B Average or Better

Here’s a couple of films noir with a vague similarity of structure: Deadline at Dawn/Backfire (1950).

Deadline starts with a drunken floozy, Lola Lane, being visited by her blind (?) ex-boyfriend Marvin Miller. He wants the money he’d stashed with her. But it isn’t in her handbag - that sailor she’d picked up must have stolen it. Cut to a sailor, Bill Williams, coming to in a newsstand, being fed coffee by a newsie. He can’t remember much, but finds a wad of cash in his pocket. He takes it to a dance hall, and buys a dance with a foot-weary Susan Hayward. Since he’s more hungry than dancey, they go to her place for a snack.

He tells her about the money and convinces her to come with him while he returned it. See, he only came home with Lane to fix her radio, and when she plied him with drinks, he got “non-compos mentis”. Of course, when he gets to her room, she is dead. Now, he has to find out who did it and get on the 6:00 AM bus to his station in Norfolk. Later, a philosophical cabbie, Paul Lukas, starts helping them make the rounds. They meet any number of underworld characters, including Joseph Calleia.

This was written by Clifford Odets from a Cornell Woolrich story, and directed by Harold Clurman of the Group Theatre, so there is lots of New York literary background. So even though it’s pretty much a B picture, it’s got a bit of class.

Backfire starts with Edmond O’Brien visiting his Army pal Gordon MacRae in the hospital. They talk about how they are going to buy a ranch together when MacRae recovers from his back surgery. Nurse Virginia Mayo, clearly in love with MacRae, doubts he’ll ever be well enough.

One night, after MacRae is sedated for pain, a beautiful woman, Viveca Lindfors, comes in to tell him that O’Brien has been in an accident, is in terrible pain and wants her to help him die. MacRae is groggy as hell, but tells her to keep O’Brien alive, and he’ll come and help. But when he wakes up, no one has heard of this woman, and they all think he dreamt it.

When he does recover, he can’t find O’Brien. But the police want to talk to him about the killing of a bookie that they think O’Brien was involved in. So he starts trying to track him down, finding people who knew him and getting them to do flashbacks. He meets an old Army buddy, Dane Clark, now running a mortuary. There is also a gambling ring/escort service, which is where Lindfors came in.

So, we have two B movies, with either a strong team behind the camera, or bigger stars in front. We have a set up in both that is kind of separate from the main film. And both have a key plot point obscured by drugs or alcohol. Not great, but with a little something.