0ur opinion:Item Description:Studio: lngram Entertainment Release Date: 11/22/2OO5
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* Great little Noir movie !! ...
This great Film Noir movie is a hidden gem and l am glad l got it !
John Payne is the classic noir guy and wish he had made more !!
Buyer Rating: 
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Tje John Payne "Way"!
Nice noir effort with former musical comedy star, John Payne. He always comes thru nicely in his various noir classics. Tight and nicely mounted with much atmosphere and typical noir lighting and shadows. Sunny Tuffs is a nice surprise as a meanie.
Buyer Rating: 
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Noir boor
Personally, as a child, the room l was staying with my mother was used in the film. My babysitter recalls that John Payne was a real snob. l am glad it is available though since it stirred childhood memories of crawling over cables and the remembering the brightness of the lights.
Buyer Rating: -
* An okay noir with great John Alton style and that odd, unnerving character actor, the fine Percy Helton ...
lf you believe that noir is a style more than a genre and that you'll recognize the style as soon as you see it, you'll have The Crooked Way pegged ten minutes in. That's when Eddie Rice (John Payne), a war vet who won the Silver Star and has a hunk of shrapnel in his brain, hits the streets of Los Angeles to find out who he is. Eddie has spent five years in an Army hospital in San Francisco while doctors worked to help him recover his memory. He has complete amnesia. But as his doctors point out, there's amnesia and there's amnesia. Eddie has the kind that's organic. His brain has been damaged and nothing will bring back his past. He can start anew. All Eddie knows is that his papers say he enlisted in Los Angeles. That's where he goes to see if he can find someone who knows who he was. And that's when John Alton's great noirsh cinematography kicks in. We know we're going to find ourselves walking right next to Eddie Rice in a grandly-lit crime caper of violence and betrayal, of wet streets and dark warehouses, of shadows cast by no sun or moon we've ever seen before, and of harsh, blinding whites and deep, deep blacks. The movie looks great. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed.
As soon as Eddie walks down the steps of the L.A. train station, however, he meets police lieutenant Joe Williams, just by accident. Williams tells Eddie he'd be wise to turn around and leave L.A. for good. lt turns out Eddie Rice is really Eddie Riccardi, a crook and an informer who helped put away his friend and partner, crime boss Vince Alexander (Sonny Tufts). lf Eddie doesn't get out of down, Williams almost chortles, just think of what Vince will do to you. Eddie, again just by accident, then happens to come across Nina Martin (Ellen Drew), who also tells him to get lost. lt seems Eddie did her wrong and she now works for Vince...even though she's still Eddie Riccardi's wife. Then Vince learns Eddie's back. Vince is a tough guy who gets mad easily and believes in permanently disposing of people who cross him. He's in the rackets and runs a big gambling operation. By the time Vince and his goons get through with Eddie, Eddie looks worn around the edges. By the time Eddie gets through with Vince, Vince is air-conditioned. But Eddie stays Eddie Rice. All those memories are gone. lt seems that he and Nina will, as Eddie says, have a chance at a decent life.
Coincidence plays such a big role in this movie it's apparent the writers didn't seem to have the time to do a better job. Too bad, because elements of the movie are good. The old amnesia device still works. The plot, powered by the uneasy, threatening style Alton creates, moves briskly. And for those who really enjoy the worn-down look of Los Angeles in the late Forties, the movie is a treat. Much of the movie was filmed in some grubby parts of down-town Los Angeles. When Eddie stops to get a glass of orange juice, he's at what looks like an 0range Julius stand. Later, at night, we see streets filled with open-window shops selling ten-cent red hots, tamales and "Western Farms Fresh Churned Buttermilk." A set of narrow stairs leads to a grubby hot-sheet second floor hotel next to a flashy dance hall. A worn-out movie house is showing Pitfall with Dick Powell.
As for the acting, it's a mixed bag. John Payne has always seemed to me to be stiff and empty as an actor. He has two expressions here, puzzled and sad or as if someone is stepping on his big toe. Sonny Tufts was a big, blond guy with a light voice and a meaty face. He started to hit the big time in the mid-Forties, usually as a big, lovable lug. Then booze hit him hard. lt didn't help when two women filed separate charges against him for biting their thighs. Neither he not his career ever recovered. He became a punch-line for comedians. Tufts tries to make Vince menacing by often speaking in a kind of whisper. With his light voice, he sounds like a cross between Clint Eastwood and Alice Faye. But then we have Rhys Williams as Lt. Joe Williams. He does a fine job as an energetic, confident cop who likes to bait the bad guys. Most of all, we have that wonderful, odd character actor, Percy Helton. He was a small, round-headed, balding man with an unforgettable high, squeaky voice. lf you've seen him, you won't forget him. He almost always played unreliable or slimy or cowardly characters. ln The Crooked Way, he's a two-bit crook who cares greatly for his sick cat, Samson.
The DVD transfer is surprisingly good, in the order of a solid VHS tape. There are chapter stops but no menu; the movie just starts when you put it in the player. lf the price is right and you enjoy B noirs, this might be one worth getting.
Buyer Rating: -
Grade B noir
"The Crooked Way" is a 1949 film noir using the all too familiar theme of an amnesiac attempting to put the puzzling pieces of his life back together. War hero Eddie Rice has been convalescing for 5 years in a San Francisco military hospital for wounds that have left a piece of shrapnel lodged deep within his brain. Rice played by John Payne, only knows that he'd enlisted in Los Angeles. He is convinced by his doctor to return there to hopefully discover his true identity.
Upon his arrival in L.A., Payne gets a lukewarm reception from police lieutenant Joe Williams played by Rhys Williams, owing to the fact that he is actually Eddie Riccardi a known gangster. His old boss Vince Alexander played by Sonny Tufts has solidified his power base and views Payne as a threat. Payne also meets up with the attractive Nina Martin played by the attractive Ellen Drew, working as a hostess in a gambling den fronted by Tufts. Shockingly Payne learns that Drew was once his wife.
Tufts tries to frame Payne for a murder he committed of policeman Williams, who was putiing the heat on his operation. Payne aided by the now sympathetic Drew must uncover evidence to prove his innocence as L.A.P.D. is hot on his trail.
"The Crooked Way" had all the elements of the classic film noir but suffered from some very pedestrian acting performances by the cast particularly by the emotionless Payne.
