Shield for Murder (1954)

This is actually a very upsetting film, as the vile brutality and vicious corruption of Edmond O'Brien is difficult to associate with such a brilliant actor. It's a sinister drama of police corruption that hardly could be more dark and depressive. The fall of the protagonist into constantly deeper darkness and hopelessness of moral bankruptcy is almost unbearable. Still, there are some brighter spots. Carolyn Jones as a bar blonde at hand for comfort when the abyss gapes open is the one element of comedy in the film, and that whole spaghetti scene is paramount and the best of the film. There are some other scenes approaching it, like when he goes berserk at a public bath being both chased and chasing his own desperate destiny, and of course it can only end one way. It's one of the darkest noirs ever, but pay special attention to Emile Meyer as Captain Gunnarson. You'll never again see a cop like that. He actually runs the show and knows from the beginning the full extent of the troubles mounting and is the perfect realist to handle them. It's a great film worth watching to the end - if you can stand it.

David Thomson was very dismissive of this film drawn from a novel by William P. McGivern, but probably never saw it. It's an impressive piece of work, and pretty much what one would expect from a film directed by and starring Edmond O'Brien: extremely well acted, especially by its star, but visually maybe trying just a little too hard (all those low angles and close ups). Not that I'm complaining; it looks marvellous throughout, particularly a sensational scene near the end filmed in a swimming baths. (People unfairly go on about the mike shadow, but that's only because it happens so early in the film.)What gives this film soul, though, is the people. A blonde Carolyn Jones is even more amazingly amazing than usual, and anticipates Gloria Grahame's tingling scene with Robert Ryan in 'Odds Against Tomorrow' (also based on a McGivern novel) when the first question she asks Nolan when she learns he's a cop is "D'yever kill anybody?" And you feel sorry for a disconcerting number of minor characters: starting with Perc Martin, the bookie's runner Nolan murders in the opening sequence, poor Ernest Sternmuller, the original witness (a deaf mute eking out a sad little living playing the accordion for pennies), Nolan's kittenish girlfriend, and of course Barney Nolan himself, dreaming of his model home with the love of his life; even though we know that from scene one he's doomed, and he kicks an awful lot of dogs during the course of the film as he rushes headlong towards nemesis.

Detective Barney Nolan's (Edmond O'Brien) name is a by word at the local police station for corruption and brutality. As Captain Gunnerson lists the shootings linked to Barney over the years, shootings that he always had an alibi for, a call comes through that a bookie has been shot in the back, down a deserted alley - and Barney has already put himself in the clear. This is a tension filled movie with the crime and O'Brien's character established before the opening credits. O'Brien also directed and is at pains to show that once, long ago, he was a caring cop. There is a scene involving a juvenile delinquent who is brought to the station belligerent and taciturn - he is turned over to Barney and within minutes he has delved into just what makes the boy tick. With just a few sentences he has shown that he once felt he could make a difference. There are little touches like this all through the film. Barney's "I want to make a difference" cop has been corrupted by the filth around him. Carolyn Jones is a stand out in the small role of a blonde lush who picks up Barney in a bar. She is just terrific, especially her "I'll show you how to look tough" speech but Barney's demeanour throughout the scene suggests "this is why I am what I am".Barney's real girl friend is Elizabeth Taylor clone Marla English who as Patty Winters finds a job as a cigarette girl - Barney doesn't like her parading herself but as she says "How am I ever going to keep a job if you keep beating up my bosses"!!! The murder victim is also missing $25,000 and it is for Patty that Barney has stolen it. In Barney's idea of the American dream - money equates to normality, and having a perfect little wife to go with the perfect house, and his eagerness as he shows Patty around the fully furnished project home is almost sad. But... also in the back yard is a perfect hiding place for the money which is the icing on the cake!! Hot on Barney's tail is Detective Mark Brewster (John Agar) once Barney's protégé but now, as the movie draws to it's conclusion, keen to bring the rogue cop to justice.The movie definitely has it's fair share of violence - a particularly brutal scene in a night club where two men corner him and the violence in which he pistol whips them has the patrons screaming in terror. There is also a witness to the original murder - a deaf mute (David Hughes) who is keen to write down all he knows about the crime to any policeman who will listen but unfortunately the station sends Barney!!! Apart from a few preachy speeches and an obvious "gaffe" where a boon microphone shadow shows up on a white wall this is a terrific film with marvellous location shooting, including a climatic shoot out at a local swimming baths.

Antihero star/director O'Brien does a good job. He plays a real beast -- a crooked cop who will do the lowest of the low.Marla English, as his girlfriend, is pretty and eefftive enough. She looks a lot like Elizabeth Taylor at that time.It's unusually brutal for its time but not espcially good.