Le pigeon d'argile

I'm not sure if Bill Williams and Barbara Hale were married at the time The Clay Pigeon was being made. Certainly their chemistry was apparent and is the best thing about the film.

The film with barely an hour and a quarter running time did not have much time for plot development. Basically Bill Williams is a sailor who developed hysterical amnesia while in a POW camp in the Pacific. He comes out of a two year coma and learns he's to be tried for treason. He's been accused of selling out his fellow prisoners while in Japanese custody. Worse than that, he's accused of murdering one of his best friends while a POW.

For a guy just coming out of a coma, Williams is a pretty agile person though he does retrogress at times. He heads for the widow of the man he's supposed to have murdered who is Barbara Hale. She's real reluctant to help him, but later when someone tries to kill them both she becomes a willing accomplice.

Given the limited amount of characters in the film, there wasn't a terrible lot of suspense for me. In fact I figured out who was behind it about a third into the film, it was that obvious to the audience, but not to Williams. To be fair there were reasons why he wouldn't consider the possibility of what actually was going on.

It was also just too too coincidental that he happened to run into the chief nemesis of the POWs, a sergeant who is played by Richard Loo whom they find in LA's Chinatown.

The film had a lot of potential, it was a good idea, but it needed a far better script and direction.

When the Navy sailor Jim Fletcher (Bill Williams) awakes from a two-year coma in a hospital in San Diego, he overhears a conversation of his doctor and his nurse and learns that he will face a court martial, accused of treason for snitching fellow POWs that were stealing food in a Japanese camp in World War II. He decides to flee from the hospital and seek out his friend Mark Gregory to help him to clear his name. However he meets the widow Martha Gregory (Barbara Hale) and learns that Mark is dead. He calls his other friend Ted Niles (Richard Quine) that promises to help him, Jim needs to travel to Los Angeles to meet Ted. Martha is forced to help him and while driving her car to Los Angeles, two men in another car try to throw them off road. Martha convinces of his innocence and when they go to Chinatown, Jim sees the most brutal guard in the camp, Ken "The Weasel" Tokoyama (Richard Loo). Now he feels that The Weasel may be the means to find what really happened in the camp and he stumbles upon a huge conspiracy.

"The Clay Pigeon" is a film-noir based on a true story despite the flawed but pleasant and tense screenplay. The coincidences and the happy ending make the story hard to believe. The chemistry of Bill Williams and Barbara Hale is fantastic and the resemblance of Bill Williams with his son William Katt is amazing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Alma em Sombras" ("Soul in Shadows")

Some portions of this story were inspired by a true story, though just to be clear, this is NOT a true story.

Jim Fletcher (Bill Williams) awakens in a military hospital and has no recollection of his recent past. One moment he was a prisoner of war in a hellish Japanese camp, the next he's in a hospital bed and quite a bit of time has passed. But the real serious issue here is that he's going to be court martialed for treason....and he can't recall having done anything wrong. So, he does what people like this always do in other films...he escapes in order to investigate and find out what really did happen. Along the way, he picks up a lady and she's his unwilling partner. Later, she realizes something IS going on and she helps him in his quest.

While I've seen quite a few similar sorts of films, this one is better than most. Despite being a B-movie and having lesser stars, it's well written and doesn't look cheap. In fact, it's well made from start to finish...and quite enjoyable.

This is a short and very gripping B movie. It hasn't got an ounce of fat and offers the highest possible viewing pleasure. Story and script are by Carl Foreman who wrote the screenplay for High Noon. Strange as it may sound, one of the major assets of The Clay Pigeon is a cast which consists of little known actresses and actors.

There are several movies of the period which start with a war veteran who wakes up in an army or navy hospital with amnesia. In this case, the young man does know who he is and where he was, but he has no idea why he is accused of treason. Everybody in the hospital lets him feel that he should be hanged after he gets well. The strong and scary opening sequence has him sleeping as hands stretch out for his face from outside the frame, fingering it tentatively while he opens his eyes in astonishment, then sliding down to his throat in an attempt to strangle him before a nurse intervenes. They belong to a blinded veteran who wants to know „how a traitor looks like".

The accused escapes from the hospital and tries to find out what it is all about, aided by the widowed wife of a war buddy (strong performance by Barbara Hale). He finds out that the alleged treason refers to his time as a POW in a Japanese camp; he is said to have ratted on other prisoners who stole food rations, just in order not to starve. He also remembers being beaten savagely by a sadistic Japanese warden called the Weasel. A whole landscape of scars on his chest tell from this ordeal. „But now you're as strong as an ox again", the woman who helps him says encouragingly, „and just as dumb", he adds.

The search directs the couple to L.A.'s Chinatown, and much of that part of the movie was filmed on location. To his surprise the veteran spots the Weasel who is already well established within the local gangland. The movie then builds up to a dramatic finale on a train – with a much better set design than in Fleischer's Narrow Margin – and a happy ending.

As the title suggests, The Clay Pigeon is a full fledged film noir. The movie has a very good script (although it sometimes stretches credibility) and a surprisingly rich imagery (night scenes on roads and in towns, a trailer beach colony, different locations in downtown L.A., including Chinatown). I suppose its message is above the ordinary political (the GI who waits for his court martial while a „real" former war criminal is alive and well and living in California, the veteran's open distrust of the institutions the hints of a connection between the openly criminal world and the „serious" business community as shown after the veteran's visit in a real estate agency).

It seems The Clay Pigeon is a film that waits to be rediscovered. It stands its own in the genre (and is not even mentioned in the Silver/Ward Film Noir Encyclopedia). I can recommend it.

Absolutely love classic film and have done for a long time. This is also one of my favourite genres and there has never been a bias against anything that's low budget. There are plenty of films actually that are low budget and are still good, same for films made quickly, have short lengths and not many well known names. But really it's my love for classic film and the genre that got me into watching 'The Clay Pigeon', not to mention that the plot sounded intriguing.

'The Clay Pigeon' turned out to be well executed in most areas. It is not one of the best films in the genre or of the decade (neither though expected, that would have been asking for too much in my view), and it is not perfect or completely lives up to the premise. It though is well made considering the budget and that it was made quickly, it also hardly wastes the potential it has. So if asked as to whether 'The Clay Pigeon' is recommended, my answer would be yes.

Good things are many. It is slickly and stylishly shot, with the noir-ish shadowy lighting adding to the mystery, in no way does it come over as cheap. The film is also directed at a crisp pace, even if not always in complete consistent control of the material. The music is haunting and doesn't come over as over-bearing or over-emphasised in mood.

On the most part, the script is leanly taut and smart. The story is mostly lively and suspenseful, as well as atmospheric. It has a great start as well as a nail-bitingly tense climax, while there is a moving scene with the mother's account of her son. Bill Williams and Barbara Hale are engaging leads and the supporting cast are more than able.

Do agree however that 'The Clay Pigeon' has too much going on in the story, especially in the latter stages that come over as over-stuffed and rushed. The film could have done with a longer length, 10-15 minutes longer so that parts could have gone into more depth, like the cops boarding of the train.

While liking the script on the whole, it did lose focus later and stretches credibility where things happen too much by chance and where things turn around too abruptly with no real warning. More could have been done to make the lead character more rootable, Williams plays him very well but the character himself can be on the obnoxious side.

In conclusion, pretty good. 7/10.