A solid noir.

A minor film noir.

Organic Shrapnel In The Head. The Crooked Way is directed by Robert Florey and adapted to screenplay by Richard H. Landau from the Radio Play “No Blade Too Sharp” by Robert Monroe. It stars John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew, Rhys Williams, Harry Bronson and Hal Baylor. Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton. World War II veteran Eddie Rice (Payne) is suffering from permanent amnesia after a piece of shrapnel was lodged in his brain. With no recollection of his past life, he heads off to the only place he has a link with, the army registration office in Los Angeles. No sooner does he arrive there he is picked up by the cops, and soon his past life slowly begins to piece together, and it doesn’t make for good news at all… The amnesia plot device is served up once again for a film noir make-over, with mixed results. As a story it just about registers as interesting, there’s not nearly enough made of the premise, with much of Eddie’s memory recollections a bit too convenient for comfortable dramatic purpose. The smart hook is that Eddie, now a genuine nice guy, begins to find out he was something of bad man, very much so, and there are plenty of people displeased with him. There’s also some considerable violence dotted throughout, aggression is palpable, while lead cast performances are more than adequate for the material to hand. However, on a visual l…

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