir fans.

Eddie M. Is great at pointing out a film's strengths and weaknesses, and he did a great job on this recently restored film. This film was made on a shoestring budget and produced by Jack M. Warner, who was constantly feuding with daddy, THE Jack Warner,, and wanted to make films on his own. If the film had a bigger budget, the womanizing workaholic senior detective would have been played by Robert Mitchum, not Lee J. Cobb. The wealthy femme fatale would have been Ida Lupino instead of Jane Wyatt???. John Dall is a little off the tracks in this one, coming across like a young Jimmy Stewart rather than the straight arrow one woman younger brother of Cobb's character, anxious to learn the trade of detective from big brother, but with a deep sense of justice and honesty that overrides even kinship.

The set-up is this. The opening scene shows a man in a plush living room who is burning any sign that he just bought a gun. He then hides the gun. However, the bill of sale falls to the floor. Lois, the wife, played by Jane Wyatt, comes into the living area yelling at and accusing the husband, distractingly dressed to the nines and looking a bit too much like a woman wearing her daughter's prom dress. The husband says he has had it and is flying to Seattle and leaves. But wealthy Lois finds the bill of sale, she finds the gun, and she finds that her husband has been looking over the changes she has been planning to make to her will, and those plans did not include hubby.

Frantically believing that her husband plans to return and kill her (I don't blame her) she calls her boyfriend, who just happens to be Lieutenant Ed Cullen (Cobb), and tells him to get there right away. He does. While there the husband does return, and enters the house by jimmying a lock, there are angry statements back and forth between husband and wife, and Lois shoots her husband dead. Lois appeals to her policeman boyfriend to help her. He does. The husband left his car at the airport - probably as an alibi for his wife's murder. Ed ironically uses that alibi and returns the dead body of the murdered would be murderer to the airport, outside, so it will look like a robbery gone wrong.

But things go wrong for Ed. He is seen at the airport by an older couple - but it is night. He throws the gun off the Golden Gate Bridge, but again is seen by a policeman who knows him. And worse, a few days later the gun Ed threw in the bay shows up in another killing. How does this all turn out? Watch and find out.

There are some spectacular shots of 1950 San Francisco in this one, and the cinematography is excellent. Stay for the story, and just endure the complete lack of chemistry between Cobb and Wyatt.

Probably the most interesting and noirish story in the cast is that of Lisa Howard, who plays John Dall's wife. She left movies in the late 50s and reinvented herself as a journalist, scoring interviews with Fidel Castro, the Shah of Iran and Nikita Khrushchev. Her behavior and politics got extreme though, and she was fired from NBC news in 1964. Suing her employer made her a pariah in her industry, and on July 4, 1965 she killed herself with a bottle of barbiturates in a parking lot. Eddie Muller said her story would make a great film - "The Woman Who Cheated Herself".

Those who love San Francisco locations in films will get plenty of joy out of watching all these shots of how it was in 1949. It is eerily predictive of Hitchcock's later 'Vertigo', especially the Fort Point location at the foot of the Golden Gate, so near to where Kim Novak was later to stand (oh eternal moment of mystery and suspense, in the film that might have been called 'The Girl who Never Was'). It was certainly unusual for heavy-jowled and growly Lee J. Cobb to land a leading man role, but here he is, romantic even, grabbing the gal in his arms whenever the opportunity offers and slobbering his great big bear's mouth all over her pretty, pert lips like the beast that is in all of us. And she loves it, spoilt rich brat that she is. (That's part of the plot.) And so, passion triumphs, the honest cop is compromised, covers up for the hysterical beauty and all that ensues can be guessed. The DVD issue has been made from a print with lots of scratches, hiss, and missing frames, so the negative must have disappeared. But at least this 'nice little noir' remains in some form, and is eminently watchable. There are some nice lines: 'The truth can get you twenty years.' But it is a mild thriller, and its locations are its chief recommendation.

