I Walk Alone (1947)

It feels as though Burt Lancaster is the tougher man in this film as he gets to punch Kirk Douglas and win. They don't really fight it out like John Wayne and Randolph Scott in 'The Spoilers', and for that reason this film disappoints just like 'Gunfight at the OK Corral'. There is tension between Lancaster and Douglas but their scenes together are just talking heads. Lancaster wins the physical war with his fists, whereas wins the intellectual war of words by outsmarting Lancaster. It is unsatisfactory because they would continue to be talking heads in 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' and 'Seven Days in May'. This is why it is not a movie, but rather a collaboration between two talented actors who are not maximising their potential together.

Three of the stars from DESERT FURY (1947) – Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey – were reunited in another, marginally superior noir that is most notable today for marking the first of seven screen pairings between Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Although it was still very early in their careers, they had already become typecast as, respectively, the jilted, ex-con hero and the suave, slimy villain and this film has them reprising those characterizations – albeit less effectively than their prototype seen earlier in THE KILLERS (1946) and OUT OF THE PAST (1947); the same goes for Scott and Corey who both share a divided loyalty towards the two male leads. I WALK ALONE can also be said to have kick-started the directorial career of former technician Byron Haskin which lasted for twenty versatile years; unfortunately, that fact is borne out by the surprising lack of pace (which makes the film seem longer than its 98-minute running-time) and a rather weak climactic confrontation. Even so, the film is most interesting in the way it depicts the change in crime syndication (from streetwise toughness in the bootlegging Depression days to business acumen in the capitalist post-WWII era) that occurred during the fourteen years Lancaster spent behind bars: this is highlighted in a sharply amusing sequence when accountant Corey wrecks Lancaster's dream of owning half of Douglas' business empire (as they had verbally agreed on all those years before) by disclosing in "double-talk" the complex legal relationship that exists between the various companies owned by Douglas!

Both Lancaster and Douglas, who co-starred in a number of films over the next two decades, were famous for tough exteriors hiding sensitive natures… Lizabeth Scott, who appeared in films with one or the other, though never again with both together, was less versatile…Like Lauren Bacall and Ella Raines (other actresses in the Veronica Lake mold), her career revolved on the archetypal vamp foundations: a bone, a rag, a hank of hair, and a voice that sounded as if it had been buried somewhere deep and was trying to claw its way out… The film's plot had ex-convict Lancaster seeking revenge on nightclub owner Douglas who had cheated him, while Miss Scott was a singer whose song 'Don't Call It Love' pretty well stated her case as one who felt misunderstood and left out… The physical similarities of the three made the roles interchangeable and the plot hard to follow – which perhaps is why it has become a classic of the film noir

Burt Lancaster has been in prison since the days of Al Capone, and when released he sets out to claim his share of ill-gotten gains from his former partner, Kirk Douglas. Kirk is pleasant at first, lulling Burt with wine, gourmet food, and the company of his mistress Lizbeth Scott, but he has no intention of sharing anything. What starts out as a buddy relationship becomes a battle of wits and wills as the two fight for control of Kirk's nightclub, lots of money, and Lizbeth.This is no "Double Indemnity", but the two main characters are written and acted well enough to hold our interest. Douglas steals the film as the cleverer thug, the one who was smart enough to get away and go legit. His performance is lively and has touches of humor, particularly in the scene where he proves that the pen is mightier than the sword, or at least that legalese is mightier than the gun. Lancaster has a more violent, less sympathetic character, but has fun playing a brute who's forced to actually think for the first time in his life.Not a great film, but an enjoyable one. Interesting for the way it shows the changes in the criminal world over the course of a decade, from the brutality of the thirties to the emerging sophistication of the fifties.