Desperate

Anthony Mann: Desperate (US 1946). Douglas Fowley (Pete, a private detective), Raymond Burr (Walt Radak, the gangster boss), William Challee (Reynolds).

Epätoivoiset

Anthony Mann

États-Unis / 1946 / 73 min / 35 mm / VOSTF

d'après une histoire de Dorothy Atlas, Anthony Mann

Avec Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr.

First telecast in Finland 5 March 2003 (Yle Teema).

Rétrospective Anthony Mann.

Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes, 14, 6, 7 April 2024

La Cinémathèque française : " La fuite éperdue d'un chauffeur dont le camion a été utilisé pour un cambriolage. Sur un scénario qu'il signe pour la première fois, Anthony Mann réalise un thriller au suspense haletant, qui marque ce qu'il considère comme ses véritables débuts. "

AA: A gangster film, a film noir, a chase story, a post-WWII story.

A nightmarish thriller based on the double chase concept: the man on the run (Steve Randall / Steve Brodie) has to escape both gangsters and the police who are after him because he has been framed by the criminals. Having just been released from the army, he takes with him his pregnant wife (Ann Randall / Audrey Long) since the gangsters threaten to slash her with a broken bottle.

In Desperate, Anthony Mann is at his most Hitchcockian, taking advantage of the chase narrative by staging memorable vignettes and supporting characters like in 39 Steps and Saboteur, including the scene with the crooked used car salesman from whom Steve buys a dilapidated car, but after Steve the skilled mechanic fixes it, the salesman raises the price. Also memorable are the sympathetic and diligent sheriff, the price-conscious private detective of the gangsters and the insistent insurance salesman from whom Steve gets a policy just in case.

Unlike in Mann's other noir thrillers, there is a balance between the domestic happiness and the nightmare world of crime. It is also reflected in the contrast between urban violence and rural peace. Steve and Ann find a retreat in the countryside at the farm of Ann's Czech aunt Klara and uncle Jan, and they even celebrate a Czech church wedding to complement their civil wedding. The heart of the movie belongs to Klara played by Ilka Grüning, the great Austrian-Hungarian actress who was forced to exile after the Nazi takeover in 1933.

The story of the desperate flight has affinities with Railroaded, another entry in Mann's early film noir trio. In both, an innocent man is pursued by the police with exceptional ruthlessness because in a case of a police murder there is political pressure to secure a quick execution.

Hallmarks of film noir include a no-way-out situation, the presence of extreme evil and extreme brutality and a hard-boiled style of expression.

At an early stage of his career, George E. Diskant excels as a film noir cinematographer, soon about to confirm his talent in this mode in They Live by Night, A Woman's Secret, The Racket, On Dangerous Ground and The Narrow Margin.

The expressionistic imagery of film noir is a challenge in prints. This print was mostly good, with moments in low contrast.