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Desperate ? Film Noir Classic Collection 5
Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr
Directed by Anthony Mann
Black & White Fulscreen
RKO 1947 Warner Brothers 2010
73 minutes
Just to see Raymond Burr aka Perry Mason and Ironsides as a criminal makes Desperate worth watching. This thriller is also a decent film noir with some great lighting work. Desperate is one of 8 film noir in Warner Brother’s 4 DVD Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5.
Steve Randall (Brodie) is a newlywed and self-employed truck driver. He unknowingly accepts a job for some crooks. He tries to warn a patrolman. The patrolman is shot and the gang leader’s kid brother arrested. Gang leader Walt Radak (Raymond Burr) threatens to harm Steve’s wife Anne (Audrey Long) if he doesn’t go to the cops and tell them the kid brother is innocent and he is the bad guy. Steve and Ann find themselves on the run from both the cops and the bad guys. They do find shelter but the past catches up with them.
Burr is good as the bad guy but does not quite come across as mean as the character is supposed to be. Steve Randall and Audrey Long are rather generic as the young couple.
The story itself is good with a few interesting twists.
This is a B movie film noir so you know what to expect.
The other mystery movies in Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5 are Armored Car Robbery with Charles McGraw and Adele Jurgens, Backfire with Edmond O’Brien and Dane Clark, Cornered with Dick Powell and Walter Slezak, Crime in the Streets with James Whitmore and John Cassavettes, Deadline at Dawn with Joseph Calleia, Dial 1119 with Marshall Thompson, and The Phenix City Story with John McIntire.
There are unfortunately no special features for any of the 8 mysteries