Pitfall
Directed by Andre de Toth
Written by Karl Kamb based on the novel The Pitfall by Jay Dratler
1948/USA
Regal Films
First viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video
[box]John Forbes: How does it feel to be a decent, respectable married man?[/box]
When it’s 1948 and you step out on your wife with a lady who has caught Raymond Burr’s eye, you’ve got to know you are in serious trouble. Dick Powell is terrific as the guy who slipped into the Pitfall.
John Forbes (Powell) is bored with his job as an insurance man and his wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) who keeps him on his daily routine. He can’t even claim he misses the excitement of combat since he spent the war in Denver, Colorado.
His company used private eye J.B. (‘Mack’) MacDonald (Burr) to investigate whether any of the money embezzled from a policy holder can be recovered. Mack comes in to report that some of the money was used to buy expensive gifts for the embezzler’s fiancee Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott), a very attractive blonde. Mack is smitten and offers to go back and collect the property himself. But Forbes says it’s a job for a company man.
Forbes visits Mona and coldly starts inventorying the gifts. But Mona teases him for being so straight-laced, one thing leads to another, and the two end up taking a ride on the boat Mona’s man bought for her. Forbes can’t get her out of his mind and before we know it they are sitting in a bar kissing.
Problem is Mack can’t get her out of his mind either and spends his most of his time tailing Forbes and Mona. Mona discovers Forbes’s wife and son early on and calls off the relationship. But by now Mack is convinced that the only thing standing between him and Mona’s arms is Forbes. He hounds the pair of them right into catastrophe for all concerned.
Raymond Burr was a master at playing these borderline psychotic villains and is the highlight of the film. But Dick Powell gives a touching and nuanced performance as a man whose Past lasted only twenty-four hours and will haunt him for the rest of his life. Wyatt is also very good, especially toward the end of the film. The print available to me was pretty fuzzy so I really can’t comment on the camera work. I liked this a lot.
Trailer – even in 1948 they were giving away spoilers in the trailer!
