Last night's movie was "Strange Bargain"(1949), another Noir with an unlikely plot. Jeffery Lynn stars as "Sam Wilson", head of a classic 1950s household. He seems to have it all : a pretty wife, two precocious kids (a boy and a girl), a nice suburban house, and a job as the assistant bookkeeper at a bank. But looks are deceiving. His son wants a bike. Sam tells him they can't afford it. At dinner, his wife looks over the electric bill. "I can't believe it's the first of the month and we're already in the hole". The Wilsons are broke. Later that night, wife Georgia (Martha Scott) makes Sam promise he'll ask his boss for a raise. "You're worth it and you've been with the bank for twelve years.
The next morning, Sam steels himself to go in and talk to his boss. But it turns out the boss was waiting for him. "Sam, I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. I have to let you go. The bank is insolvent. We're going to have to close down". Holy smokes. Things have just gone from bad to worse for Sam. Instead of the hoped-for raise, he's just been given his pink slip. However, and this is one of those howevers that must be stretched out and pronounced Howww-ev-er.......Sam's boss has another piece of news to deliver that includes a proposition. "Sam, the bank isn't the only thing that's out of money. I'm broke too. I took out a loan to cover our losses. I can't pay it back, and....." He states the next bit matter-of-factly. ".....I'm going to commit suicide". Sam looks at him like he didn't hear him correctly. "What? But Mr. Jarvis (Richard Gaines), you can't do that! You shouldn't do that. What about your wife and son"? "They're the ones I'm doing it for. You see Sam, when the bank started to default, I purchased a life insurance policy that's worth 250,000 dollars. This way I can provide for my family. Now, it doesn't pay out on a suicide, but if it was made to look like a murder, my wife would collect the money".
"This all sounds so crazy", Sam declares. "Mr. Jarvis, are you serious? And why on Earth are you telling me all this"? "Because Sam, I need your help. You've been with the company for twelve years and I trust you. In fact you're the only one I trust. I mentioned my suicide must look like murder; that's where you come in".
"What?! Mr. Jarvis....I won't....I can't.....you shouldn't....". Jarvis cuts him off. "No, no Sam. That's not what I had in mind. I'm not asking you to actually murder me, just to be there after the fact to set up the scene. I'll shoot myself like I've told you. What I need you to do is wipe my prints, take the gun outside and shoot it through the window. Put a couple of bullets into the wall, as if the killer fired several shots. Then drop it in the bushes, where the police are sure to find it. They'll call it murder, my wife will collect the insurance money. And, for your trouble I'll pay you ten thousand dollars".
Sam's jaw in on the floor. He can't believe what he's hearing. But he needs money and his kid wants that bike. Still, it's wrong and he knows it. It's against all of his core beliefs. "No, Mr. Jarvis. I'm sorry but I can't help you". "Don't say no just yet, Sam. I want you to go home and think about it. Now I'm asking you to think of my wife and son. This is the only way they'll be out from under my debt. With the money they can pay off my loan and have enough left over to live on for a long long time, maybe for the rest of their lives. So please go home and think about it. I'm going to call you later tonight with a coded message". He gives the code word to Sam. "When I call and you hear that word, it means I'm about to carry out my plan. If you decide to help me you'll be doing my family a heroic favor. If you decide you don't want to, I'll understand, but I'm going through with it one way or the other, and there's ten thousand dollars in it for you".
Oh my goodness, all Sam wanted was a raise. Just enough to pay the bills and buy his son that bike. Now his boss is leaning on him to fake a murder, the boss's own. Good grief, what's a decent family man to do? Later that night the phone rings. Sam's wife has gone out and the kids are asleep. He answers it. It's his boss, with the code word. Sam hangs up. He fidgets and fumbles. Then he gets in his car and drives. Next stop, the boss's house. Sam's not going to help him, but to try and prevent him from killing himself.