Andy Cullen (John Dall), the rookie detective and brother of the homicide Lt. Ed Cullen (Lee J. Cobb), is assigned to work with him. Andy will marry his beloved Janet (Lisa Howard) on the next days and Ed will be his best man. Ed is a wolf and is having a secret love affair with the wealthy Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt), who is divorcing her husband Howard Frazer (Harlan Warde). Lois finds that Howard has bought a gun and suspects he intends to kill her; so she calls Ed to help her. When they are together, Howard arrives and Lois accidentally kills her husband. Ed decides to help her and forges a crime scene near the airport. Soon he is assigned to investigate the case with Andy but his young brother wants to show that he is a good detective.

"The Man Who Cheated Himself" is a film noir with a story of brothers with opposite intentions. The veteran detective wants to cover the felony he committed to protect his lover while his brother wants to prove that he is a good detective. The conflict between brothers is interesting and the open conclusion is a plus. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Por uma Mulher Má" ("For a Wicked Woman")

This film was recently restored from a 35mm archival print, and was shown on Turner Classic's Noir Alley. It's in great shape, and if you're interested in seeing it, you should make every effort to see that version.

The Man Who Cheated Himself is directed by Felix E. Feist and written by Seton I. Miller and Phillip MacDonald. It stars Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall and Lisa Howard. Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by Russell Harlan.

Ed Cullen (Cobb) is a cop who is having an affair with wealthy Lois Frazer (Wyatt). When Lois, in a fit of panic shoots dead her husband, it cause Cullen no end of grief. You see, he was there as well, a witness to the crime...

Don't forget to change your will.

This is a film noir entry that contains most of the elements that form that brand of film making. Something of an under seen - and undervalued - piece, it manages to rise above a few minor itches to play out as potent. Cullen (Cobb excellent) gets spun into a vortex of self inflicted trouble on account of his eye for a dame, essayed by a cast against type Wyatt. Both are unfaithful, she's unreliable and he's quick to break his own laws with dishonesty and a corruptible soul.

Things spice up when Cullen's younger brother, Andy (Dall), himself a police officer, joins his brother in investigating the "now" mysterious murder case. So we have a family crisis brewing as the younger Cullen tries to crack the case, all while his elder brother tries to throw him off the scent of his own complicity. Wonderful, because like a few other great noirs (Scandal Sheet, The Big Clock et al) we have a protagonist effectively investigating himself. And with the brothers being polar opposites in life values, it keeps things simmering nicely in the intrigue pot.

The dialogue is often clip like and the police procedural aspects are finely played with believable strokes. Close calls come and go as the detective work lurches from almost solved and closed to "hang on a minute something smells fishy here" , while tricky collusion's smile like a Cheshire cat. The great Russell Harlan (Gun Crazy/Riot In Cell Block 11) continually keeps things moody with shadows and low lights, whilst simultaneously bringing to life the splendid San Francisco locations. None more so than for the finale filmed out at a derelict and decrepit Fort Point, a perfect setting for noir if ever there was one (Hitchcock and Boorman thought so too!).

Wyatt is just about convincing enough as a femme fatale, but you can't help but ponder what one of the true noir actresses could have done with the role. While you can't get away from the fact that really both Cullen and Frazer simply had to front up for a self defence case at the beginning and there would have been no hassle. But as weak as that aspect is, there wouldn't have been this noir tale to tell, all of which is crafted with careful and knowing hands by Feist (Tomorrow is Another Day). 7.5/10

The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)

"Yes, for one thing, a dame."

A fast, curious, edgy crime film that depends on a fabulous, simple twist, which you learn right at the start and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. The clash of two cops who are brothers begins innocently, and turns and builds in a very believable way, as the details of a murder are revealed. By the end, with a fabulous scene below the Golden Gate Bridge, it's a chase scene of pure suspense.

Lee J. Cobb (more usually a brilliant secondary character) takes the lead as a cop who does his job with steady weariness, and yet when faced with a woman he loves too much, puts everything in danger. He's just perfect in his role, right to the last scene when you see him look down the hall with the same feeling he has at the beginning of the film. His kid brother played by the slightly quirky John Dall ("Gun Crazy") is all virtue, almost to the point of sweet sadness. And the two main women play believable supporting roles (especially Cobb's love-interest, who is selfish and panicky to just the right degree).

