For You I Die

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.

There is actually quite a lot going on in this crime-noir. Petty criminal "Johnny" (Paul Langton) is coming to the end of his sentence but before he makes it to the gates, he is coerced into taking part in a prison break that sees him on the run, alone, making for a remote diner where he is to meet "Hope" (Cathy Downs) and wait for his nemesis "Gruber" (Don Harvey). Now it turns out that she's not one of his biggest fans either, and together the two youngsters concoct a plan to alert the police and, meantime, they start to take a shine to each other. Perilous stuff for all concerned and the young, green, "Johnny" isn't best equipped for what's to come. The acting from Downs and Langton here is quite effective, delivering a degree of chemistry and with a strong supporting cast - including the usually reliable Mischa Auer, and Roman Bohnen as the dipso chef - makes for quite a competent, low-budget, thriller. I'm not sure about the ending, but it's certainly not what I was expecting. It's well paced and worth a watch.

"For You I Die" is a very low budget movie with mostly lesser-known actors. Apart from Mischa Auer, the cast is filled with talented but anonymous looking actors and actresses. However, this does NOT mean the film is poor in any way. And, apart from a lull during the unnecessary castanet scene, it's a dynamite little film.

In an unusual break with conventional style, the film begins just after a prison break. All the things leading up to it you learn later in the film--such as how Johnny Coulter (Paul Langton) was forced into the escape even though he was nearing the time for his parole. And, with his 'pal' killing a guard in the process of their escape, Johnny is scared not only of being caught by the police but of his fellow ex-inmate, Gruber (Don Harvey). Johnny has been instructed to go to a certain small town and look up Hope Novak (Cathy Downs)--and to wait with her until Gruber returns. However, it turns out that Hope hates Gruber as much as Johnny--and both are scared to do anything. And, over the course of this week, they start to fall for each other--something that could easily get them killed.

The film works well because of the Langton's nice but tough performance. Additionally, the supporting characters really did a nice job--mostly because the writing and dialog worked so well. Not a great film but an exceptional film considering its humble pedigree.

This is one of those great B-features with only B-actors that achieve a better result than most A-features. The acting is perfectly natural and convincing, the story Is as fascinating and sustained as any noir, and this is yet another testimony of the fact, that the art of the film reached in the noir genre a higher level of sustained drama and quality than almost any other cinema genre. To this is added the very special quality of Mischa Auer, a great comedian with dark undertones, who here as usual shows off his musical abilities. The music of the film is surprisingly good, there is even an excellent performance by Cathy Downs with castanets, dancing to Schumann's "Aufschwung" played on a primitive gramophone but nevertheless conducted by Mischa Auer. This is a great minor thriller, and just the beginning promises in its very dramatic tension something of a classic. It is minor, but nevertheless outstanding.

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.