Backfire

Pretty good little story, with Ed Begley's bulldog face as a calming influence.

Pretty routine mystery/thriller touching on a common noir theme: the plight of ex-GI's. Nothing about it stands out, but it's not a bad way to kill an hour and a half. Lead actor Gordon MacRae is the spitting image of Matt LeBlanc, which I found very distracting. I kept waiting for Chandler to burst in and say something sarcastic. I wished there was more Edmond O'Brien, I've become very fond of him. Not too much else to say about this one... a decent noir that lacks distinction.

This has a very pulpy quality, which makes it an enjoyable watch despite the rather implausible way the story unfolds. The flashbacks are neat, too, with each one offering a different POV from a different character, breaking up what otherwise would be a very formulaic murder-mystery (go here, talk to someone, get fed a clue, repeat for 90 minutes).

I wish the lead had less of a deer in headlights look, but it's a fun story all the same. Guy gets out of the hospital, spends the film looking for his missing pal. It's not anything new but it has some good pacing and revelations.

Entertaining minor noir. the "leads" MacRae and Mayo are boring, but when the plot gets going, Edmond O'Brien and Vivica Lindfors--mostly in flashback--provide most of the interesting moments and much of the screen-time too. Dan Clark stands out in a minor but improtant role.

Backfire (1950) was a slow burner. They eventually worked some excitement in, but it was a muddled road there with a solid cast that wasn't really working optimally. If I was to point anything out, the Mayo scene in the doctor's office was what got me engaged. The rest of the scenes was sort of just there.

This is a decent-enough-while-watching pulp (amateur) detective story that tends to rely mostly on a lot of familiar tropes and a pretty convoluted plot (and some miracle healing due to, or perhaps in spite of, 1940s medical technologies). Unfortunately, it's almost instantly forgettable even with a good cast.