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Boomerang ? Fox Film Noir
Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb
Directed by Elia Kazan
Blacka and white
20th Century Fox 1947
Fox Home Video 2008
88 minutes
Boomerang is an odd film noir DVD. It is much less a film noir than a police / prosecutorial procedural. It plays as a docudrama and is a morality play. It does not really matter. Boomerang is a good mystery DVD with a solid cast.
The opening credits claim Boomerang was filmed in the original location of the true story it is based on. The movie's opening voice over says the Connecticut town the movie was filmed in is not the town the events occurred in.
When a small town's beloved priest is gunned down on main street the police is under a lot of pressure to find the killer. The more time passes, the greater the pressure, most of which is created by the local newspaper which supports the recently defeated political machine. A suspect is finally arrested but District Attorney, played by Dana Andrews is not certain the priest's killer was arrested in the first place.
There is certainly a time machine feel to Boomerang with its talk of political machines and the influential local paper but as a mystery this is good stuff. Lee J. Cobb plays the police captain and Arthur Kennedy, who spent the last twenty years or so of his film career in Europe, plays the suspect. Don't leave home without it Karl Malden plays the prosecutor. Jane Wyatt plays the D.A.'s wife.
Small town politics plays a major role in this story. The old gang puts pressure to find the killer and then backs the killer's defense attorney while the gang in power dangles a big prize under the DA's nose if he gets a guilty verdict.
There are quite a few twists and turns in this not noir film noir that make it really interesting, especially when the prosecutor becomes Perry Mason in this mystery movie.