The Pretender

Kenneth Holden (Albert Dekker) is a sleazy banker who has been misusing the funds of an heiress in order to cover his losses in the stock market. He owes nearly $100,000 and his plan is to hide it by marrying the heiress. But Claire informs him that she's already engaged...so Holden arranges for the boyfriend to have an 'accident'. However, Claire unexpectedly changes her mind and insists that Holden marry her. So he does and then tries to cancel the contract...as, after all, the contract was to kill Claire's fiancé...and the killer might just think that's Holden. But this goes amok when the man behind arranging the 'accident' is murdered...and he's unable to stop the contract! Holden is at his wits end...realizing that some unknown killer might just be waiting for him!

This is an exciting and sleazy movie...and I mean sleazy in the best possible way! It has many film noir sensibilities and ends as such a film would end. Very exciting and well made.

THE PRETENDER is a neat little film noir with a high concept and atmospheric execution. It was directed by W. Lee Wilder, the lesser-known brother of Billy, and has a great little story that I haven't seen done before. The main character, as played by Albert Dekker, is a banker with the debts mounting up, so he somewhat cheekily uses the funds of a rich woman he knows in order to pay them off.

Dekker isn't happy with the situation so decides to move closer to the woman by paying a gangster to have her lover bumped off, thus paving the way for him. In the end, though, the woman falls for Dekker himself, so his next job is to call off the hit lest he himself is mistaken for the victim. At this point, things get complicated.

A great sense of foreboding and claustrophobia propels THE PRETENDER, which makes it stand out a little from the rest. The copious use of the Theremin machine on the soundtrack is a lovely touch. The cast is undistinguished but Dekker is believable as the thoroughly unlikeable protagonist. There's also a great little role for the delightfully sinister Charles Middleton, a former Ming the Merciless. The highlight of the movie is undoubtedly the climax, which is fantastic stuff.

This independent noir thriller release by Republic has a collection of second line players that give the plot a nice ring of authenticity. It's headed by Albert Dekker who plays an investment banker who gets himself in a nice little jackpot of his own making.

Dekker is the manager of the estate of Catherine Craig chosen by her late father and he's made some bad investments. As he's been friend of the family for years he decides to marry Craig. She says she's getting married to someone he doesn't know.

After that Dekker arranges a hit on the new husband whomever it is. But then Craig breaks it off and marries Dekker after an elopement. Someone takes a picture and it lands in the society page without his knowledge.

It gets worse and worse. He tries to call off the contract, but the broker is killed and he doesn't know who the hitman is.

Dekker is the perfect picture of paranoia. Craig is the concerned wife who is frightened of the mental breakdown she sees coming on. Charles Drake plays the psychiatrist she almost married and now turns for help.

Some people in surprising roles are Alan Carney usually a buffoon plays it straight and nasty as the contract arranger. His right hand man Tom Kennedy is usually a thick as a brick blockhead plays it serious. Charles Middleton best known as Ming the Merciless plays a mysterious butler Craig hires.

This is one good thriller. Good because I couldn't guess the end which always scores high with me.

What would it have been like if David Lynch were sitting in the director's chair in the golden age of film noir? This picture might give a hint of what it may have looked like. The thing is populated with phantoms inhabiting the bodies of some of the screen's most dastardly character types. There goes Charles Middleton posing as a butler from the nether regions. And here comes a young doctor in the guise of Charles Drake. I wonder what else he cuts up when he slithers out the door in the evening? And then there's the film's handsome, middle aged, Albert Dekker, in a bravura performance as an embezzler. He continually wrings his hands and worries about other fantasies that are too diseased for the light of night. He becomes obsessed and woefully paranoid about "those who are coming" to get him. He locks himself into his "fine and private" room there to gorge himself on a worthless diet of potted meats and stale crackers. His self perpetuated madness takes on epic proportions as he tries to get away from his internal horror and this makes for the ultimate bad choice in causing him to forfeit his life in a most chilling manner.

This is truly a low budget nightmare noir filmed with consummate skill and gusto by the German cinematographer John Alton before his career with the terrific director Anthony Mann. The two of them made some of the finest film noirs to grace the screen. Also, this particular picture uses forced perspective and scrunched miniatures to add to its otherworldly view. In the end, it is probably W.Lee Wilder, Billy's older brother's best attempt behind the camera. He wouldn't manage to trod any meaner streets than these again.

A banker named Kenneth Holden (Albert Dekker) has been stealing funds from an estate and wants to marry the heiress named Claire (Catherine Craig) to basically keep the cashflow going. However, she has a fiancé. Holden orders a hit on him, simply saying to kill the guy the heiress is with. However (part 2), in short order, Claire breaks up with her fiancé and begins seeing Holden. But wait a minute, wasn't there something about a hit...?

There's another movie or two like this I've seen with the same general premise, but I can't remember the names. For all I know, maybe this predates them. I will say that for the first 2/3 of the movie, it's somewhat slow...but man does it pick up in the last 1/3! It gets really interesting and kinda twisty. A good plot gets better and better, anchored by Dekker's even-keeledness, never going overboard even when things got really bad.

In the end, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I'd see it again someday, in fact!

P.S. Recognize the second butler? It's Charles Middleton, probably most famous for playing Ming the Merciless. :)