Quicksand (1950)
Directed by Irving Pichel

Film Review

When Mickey Rooney ventured into his first film noir, Quicksand, in 1950, it must have seemed as improbable as Doris Day doing an erotic slasher movie.  The actor who, as a child star, had become a national treasure as Andy Hardy, was not the obvious choice for the role of a hapless loser whose penchant for leggy blondes turns him into a compulsive criminal.  And yet, as it turned out, Rooney was the perfect choice for the role - a likeable goon who gets in so far over his head that he resembles a slowly drowning meerkat.  This is Andy Hardy's dark alter ego, a man who isn't so much evil as just ever-so-slightly lacking in any moral awareness and common sense.  Rooney's performance here is one of his most believable and it's not too hard to fall for his goofy character as he stumbles carelessly from one disaster to another, performing the film noir equivalent of a favourite children's nursery rhyme involving an old woman with some very strange gastronomic habits.  Rooney's subsequent film noir outings - The Strip (1951), Drive a Crooked Road (1954) and Baby Face Nelson (1957) - are respectable but nowhere near as enjoyable as this.

Irving Pichel directs the film with as much skill and élan as his earlier - far superior - noir offering They Won't Believe Me (1947), skilfully ratcheting up the tension in a way that cleverly distracts us from the mushrooming absurdity of the plot.  Peter Lorre (who co-financed the film with Rooney) is at his villainous best, every bit as sinister as he was in that Fritz Lang film which made him a star, and with none of the comic 'side' that various misguided Hollywood directors tended to inflict on him.  Here, Lorre is just as we love him - pure, unbridled nastiness.  Jeanne Cagney (the younger sister of James Cagney) has great presence as the film's obligatory femme fatale, although, similar to Rooney's character, hers is more a delinquent with a gaping moral deficit than the usual evil vamp.  Barbara Bates is saddled with the least interesting character, the sweet little thing who sticks to Rooney like a self-sacrificing limpet and saves him from himself.  Quicksand is by no means the best film noir you are likely to see but, thanks to its taut screenplay and Pichel's canny direction it is an easily digestible variation on a familiar theme.  There is one thing, though.  I still can't work out whether it was meant to be a serious thriller or a merciless parody...

Film Synopsis

Dan Brady is a young car mechanic with an eye for the ladies.  When he runs into Vera Novak, a blonde looker, he can hardly wait to take her out on a date.  Unfortunately, Dan is flat broke and has to raid his employer's till to pay for the date.  Before he can pay back the twenty dollars he "borrowed" his boss's book-keeper shows up and starts checking the tills.  To avoid being caught out, Dan has to raise some cash fast, so he hits on the idea of pawning a watch that he can buy on a monthly instalment plan.  It's a nice idea, but Dan omitted to read the small print in the plan's contract, so he must pay for the watch in full or else he will be indicted for larceny.  To get the money to pay for the watch he mugs a stranger that night.  Unfortunately, Vera's former boss, penny arcade owner Nick Dramoshag, threatens to report this crime to the police unless Dan steals a new car for him from his boss.  Dan duly delivers the car but is then confronted by his boss, who demands that he returns the stolen vehicle or pay three thousand dollars for it.  Vera comes to Dan's aid, suggesting they should steal the money from Nick.  Before Dan can pay back his employer Vera spends her half of the money on a mink coat.  Just when things couldn't possibly get any worse Dan ends up strangling his boss...