This Jack M. Warner production was released by Fox but by the looks of it, it can't be quite a full budget feature movie, and because of that it is relentless and edgy, with no time for polish or emotional depth. Cameraman Russell Harlan ("Blackboard Jungle" and much later "To Kill a Mockingbird") does a brilliant job with great angles and framing. It isn't elegant, but it's visually sharp. Throw in a talented but little known director, Felix Feist, and some top shelf editing (by David Weisbart, one of absolute best) and you have just the mix you need for a small film much larger than life.

This is a film noir in the usual sense of style, but also in substance--a lead male who is alienated and casting about for meaning in life, and a lead female who leads him astray.

But in the end, what's it about? Crime? No. Love? Yes. The only subject that matters.

Cobb: "Do you think I'd throw that away on a sucker play like this?"

Dall: "Yes, for one thing, a dame."

In San Francisco, wealthy socialite Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt) hates her husband Howard and finds that he has newly bought a gun. She tells her boyfriend homicide detective Lt. Ed Cullen (Lee J. Cobb). She impulsively shoots Howard dead with his own gun and Ed works to fake a robbery. He further muddies the investigation by joining his brother Andy Cullen (John Dall) on the case.

This is a solid noir although it would be more compelling if Cobb and Dall switched roles. Dall would be better to project fear while Cobb is the more threatening veteran. It's almost impossible for Cobb to be afraid. There would be more tension if the younger brother is trying to pull one over on the older brother. It is interesting to have the last act in that location although I don't like the arrest. This is a solid noir.

While many fault Jane Wyatt's acting in this, I'm surprised they are accepting of John Dall's bad acting. I've never seen so many exaggerated sideways glances and incessant mugging, telegraphing his feelings like he was playing to a theatre audience. He delivers his lines like a bad Sam Spade wannabe. Yikes.

This is one of the better second tier film noir .... within its limits, it seems to me rock solid: performances,(save one), script, photography, and is surely commensurate with excellent Fleischer B's of the same period such as "Armored Car Robbery"...however perhaps not quite in the same league as the latter's "Narrow Margin"...there are these kinds of films in which, under obvious budgetary circumstances, it is hard to imagine what could be done better, with the exception of Jane Wyatt, who does indeed give a horrible performance...but hey, that's why it's a B...and one often wonders, given more money in the budget, whether the whole thing would have been somehow ruined...this last seems to be to be the best way of defining the undefinable "B" that I have come across. John Dall lends that undefinable air of perversity, of which he was the acknowledged master, and, to the viewer's delight, seems wonderfully and profoundly miscast as a policeman. Dall makes this worth seeing.

Fairly good noir movie is mainly carried on Lee J. Cobb's ample shoulders. His physique and gruff attitude are tailor-made for the genre. Unfortunately Jane Wyatt doesn't quite cut it as the requisite femme fatale for which he sacrifices his career. Since this is a dramatically vital plot point it weakens the entire movie. Mary Astor would have played this to perfection. It also contains too many sluggish scenes that either slow down the pace or lead nowhere. And the end is anticlimactic to say the least. On the plus side the movie has the right noir feel, although it lacks the necessary suspense and mental anguish to be truly gripping. Also both Cobb and Dall are fine as the two cop brothers. Noir fans should certainly check this one out, flawed as it is.

Despite Jane Wyatt, who offers possibly the worst performance of a femme fatale in the whole noir cycle, The Man Who Cheated Himself is a more-than-passable, gritty little thriller. Veteran cop Lee J. Cobb is showing the ropes to little brother John Dall ("Gun Crazy," "Rope"). Dall is on the verge of blissful matrimony but Cobb still likes to play the field, the field being filthy-rich society matron Wyatt. When she kills her ne'er-do-well hubby (by accident? It's never clear), Cobb helps her cover up the crime. Trouble is, he taught his brother the tricks of the trade rather too well... This movie is rather better than you might expect it to be, thanks to Cobb's moaning, double-bass voice and some not-terribly-stale plot developments.

An independent production by Jack. L. Warner released through Fox with an unrepeatable trio of leads. (John Dall returned to the stage and didn't make another movie until 'Spartacus' nearly ten years later; while Jane Wyatt's film career was disrupted by the blacklist and she instead found her niche on TV in 'Father Knows Best'.) Top-billed Lee J. Cobb is eccentrically cast as Dall's brother (I guess only their mother could tell them apart), and his relationship with high maintainance femme fatale Jane Wyatt is rather hard to believe. Thereafter he soon settled into heading the supporting cast.

