Pushover

Acknowledges what most noirs don’t. “ We really didn’t need that money did we”?

The story is a pretty typical "bad decision followed by worse decision" tale, but damn if the dialogue and performances don't make up for that. Some films have the magic to overcome a tired premise, and this one does. Love MacMurray's last line.

Em honra do centenário de Richard Quine. Acho que o grande equívoco é colocar a Kim Novak que ainda parecia uma pós-adolescente num papel de femme fatale, quer dizer, a gente bem sabe que a Dorothy Malone virando loira tinha muito mais potencial de femme fatale em 1954, felizmente o Douglas Sirk enxergou o potencial da Malone num futuro próximo. DVDRip no MakingOff.

Viewed June 18, 2020.

MacMurray has such a great noir voice. He speaks really fast and yet it feels like a bored drawl.

Think poor man's rear window/double indemnity... Malone is great and Carey solid in their respective supporting roles. And who can forget Novak in her first credited role!

The other side of the mirror: Rear Window of Double Indemnity or Poor Policeman's Noir Blues. and don't forget to salute "The Lives of Others".

Very well-plotted. Some interesting use of silhouettes and long shadows. The protagonist is about as amoral as any noir protagonist and the dialogue is snappy and loaded, selling the film's dominant theme of the mingling of business and pleasure. Nevertheless, the film never recovers from its very sluggish first act, and the lack of truly memorable imagery makes this a largely forgettable film, notable mostly as Kim Novak's debut.

There's a heavy voyeurism vibe going on that's very interesting. Quine's direction is not terribly inventive, but it's solid, and the story is quite well-plotted with a lot of tension as MacMurray and Novak's scheme unravels. For the average joe this is probably a weak film, but for a noir fan it does the trick. The leads are both strong, with good supporting performances. The photography is a little flat at times, but some scenes really shine, especially towards the end. Lousy music, though.