The Murder Man

The thirties was an amazing time in film. Noir was to be refined, with one of its main elements being our on-screen detective. Before the conventions matured, we had a good 6- 7 years of experiments about embedded story and on screen surrogates. Some of those surrogates were detectives of different kinds, including newspaper reporters and insurance guys.

This is one of the most interesting experiments. The large shape has our detective being both outside and inside the story, what I can folding. He is a writer, and writes both the outside and inside stories. An inner observer of our folded man is an earnest woman. There are a lot of symmetries in this thing — very tight writing and lots of screen details.

One screen detail is a good example. We have a nervous street huckster who factors as an innocent in the murder. He is portrayed with a delicate balance of confidence and control when he is in his element and slightly hidden deference when with the law. He is court to testify as to what he saw. As he is called, he hands his hat to the surprised cop beside him. There is a 3 second — not even that — interplay concerning the hat, and its role in the social order. It is perfect.

I came to not like Spencer Tracey in his later career, his stock mannerisms and one-size- fits-all reflexes. But here he is fresh, spontaneous, right on.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.