to the right one and I'll copy my post there.
OK last night I watched a really good film noir: THE FEARMAKERS, directed
by Jacques Tourneur and starring the wonderful Dana Andrews. I was very
much "on the edge of my seat" for most of it and thought it featured a really
intelligent script and interesting performances from a cast that was made up
of both familiar and unfamiliar faces.
The story is basically about a soldier who returns to Washington D.C. after a harrowing
time serving in Communist Chinese P.O.W. camps where he was tortured. He is
left with blinding headaches and of course, nightmares, but that's only the beginning
for what's waiting for him at home. He and another guy had started a public relations
firm in D.C. before Andrews was recalled to duty in Korea. Now that he's back the
firm is now bigger, flashier and more successful---and no longer his. It seems his
partner sold the firm out unbeknownst to him and now he has to figure out why and
what the new operators are after.
Tourneur keeps the pacing tight and yet leaves Andrews' (barely) enough room to
create a tense and affecting characterization and, as I said, the script for the most
part avoids too much triteness. Where it starts to lose credibility is the rather overdone
ending, which seems to belong to a more action-oriented film. I'd like to have maybe
seen this film stretched out a little longer, given us more time to savor even more suspense
but it's definitely still worth watching and I highly recommend it.
The movie starts out on the plane to D.C. and Andrews' curious seat companion, played
by an actor who could have been Jose Ferrer's stand-in, Oliver Blake. He's one reason
I wanted the film to go on longer because he basically disappears after this important,
initial contact.
The somewhat over-the-top climactic scene takes place in Lincoln's lap. How's that
for subtlety?
Still, it's nicely composed.
One of the familiar...faces...Veda Ann Borg who makes a surprising type of Fellow Traveller...
