Decoy **** (1946, Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Robert Armstrong, Herbert Rudley, Sheldon Leonard, Philip Van Zandt, Marjorie Woodworth, Bert Roach) – Classic Movie Review 3230

British actress Jean Gillie makes her quite spectacular American screen debut in 1946 in the now re-evaluated cult film noir Decoy, directed by her then new American film director husband Jack Bernhard. It also stars Edward Norris, Robert Armstrong, Herbert Rudley, Sheldon Leonard, Philip Van Zandt, Marjorie Woodworth and Bert Roach.

Clearly relishing her total departure from any previous role, Gillie is splendidly sinister as Margot Shelby, an irredeemably conniving and unscrupulous femme fatale, in this weird, engrossing movie that hits exactly the right hardboiled, darkly atmospheric noir spot. Rough edges and implausibilities apart, it’s a little cracker.

The film is produced by Jack Bernhard and Bernard Brandt, with a screenplay by Ned Young [Nedrick Young], based on an original story by Stanley Rubin. In it, mortally wounded gangster Margot Shelby tells how she and her gang revived her boyfriend, executed killer Frankie Olins from the gas chamber, to try to find out where he buried a fortune of $400,000 in cash.

A Poverty Row production from Monogram Pictures, Decoy virtually disappeared soon after its original cinema run and was largely unavailable for viewing from 1970 to 2000. However, in 2000 the American Cinematheque showed it with original story writer Stanley Rubin in attendance and its warm reception spurred its re-evaluation. Then its re-release (with Crime Wave) in Volume 4 of Warner Bros 2007 DVD series Film Noir Classics Collection has brought it an appreciative new audience among film noir buffs.

Jean Gillie was born Jean Mabel Coomber on 14 October 1915 in London, England. She met American film director Jack Bernhard while he was on military service and stationed in Britain in the Second World War. They married on 5 May 1944 and after the end of the war went to live in the US. Her marriage to Bernhard quickly became troubled and they divorced in 1947.

Tragically, Jean Gillie (1915 -1949) died of pneumonia back in London at only 33, having made 22 movies, 20 British and just two American films. Also in 1947, she appeared with Gregory Peck in The Macomber Affair, her final film.

American actor and screenwriter Nedrick Young (March 23, 1914 – September 16, 1968) was blacklisted during the 1950s and 1960s for refusing to confirm or deny membership of the Communist Party before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA). He is credited with writing the screenplay for Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock in 1957.

The cast are Jean Gillie as Margot Shelby, Robert Armstrong as Frank Olins, Herbert Rudley as Dr Craig, Edward Norris as Jim Vincent, Sheldon Leonard as Sgt Portugal, Philip Van Zandt [Phil Van Zandt], Marjorie Woodworth as Dr Craig’s nurse, Carole Donne as Waitress, John Shay as Al, Bert Roach as Bartender, and Rosemary Bertrand as Ruth.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3,230

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