Although usually described as such, this isn't really a typical film noir (although Ms Wyatt is appropriately bad news as the femme fatale), since instead of the urban hell of nighttime New York we are treated to an attractively sunlit San Francisco used as an incongruous backdrop to a tale of adultury and murder as Hitchcock did a few years later in colour in 'Vertigo'.

The question that must arise from the beginning,m and which turns this movie doubtful from the start, is how such an experienced and qualified detective as Lee J. Cobb could allow himself to be lead by such a woman to his own bad end? He must realize from the beginning that it must be impossible at length to get away with such a cover up. All the same, it's an interesting intrigue, the plot is formidable as Lee must perform a complicated double play which is bound to constantly get more difficult, but what saves the film is the tremendous finale. Hitchcock must have been inspired by this set-up at Fort Point under the great bridge with its fantastic opportunities for a thriller finale. There are many details adding to an excellent thriller, like her scarf blowing off in the end, the Italian family incident, the great introductory scene with its opening the door to any possible crime that only can be guessed at - and which leads to crime that no one wanted to commit.

Lee J. Cobb's foolery is questionable, but the film is great in spite of its foibles and should be worth restoring to its original quality indeed.

For a "B" film, "The Man Who Cheated Himself" is very well done. The script is pretty good, Lee J. Cobb is terrific as a world-weary police lieutenant who gets tangled in a web of lies.

John Dall plays his "newly-promoted, determined-to-make-good" younger brother and partner competently.

The primary flaw with the film is Jane Wyatt who overacts the part of the femme fatale. Someone like Gloria Grahame or Lizabeth Scott would have been perfect.

The ending was a bit abrupt, but gave a fitting film noir conclusion to the proceedings. All in all, well-worth watching despite these small flaws.

With Lee J. Cobb coming off of his huge success on Broadway in "Death of a Salesman," producer Jack M. Warner (son of Jack L) hoped he could parlay "The Man Who Cheated HImself" into a hit film. He couldn't.

Cobb plays Ed, a police detective who is having an affair with a married socialite, Lois (Jane Wyman). Her husband has left on a trip, but finding a receipt for a gun, she calls her lover and begs him to come over. She's sure her husband intends to kill her. Meanwhile, she searches desperately for the gun and finds it.

While Ed is with her, Lois' husband breaks into the house, and Lois shoots him dead. Ed takes the body to the airport, where her husband was supposedly headed. Unfortunately, an ambitious young detective is also working on the case and starts asking a lot of questions. The detective is also his brother (John Dall).

This film is of interest because of the presence of Lisa Howard, as Ed's sister-in-law, who became a famous journalist.

The acting was good. Lois was an unusual part for Jane Wyman, known by us boomers for Father Knows Best and for us classic movie fans for her work in Lost Horizon.

Pretty good noir.

The influence of Billy Wilder's classic Double Indemnity is rather obvious with the creation of The Man Who Cheated Himself. This is quite the B film with some surprising casting in the female lead.

The Walter Neff part is played by Lee J. Cobb and he's a veteran homicide detective in San Francisco who happens to be seeing rich heiress on the side Jane Wyatt. Wyatt is getting rid of her husband by divorce, but one night with Cobb in the house she puts two bullets in him when he comes at her.

The scandal would have been terrific and Cobb's career might have come to an end, but it would have been better than what follows. Cobb agrees to help in a cover-up, but it falls apart.

The Barton Keyes in this film isn't an experienced investigator, it's John Dall probably playing the most straightforward part in his career. He gets a bad feeling when certain things don't add up and Dall who is looking to make his bones as a homicide cop in the family tradition gets sadly disillusioned.

The real revelation in this film is Wyatt. Forgetting she was the All American mother in Father Knows Best, Wyatt is one mean vixen in a part that Barbara Stanwyck or Bette Davis usually does. It was so offbeat casting for Jane Wyatt. I don't recall seeing her in another part like this.

What she does in that little coda as the film ends. Stanwyck couldn't have done it better.