For You I Die

Another in the list of solidly made B movies, FOR YOU I DIE is very much worth seeking out. This taut little Film Noir has good actors and a fine, dark atmosphere. Paul Langton is excellent as down-and-out Johnny Coulter, newly escaped from prison, but basically a decent guy. His companion, seen briefly in the film's shadowy opening, is Mac (Rory Mallinson), a hard-as-nails con-type who instructs Johnny to head alone to the restaurant where Mac's girlfriend Hope works. Nervous Johnny arrives and is immediately misled by floozy Jane Weeks as Georgie, who pretends to be Hope in order to seduce handsome Johhny. As the real Hope (symbolic name, no doubt), Cathy Downs is a standout, avoiding all the good-girl clichés and creating a believable character. Other very good performers in the film are Marion Kerby, Mischa Auer and Roman Bohnen. These actors give their all in what was most likely just a low-budget production. Director John Reinhardt keeps the pace fast and the details interesting, and William Clothier does some nice things with obscure, Noir lighting effects. A top-notch minor Noir, whose theme is the enjoyment of what life offers for free.

Very classic film noir,but with interesting characters:Marian Kirby , as the matronly owner of an eating-house , who acts like a mom for two losers;ditto for Ronan Bohnen as Smitty , who left his family and whose solitude has become too hard to bear ; Cathy Downs is the next-door girl , the gentle but determined girl Teresa Wright style ; she too ,has a racy past ,and she winds up in Maggie's restaurant to forget it. Paul Langton is a convict forced to escape willy nilly because an inmate "stuck a gun in his guts" ; he soon considers Maggie -who calls him "son"- his mother ;both Hope (what a well-chosen first name) and johnny are losers and think that their love is already doomed ; they go out on a limb because Matt , the other convict ,is Hope's former evil genius and may return any day now to find back his girl .It all begins in a sewer ,where Paul and Matt hide from the police; the ending seems a little hurried and botched, but it's a low budget movie ,and it generally makes the best of it.

Actually, For You I Die is kind of a sweet movie, though very low budget, directed by John Reinhardt. The biggest name in the cast is Mischa Auer, though Cathy Downs became well known in sci-fi circles and Paul Langton became known on the TV show Peyton Place.

Langton plays Johnny, a prison trustee with one year left on his sentence when he is forced to take part in a prison escape. The convicts separate - Matt (Don C. Harvey), the ringleader, sends Johnny to a road house where his girlfriend Hope (Downs) works with a message for her.

Upon arriving, Johnny mistakes the floosie-ish Georgie (Jane Weeks) and identifies himself. But then he realizes that the girlfriend is Hope, which surprises him as she doesn't seem the type to have the coarse Matt as a boyfriend.

Hope has found a home at Maggie's, as have some others. Maggie (Marian Kirby) is maternal and caring. Soon Hope and Johnny fall in love. The police, also Maggie's patrons, haven't recognized him, but Johnny knows he is on borrowed time, and Matt will be showing up any day.

Wish it had been better directed with more money behind it. It had some good elements and nice acting. Mischa Auer provides the comedy.

Paul Langton and Don C. Harvey escape from prison. Harvey threatens Langton if he squeals, and sends him to a motel, where Harvey's old girlfriend, Cathy Downs, will cover for him. When Langton first arrives, he mistakes thrill-crazy Jane Weeks for the girl, but as time goes on, the collection of kindly characters and Miss Downs, who has come to despise the woman she used to be, begin to have an effect on him.

It's definitely a film noir, but it reaches back to the poetic realism roots of the movements with its collection of character studies. Alas, those characters are drawn with a few bold strokes, making them caricatures, even as the actors try to inhabit them. It's not simply the obvious cheapness of the production. I attribute the lack of depth to screenwriter Robert Presnell, but more to director John Reinhardt, one of the emigree directors who came to the US during the War and returned to Germany after it. His handling renders the movie an impressionist work, and while cinematographer William Clothier gives him a fine visual interpretation of the noir world, there's no subtlety in the handling of the movie. It turns out that the plot seems to drive the characters' changes more than they drive the plot. It's always interesting, but never surprising.

For an independent film produced on a dental floss wide budget, For You I Die will leave quite the indelible impression. That is mostly due to the moody atmosphere of the film and the sincere playing of the leads Cathy Downs and Paul Langton.

Langton is a prisoner who was forced to participate at gunpoint to accompany Don C. Harvey on a break. Harvey's a vicious killer and Langton is intimidated by him. They split up with Harvey telling Langton to go to an out of the way motel camp run by Marian Kerby and her husband Roman Bohnen.

But when he gets there after a few false starts, Langton finds a strange contentment and a bit of romance with Cathy Downs who is a waitress in their small restaurant. The place is so isolated it kind of brings on a strange kind of peace. But always hanging over their heads is the threat of Harvey's return.

Cheap hardly describes For You I Die. But the performances are great and the atmosphere created so fits what the actors are doing.

This one's a sleeper and a keeper.