Cornered (1945)

Synopsis: Dick Powell stars in this film noir-style mystery as Gerard, a Royal Canadian fighter pilot who travels from France to Buenos Aires after the war in order to track down Marcel Jarnac, the Nazi collaborator who killed his wife. Gerard's... Dick Powell stars in this film noir-style mystery as Gerard, a Royal Canadian fighter pilot who travels from France to Buenos Aires after the war in order to track down Marcel Jarnac, the Nazi collaborator who killed his wife. Gerard's pursuit brings him into contact with a nebulous ring of sinister men and exotic women, including Jarnac's widow (Micheline Cheirel). They all assure him the man he seeks is dead, but of course Gerard doesn't believe them. He does a lot of wandering around the deserted avenidas at night, spying through windows as he pursues his deadly, anguished vendetta. Director Edward Dmytryk and Powell worked the same sort of territory the year before in MURDER MY SWEET, perhaps more successfully. This is nonetheless an interesting work, with former musical star Powell's portrait of the tortured veteran curiously abrasive and unsympathetic. Meanwhile, Walter Slezak has a sizeable role as a guide with dubious loyalties. There are some curious touches to this film, like a subway encounter between Gerard and Mrs. Jarnac that is continually interrupted by the loud passing of trains. The Buenos Aires scenes are all on sets, but the France sequences were shot on location and show harrowing ruins and devastation. [More]

Starring: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel, Nina Vale

Starring: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel, Nina Vale, Morris Carnovsky

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Director: Edward Dmytryk
Screenwriter: John Paxton
Story: John Wexley, Ben Hecht
Composer: Roy Webb

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