Desperate (1947)

A self employed trucker (Steve Brodie) receives a call from an old friend (Raymond Burr) to haul some freight. When he arrives, he realizes he's being set up by his old friend and that the freight is stolen goods. Things fall apart when a policeman is killed and Burr's younger brother is apprehended by the police and sentenced to death. The trucker and his wife (Audrey Long) flee, not from the police but from fear of Burr's vengeance. Directed by Anthony Mann (FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE), this poverty row potboiler is much admired in certain quarters, most likely because of director Mann, much admired by the auteurs. Sadly, it's not very good. While Burr makes a formidable villain, the film is saddled with uncharismatic leads in Brodie and Long (saddled with the role of the ninny wife). Cinematographer George E. Diskant is an old hand at noirs with films like THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, NARROW MARGIN and ON DANGEROUS GROUND on his resume and the film looks good, full of the shadows, silhouettes and half lit faces and other expressionistic devices that define film noir. Still, given its cult status, it's a surprisingly dreary movie. Music by Paul Sawtell (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA). With Douglas Fowley and William Challee.