Dead Reckoning **** (1947, Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott, Morris Carnovsky) – Classic Movie Review 2160

Director John Cromwell’s distinguished 1947 thriller Dead Reckoning takes a lot of familiar film noir elements and stirs the pot to boiling point, cooking up an extremely tasty, fresh-seeming stew. It starts with a strong story, an excellent script and the inestimable value of casting the ideal star pair.

Columbia Pictures has the right idea in teaming tough and craggy Humphrey Bogart with tough and husky Lizabeth Scott in this hardboiled, pacey thriller in which Bogart’s character Captain Rip Murdock is investigating what’s happened to his war buddy Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince) who disappears when the duo are en route to Washington to receive the Medal of Honour.

As he finds out that what he is actually investigating is a murder when Johnny turns up dead, Bogart falls for uncanny Lauren Bacall-lookalike Scott, playing Dusty Chandler, the bad gal singer in a nightclub run by splendid baddie Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky). Rip learns that Johnny had been accused of murder and that Coral’s husband is the man Johnny is supposed to have killed. Then Louis Ord (George Chandler) is the next victim, as the bartender who is fatally about to spill the beans.

Subtle and compelling, this is a very fine, underrated, key example of 40s film noir, with the stars and character actors seen at around their best.

Also in the cast are Charles Cane (Lieutenant Kincaid), Marvin Miller, Wallace Ford, James Bell, William Forrest, Ruby Dandridge, Lillian Wells, Charles Jordan, Robert Scott, Lillian Bronson, Maynard Holmes and William Lawrence.

Dead Reckoning is released on Columbia Classics [DVD] [2003]. It is rated Universal, suitable for all.

Lizabeth Scott, aka Emma Matzo (1922 – 2015).

Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in 1922. Her most recent film is Pulp in 1972. From then she was engaged in real estate development and volunteer work for various charities, such as Project HOPE and the Ancient Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Scott suffered heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and died on January 31 2015, aged 92.

© Derek Winnert 2015 – Classic Movie Review 2160