Is that a good setup or what? Yes, it's implausible as already noted, but it's fast moving and there's never a dull moment. I don't want to tell you what happens when Sam gets to Mr. Jarvis's house, but I can reveal that, despite his initial good intentions, he gets into a jam he'll need a lot of luck to get out of.
Jeffrey Lynn is one of those actors you've seen a million times but can't place. He's very handsome. I thought he was a TV Dad from one of those '50s shows like "Leave It To Beaver", but IMDB says he mainly worked in film. He's first rate as the nervous, unwilling accomplice to his boss's sacrificial plan. Our old pal Harry Morgan also has a substantial role as a detective. For once he's not playing a troublemaker. As with many of our recent films, there's some great location footage, once again in late '40s L.A. I was caught up in "Strange Bargain" from the opening scene, where the Wilson family sits down to dinner. The plot begins there and it builds to the very end. I give the movie Two Big Thumbs Up and highly recommend it. We've had good luck with the prints lately - the picture is once again razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we saw a documentary-style crime flick called "Chicago Syndicate"(1955), in which an accountant (Dennis O'Keefe) is asked by the Chi-town aldermen and a newspaper editor to infiltrate the Mob, or what's become of the Mob in Chicago. A narrator explains that after Capone went to prison, the rest of the Mafia big shots ate each other up like sharks, trying to fill Al's shoes. The result was that a nationwide organisation took over, a crime corporation known as the Syndicate. They ran things efficiently, without all the bloodshed. The name of the game was money and more money. The Syndicate usurped every Mafia racket and added new ones, like drugs and laundromats. The Mayor wants O'Keefe because besides being an accountant, the position he's going undercover to fill, he's also a decorated WW2 hero. He's fearless in other words.
They send him to cozy up to a Syndicate honcho named "Arnold Valent" (Paul Stewart), who runs a corrupt insurance business. Here we go again with the "Legitimate Businessman" routine. That's what they always pose as, right? Valent has just murdered his former accountant, because the guy was gonna rat him out. The problem is the cops can't prove it because Valent is an expert at covering his tracks. That's the thing about The Syndicate. Unlike the Mafia, they don't leave a mess in their wake. Dennis O'Keefe's job is to pretend to be an accountant-for-hire, a crook who can cook the books. He's supposed to get in Valent's good graces, then get the goods on him and turn the evidence over to the district attorney.
The problem for him is that there's two dames involved. One is Valent's girlfriend, a sultry nightclub singer (Abbe Lane), the other is the murdered accountant's daughter (50 Foot Woman Allison Hayes). Allison wants Arnold Valent dead. She falls in love with O'Keefe. Abbe Lane is a Si-a-mese Cat! of-a-girl, who, tired of being Under Valent's Thumb (see what I did there?), throws herself at O'Keefe too, and is jealous when he sticks with Hayes.
I have to warn you, there's a scene toward the end that I wish they had left on the cutting room floor. I mean, even for me, Mr. Non-Squeamish, there's a limit to what should be shown. I won't tell you what it includes, but it's there to reveal to you the real Arnold Valent, not the faux-humble "honest businessman" who loves his mother and still knows all the playground kids from the old days. The you-are-there narration interrupts the action at intermittent points throughout the movie, giving it a newsreel edge. The only downside for me was that the direction was a little flat, maybe due to that documentary presentation. The chronology of the story thus had a "he did this, then he did that" feel to it, instead of the dramatic removal of a Noir, which takes you into a stylised criminal fantasy world via Hollywood. This one felt like a Study Film (remember those?) about The Syndicate, and while it still gets Two Big Thumbs Up, and is recommended, it coulda been epic with a better director.
Having said that, you should still see it. For one thing, you should see everything Allison Hayes was ever in, and besides that, it's a good movie. I'm only disappointed cause it could've been great. (the picture is razor sharp which goes without saying in recent days.) ////
And that is all I have for you this evening. It's late on Sunday night. The Rams got creamed today. I hope that's not indicative of who they really are, but we'll see, because before today they looked like legit Super Bowl contenders. Ah well, it's only sports. I'll see you in the morning and I send you Tons and Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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