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| Dead Reckoning | ||
Lizabeth Scott and Humphrey Bogart |
Two war heroes, Captain "Rip" Murdock (Bogart) and Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince),
having recieved injuries, are summoned home to the States for an unknown reason.
Upon being informed that they will be awarded
the Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor, and soon become front page news (a discovery that
would please most men), Johnny becomes agitated and mysteriously runs away. Rip, concerned for his close friend, tracks him back to his hometown, only to discover that he has been brutally murdered. Chasing up all leads, Rip begins to uncover a dark mystery surrounding Johnny's life before the war, and eventually finds Johnny's past love, the film's femme fatale, small time celebrity and wealthy widow Coral Chandler (Lizabeth Scott). | |
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From the moment he begins to get close to Coral the plot
thickens, and soon the local crime boss is trying to frame Rip for another killing. Not easily frightened,
Rip sticks to his guns, trying to solve the mystery behind Johnny's death. As his search continues,
Rip begins to fall for Coral, and in spite of his deep seated distrust for women, and unsure of her innocence
in the web of lies and murder he finds himself caught up in, begins to trust this femme fatale, putting his very life in her hands.
But is she the innocent victim she claims to be, or will she be his undoing.... Dead Reckoning is an interesting film with a complicated and intriguing plot and some great suspenseful moments, but unfortunately it never quite "gels". The story, dialogue and narration (by Bogart) move a little bit awkwardly at times,with some strange and unnecessary plot devices that detract from the film's flow. Bogie is great with the material he has to work with, but his character is a little underdeveloped and cliched, for instance he has a mistrust of women that is heavily played on and central to the plot in his relationship with Coral Chandler, but it is never explained in a way that makes you sympathize, and it feels a bit "tired", like they are overusing a character psychology theme that we have seen too many times before, and not even doing it very well. Another example of the overly cliche'd plot can be observed in a scene which is almost a direct mirror image of a classic moment in The Maltese Falcon, which was released six years earlier (which I won't describe so as not to spoil the story for those who haven't seen it). Lizabeth Scott has her moments but doesn't quite satisfy in her performance, and she and Bogie lack any real screen chemistry. I can't help but think about how much better it might have been had Rita Hayworth been available to play the Coral Chandler role (as was originally intended by the film's makers). The film's bad guys are quite good in their roles, with Morris Carnovsky putting in a fairly solid "sinister performace" as the local crime boss, and Marvin Miller coming across as passably creepy and nasty as his lackey "Krause". We also have a good performace from Wallace Ford who brings a touch of fun to the film in a small supporting role as safecracker "McGee". In conclusion and in spite of my negativity, there is a lot to like about Dead Reckoning, but it is just not up to the usual Bogart standard, being a little to cliched for it's own good, with not enough originality to stand on it's own as a great fim. Shot in Black & White. The DVD presents the film in it's Original Aspect Ratio of 1.33 to 1. The only extra features on the DVD are a small gallery of three theatre posters from the film. | ||