Force of Evil (1948)

Force of Evil
Directed by Abraham Polonsky
1948/USA
Enterprise Productions/Roberts Pictures, Inc.
First viewing
#204 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Wally: What do you mean “gangsters”? It’s business.[/box]

This dynamite noir was the only film directed by screenwriter Abraham Polonsky before he was blacklisted by the Hollywood studios when he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Joe Morse (John Garfield) is a corrupt Wall Street lawyer.  His client Ben Tucker is a crime lord who seeks to organize the numbers racket into a combine by breaking the many small “banks” that take bets.  At the same time Joe is trying to cash in, he is also trying to protect his brother Leo, who runs one of the very banks that will be put out of business.  Along the way, Joe befriends and attempts to seduce Leo’s sweet young secretary, Doris.  Joe rapidly finds out that business and family loyalty do not mix.  As this is a noir, he also learns that he is not as smart or in control of the situation as he thinks.   With Thomas Gomez as Leo Morse, Roy Roberts as Ben Tucker, Marie Windsor as Ben’s wife, and Beatrice Pearson as Doris.

This indictment of greed has a lot going for it.  The screenplay is very literate, though the romantic bits are perhaps a bit cute for their own good.  The ending monologue as Joe walks down the stairs to the river is almost poetic.  The cinematography by sometime Hitchcock D.P. George Barnes is wonderful.  There is a gunfight in a darkened room that is just exquisite. All the actors acquit themselves well.   Recommended.

In 1994, Force of Evil was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Trivia:  Beatrice Pearson shares my own maiden name.  This is one of only two films she made.

Sidney Pollock introduces Force of Evil on TCM