Backfire (1950)

I thought "Backfire" was an engrossing story, a noir told in flashbacks. The script was literate and had some snappy repartee customary of the genre. It was genuinely mysterious as injured war vet Gordon MacCrae searches all over Los Angeles for his missing buddy Edmond O'Brien. He comes across several dead ends and there seems to be no apparent answer for his predicament, or for a lead on the whereabouts of O'Brien.Then came the ending. As so often happens in many movies, the screenwriters seemed stumped for a way to end their story, and resort to unsatisfactory circumstances that do not fit the rest of the plot and spring a ridiculous final scene on us that leaves us slack-jawed. They also leave us with unanswered questions and give us a chance at revenge via the IMDb website by awarding a lower rating than it was originally destined for.

Gordon MacRae in an actual totally non-singing role. He did well here as a veteran searching through the film for his war buddy Edmond O'Brien who seems to have gone missing as the Gordon character is supposed to be released from the hospital.Ironically, the femme fatale here is not Virginia Mayo but rather Viveca Lindfors, who delivers a quality performance. Ed Begley is his usual crusty self as the head of the police force and Dane Clark steals each scene he is in and as always is at his best in his insanity scene with those bulging eyes.When the bodies start to pile up, you think it's all related to gambling, but as always there is a girl involved and trouble ahead for those who fell for her.

Caught this movie on TCM, and never having heard anything about it, I watched it mainly because of the principal actors. However, the story line was quite a good one, but unfortunately, it was very poorly executed. Film noir - I don't feel so, it was really a B-Grade Whodunit?, and was disappointing when you think of some of the Actors. Edmond O'Brien (usually very good, but had some terrible lines to say), Virginia Mayo (lovely, and actually very good as a good girl!), Dane Clark (really hammed it up late in the movie), Gordon MacRae (should have stayed in Oklahoma), Viveca Lindfors ( really bad, and she sang worse). Ed Begley, a great actor, was badly miscast, and amongst the unknowns I saw John Ridgely ( a staple in many warner films), but all in all, very much a programmer.

A common cultural theme providing subtext for many a film noir was the alienation felt by servicemen returning from WWII to a world that had adapted itself to their absence. But that theme usually remained just that -- subtext. Rarely was it dealt with as overtly as in "Backfire," a modest entry in the genre from 1950, and this fact alone makes this otherwise forgettable film notable.Bob Corey (Gordon MacRae) and Steve Connolly (Edmond O'Brien) are war buddies, Corey layed up in a veterans' hospital recovering from a spinal injury, Connolly sticking close and providing him moral support. The night before Corey's release, while in a drugged haze, Corey receives a visit from a strange, exotic woman (Viveca Lindfors), telling him that Connolly has been injured himself and is asking for Corey. The next day, as he leaves the hospital, Corey is pulled into the police station, where the head of the homicide bureau (Ed Begley) tells him of the murder of crime boss Solly Blayne and evidence incriminating Connolly as the chief suspect. Corey sets out to find his friend in an attempt to clear his name, aided by his girl Friday, nurse Julie from the veterans' hospital, played fetchingly by Virginia Mayo.What's most interesting about "Backfire" is that though the film gives both men nominal love interests, they're much more interested in each other than either is about anyone else. It would be easy to read homosexual subtext into this film, as it is in many films noir, but it's not really played that way in the movie. The relationship between Corey and Connolly is that of two men who have had to rely on one another in literal life-and-death situations and who now do not know how to rely on anyone else.It was refreshing to see MacRae in a film like this -- I only really knew him from his string of 1950s musicals, and he equips himself well. O'Brien, a frequent presence in films of this sort, is right at home. And Mayo is a doll, looking for all the world like a 1940s version of Laura Linney. The climax of the film is a rote shoot-em-up, but as always with movies like "Backfire," the journey is a lot more fun than the destination.Grade: B