#13: Pitfall (André de Toth, 1948)

Released: August 24, 1948

Director: André de Toth; Screenplay: Karl Kamb, André de Toth and William Bowers based on the novel by Jay Dratler; Cinematography: Harry J. Wild; Music: Louis Forbes; Producer: Samuel Bischoff; Studio: United Artists

Cast: Dick Powell (John Forbes), Lizabeth Scott (Mona Stevens), Jane Wyatt (Sue Forbes), Raymond Burr (MacDonald), John Litel (District Attorney), Byron Barr (Bill Smiley), Jimmy Hunt (Tommy Forbes), Ann Doran (Maggie), Selmer Jackson (Ed Brawley), Margaret Wells (Terry), Dick Wessel (Desk Sergeant)

At this point in the countdown, chances are that most of you can at least guess at reasonable final baker's dozen. The ordering might be up for debate, but I would be willing to bet that if you push came to shove, that every person following this countdown would at least know nine or ten of the remaining films that will be involved. Even so, the fun still remains in trying to figure out how they are going to be ranked against other classics. But… this one might keep folks from going a perfect 13-for-13. It is not an unknown quantity, particularly among those with a serious interest in noir, but Pitfall is far from being the household name that it deserves to be. It is a unique entry in comparison to most other films noir, as it unfolds not in the sordid underbelly of a major American city, but transports this same seediness to the most terrifying of places – the suburbs.

The film opens to the domestic bliss of postwar America, where a family sits down to breakfast – a wife preparing the meal, the father reading the morning paper at the table, a young child shattering on about the day at school. This is the situation that John Forbes (Dick Powell) finds himself in, with wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) and son Tommy (Jimmy Hunt). But rather than feeling the contentment that outsiders assume he must be experiencing, John feels restless. He is bored with the daily routine – a rut so predictable that he knows the precise minute that he will step off the train and be picked up by his wife for the drive home. John laments that the big dreams that he and his high school sweetheart Sue had when they were newlyweds have slowly been compromised for suburban tranquility. So when in the course of his work as an insurance agent he meets a gorgeous, exciting woman named Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott), he cannot resist the temptation to add a little excitement to his life. He originally meets Mona because he is trying to recover restitution from a robbery that his company paid the insurance on. Mona’s former boyfriend Bill Smiley (Byron Barr) pulled off the heist and hid some of the money by buying things for Mona. John goes to her in hopes of recovering these goods and recouping some of his firm’s losses. When he meets Mona, he is intrigued by her and decides to take up her invitation to go to dinner. As he grows fonder of her, he decides that he will cut some slack and allow her to keep a prized speedboat that Bill bought her. Under normal circumstances, it too would be seized by the company, but he makes an exception out of fondness for Mona.

Things would have remained secretive if not for the private eye the insurance company originally hired to track Mona. “Mack” MacDonald (Raymond Burr) is also smitten by Mona and is jealous of the affair that seems to be developing between her and John. MacDonald confronts John with evidence he gathers on his own – seeing the two of them together and, more importantly, his letting her keep the boat – and threatens to blow the lid off everything. This seems to bring John to his senses, as the affair is broken off. Things do not end there, though. When Mona continues to rebuff MacDonald’s advances, he figures he will get back at the her and John by letting the soon-to-be-released Bill Smiley know about the affair.


The interesting thing is that the affair seems to develop less because of romantic attraction between Mona and John than because of deficiencies in the lives of each person – with her former fiancé in prison, Mona is scared of being on her own and latches onto the steady John; John, on the other hand, just wants something to come into his life that will shake things up. There is obviously a connection between them, and maybe it is a little romantic, but it never once comes across as the kind of passionate affair that is at the center of so many noirs. While it can be inferred, it actually is never explicitly revealed that the relationship is ever consummated. But even if it is not as physical as one would expect, both Mona and John recognize how salacious just their being together in public could be. That is why they scramble when Mack begins threatening to bring this information public. Both are able to recognize that, in typical noir fashion, the damage has already been done simply by the two engaging in things like boat rides, dinners and late-night kissing. Thus, they are able to quickly decide that it is prudent to walk away from the relationship.

This is probably the most unique aspect of the entire film. In a typical film noir, Lizabeth Scott’s Mona Stevens would function as the traditional femme fatale and continue to pursue the married Forbes until his life is ruined. She actually does the opposite. When she finally discovers that John is married, _she_ comes to him and tells him how ridiculous it would be for them to continue their affair. It appears as if things can go back to normal and both can go their separate ways. Mack, of course, ensures that will never be able to happen. Still, what is important to recognize is the role that Mona plays in it. To those looking at it from the outside, it would be easy to classify her as a homewrecker, but she cuts off the affair precisely because she does not want to live with such a label. There actually is no femme fatale in the film – she inadvertently functions as a femme fatale would, tempting the nominal hero into actions that have serious repercussions. But she does so without full knowledge of the situation. The instant that she discovers what John is risking, she backs off. A strong case can be made that Mona is actually the purest character of them all that has either horrible taste or incredibly back luck when it comes to men.

