Cet homme est armé

Directed by Franklin Adreon (1956). Republic Pictures. Cinematography by Bud Thackery. Johnny Morrison (Dane Clark) is just out of San Quentin after serving a year. He goes to confront Mitch who he believes double-crossed him. They fight, then Mitch falls to his death. Fleeing to his former employer Hackett (William Tallman, Perry Mason 1950s TV series), Hackett cheerfully confesses that it was he who framed Johnny to test his mettle. Hackett has a heist planned that will set them both up for life. With a suspicious police detective (Barton MacLane) looking into Mitch's death, Johnny has little choice but to go along. Naturally, things go wrong and there are betrayals. We root for Johnny, that he and his love (May Wynn) will finally succeed - but will film noir convention let that happen? The movie is virtually unknown but well worth your time.

Much of "The Man is Armed" seems to make little sense...like no one ever bothered to edit or even read the script. It's a shame...but it's certainly NOT a very good example of film noir.

When the film begins, Johnny (Dane Clark) has just gotten out of prison for a crime he didn't commit. He is bent on revenge and soon helps one of his old pals to accidentally fall off a skyscraper...which isn't particularly nice. Now here's where it gets goofy. Hackett (William Tallman) soon informs Johnny that HE was the one who framed him and it's all part of some complex plan...though never did he really explained why he had Johnny sent to prison! And, soon Johnny agrees to work for Hackett to pull a big heist...which makes no sense since Hackett framed him and certainly cannot be trusted. Apparently, Johnny is one of the dumber criminals in film history!!

The absurdity of the plot and nonsensical reaction by Johnny make this a bad film. What's worse, Dane Clark has absolutely no emotional range...so his inexplicable actions are even more inexplicable. A strange misfire of a movie...and one that just felt rushed and incomplete.

That's the second time I watch a crime film with William Talman in a role of a criminal mastermind planning an armored truck robbery. Remember him in Richard Fleischer's ARMORED CAR ROBBERY, where he was excellent, a feature made for RKO pictures, and produced several years earlier. In this Republic Pictures flick, Dane Clark is also very convincing as an ex con framed by the same Talman.; a most underrated actor with a face looking like Joseph Cotten, the perfect face for a bad guy. He was also excellent in John H Auer's THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, also for Republic Pictures. Actually, here it is not exactly the question of an armored truck heist, but a security complex, a warehouse facility where big money is brought to and from by the armored trucks, a kind of Brink's vault garage. That's the best movie from usually lousy director Franklyn Adreon, he seems to be here far better, showing more ambition, especially in character depiction, than in his other movies.

Dane Clark stars in "The Man is Armed," from 1956, also starring William Talman, Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason, May Wynn, and Wagon Train's Robert Horton.

Clark is Johnny, a loose canon who has just been released from prison for a crime he didn't commit. The first thing he does is seek out the man he believes is responsible for his imprisonment and throws him off a building.

Johnny then goes to his old employer Hackett (Talman). It happens that he's in love with Hackett's secretary (Wynn) who is presently dating a doctor (Horton). She's happy to see Johnny. She has a choice between a criminal and a handsome doctor and every time someone asks her how she feels she says, "I don't know." Good answer.

It turns out that Hackett was the one who framed him and sent him to prison. He wants Johnny to pull of a huge heist for him and feels he can trust him. Why, I don't know. And why he framed him to go to prison, he doesn't explain either.

Nevertheless, Hackett has everything in place and puts Johnny in charge of planning the heist and giving orders to the other people involved. Johnny actually has partially written some sort of concerto - I bring this up because he plays it while Hackett is talking to him. Actually he plays it every time he's near a piano. And plays it. And plays it. The same melody.

It's pretty evident how this will go, since Johnny has a screw loose. Barton Maclane plays the police officer trying to catch the criminals.

Dane Clark has spent a year in prison on a frame. He gets out and gets his job driving a truck for William Talman back... and finds out that Talman framed him. It's part of an armored car robbery Talman has been planning, and he wants Clark to run it. Then someone turns up dead, and lieutenant Barton MacLane thinks Clark did it.

There are lots of loose ends to be tied up in this Republic crime drama. Why did Talman frame Clark? Can Clark get back with old friend girlfriend May Wynn, or is her relationship with medical intern permanent? Will Clark be able to complete his concerto? Talman gives one of his fine performances as a psychopath that makes those of us who first knew him as the ADA who lost every case to Perry Mason very confused. Maybe, he thought after he had done psychopath things, he figured he could get Raymond Burr to defend him.

In any case, it's a decent crime drama, although the romantic soundtrack doesn't really match.