Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
This is a quirky but good film. If technically a film noir in tone and structure, it largely lacks the darkness of intention in any of the main characters. Part of this comes from the casting—John Garfield is just too sweet a guy to pull off a devious, malicious scammer, and Walter Brennan as the sidekick couldn't appear evil if he tried.
There are some classic noir elements which make the movie fun, like a nightclub (and nightclub owner), a femme fatale (played with restraint by Faye Emerson), and a host of thugs who are convincing (this is Warner Bros. after all). The main plot is a kind of crime romance, where Garfield, an ex-con man playing a returning soldier, has half an intention to go straight but then gets roped into one last big scam. The victim is a rich young widow, and as Garfield goes after his mark he naturally falls in love. The people backing Garfield have a stake in his success and they don't like what's going on—he could just marry the widow and they'd be left in the cold.
So there is a turning of who is against who in the scenario. And this matters, but a lot of the first half of the movie is about the growing romance between the two leads. And it doesn't quite take off. I suppose it was important to make this widow a straight up type, a "good" woman," but casting Geraldine Fitzgerald made sure the chemistry would be restrained. You do want these two very nice people to make it, but it's not spiked with anxiety enough, or dreamy highs enough, to make you quite get swept away.
Where it gets interesting is when the thugs get in the way. The plot takes some terrific twists, and there are some some terrific atmospheric scenes at a pier in the second half of the movie, with large pumps running and the mist rolling by at night. People's better natures are revealed. A tragedy for one man becomes a lesson for our leading couple.
Director Jean Negulesco, though not as well known as a dozen of his contemporaries, made a series of strong, highly dramatic movies after the war that are often worth watching just for their moods. Here he uses legendary cinematographer Arthur Edeson ("Casablanca," "Frankenstein") to make this mood memorable and visually stunning. Throw in the usual high standards of Hollywood, and Warner Bros., at the time and you have a lot of why this movie, whatever its flaws, is still completely absorbing. Well worth watching.