The direction from de Toth and cinematography from Harry Wilds are far from groundbreaking. But there are a few scenes that are fantastic, particularly the late night stalking by Smiley and the subsequent shootout in the dark. On the whole, though, de Toth’s direction has a very detached feel to it. He puts the camera in the best place to take in the action and then just lets things unfold. It works though, because the three lead performances come close to being career bests. Dick Powell works as the cynical workingman. Lizabeth Scott was never better as the unlucky dame. Raymond Burr is at his menacing best. This is storytelling so strong and so well-acted that any possibility of a dated feel is irrelevant. Even if it is dated, it’s an interesting document of the infamous “postwar malaise” that runs as an undercurrent throughout so much work of the late 1940s and 1950s.

For those that have seen it, I’d be interested to hear thoughts on this question: is it the best films that André de Toth ever made? I think it is and I don’t hesitate to proclaim it so. For those that have not had the opportunity, seek this one out however possible. It is another unfortunate film that has no DVD release, but hopefully that will someday be remedied.

#40: Crime Wave (André de Toth, 1954)

Released: January 12, 1954

Director: André de Toth; Screenplay: Bernard Gordon, Crane Wilbur and Richard Wormser based on the short story “Criminal Mark” by John and Ward Hawkins; Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Music: David Buttolph; Producer: Bryan Foy; Studio: Warner Brothers

Cast: Sterling Hayden (Detective Lieutenant Sims), Gene Nelson (Steve Lacey), Phyllis Kirk (Ellen Lacey), Ted de Corsia (Doc Penny), Charles Bronson (Ben Hastings), Timothy Carey (Johnny Haslett), Jay Novello (Dr. Otto Hessler)

- “Once you do a stretch, you're never clean again… you're never free… they've always got a string on you, and they tug, tug, tug.”

In the hands of a less talented director, Crime Wave would be little more than a formulaic, by-the-books film noir. The storyline is fairly conventional, chronicling the travails of Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson), a recently paroled convict who is fighting to stay on the straight and narrow. In the short time he has been out of prison, Lacey married his beautiful wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) and was hired as an airplane mechanic. The lure of his previous associations is never far away, though, as evidenced by the routine late night phone calls and summonses that past acquaintances make on Steve. But with the urging of Ellen, he manages to stay clean and lead a legitimate life. That is until three former prison compatriots bust out and go on the run. Knocking off easy targets to scrape together enough money to make it to Mexico, things go awry for the fugitives when they gun down a police officer at a gas station. In the confusion, one of the men is wounded and stumbles to the doorstep of Lacey. Not wanting to get involved, but realizing that he can’t call the cops and rat, Lacey tries to walk a fine line between the police on one hand and his former prison pals on the other. He desperately wants to be rid of men like Doc Penny (Ted de Corsia) and Ben Hastings (Charles Bronson), but at the same time he cannot give up the “keep your mouth shut” code of the streets. Fearing that one wrong move will lead to harm done to Ellen, Lacey is reluctantly drawn into helping the gang knock off a bank and make a dash for the border.


Lacey’s life is even more complicated by the constant pressure applied by Detective Sims (Sterling Hayden), a man who believes in the adage “once a criminal always a criminal.” From the start he is convinced that Steve is in cahoots with the escaped prisoners and is working with them. Sims is obviously a top-rate detective, with the ability to remember criminal histories and M.O.s when given only a name, and it is this intuition that quickly leads him to Lacey’s apartment. Much of the story is set up in a way that actually frames Sims, the straight-laced cop, as the villain. His constant goading of Steve, insisting that he can’t be reformed, becomes just as abrasive as the rough tactics of Doc and Hastings.

Probably better known for his work in horror and westerns, director André de Toth is an unsung titan of film noir. He made only two full-blown noirs, but both are true masterpieces. As I said earlier, it is his skill that elevates Crime Wave to something better than a common police procedural. He adds minor flourishes and details that give it a distinctive feel. Modern directors and screenwriters could take a hint in how de Toth refrains from beating the viewer over the head with these elements. He just throws them out there, lets the viewer take them in, and proceeds with the story. Things like Sims’ habit of chewing on tooth picks because he can no longer indulge in cigarettes. The obvious incorporation of police minutia is there, but not overly dwelled upon. De Toth follows messages through the dispatch room, blares repeated descriptions broadcast over police radios, but all of this just seems to be happening. The camera and narrative focus on the characters – all of which are colorful to some degree – but so many of these details are taking place around Lacey, Sims, and the fugitives. Every character in the film has a story, a unique personality, some kind of distinctive mannerism, and de Toth shows each of them. Besides the characterizations and inclusion of such details, the exterior photography of men creeping throughout the darkened streets of Los Angeles is marvelous.


The type of forced Hollywood ending that is so commonplace in crime films of the 1940s and 50s does put a damper on the conclusion, but even this is not enough to mar an otherwise outstanding movie. Sims’ sudden personality change, admitting that he might have been wrong about Lacey, does feel a bit awkward but given the Code that still reigned at the time, it has to be accepted. Despite this misstep, Hayden still shines as the grizzled police veteran and is used by de Toth to masterfully blur the line between good and bad, right and wrong, hero and villain. As a clean, determined, albeit overzealous cop is Sims a hero or a villain? For most the film it is almost impossible to decide. This blurring of roles is the epitome of film noir.