rhoda-9 If you're going to be stalked by somebody with a grudge, you don't want it to be Robert Ryan. This soft-spoken, kind-looking actor had a great career playing psychopaths for a good reason: he made them so normal-seeming, and yet so intense, that they were as believable as they were terrifying. From the moment that Ryan, looking like a pleasant, serious businessman, lets you know he has a gun (you'll gasp), the tension never lets up.Ryan here is after Van Heflin, another very fine and intelligent actor, whose character, from the moment he learns that Ryan has found him out, is torn apart by his dilemma, both practically and psychologically. He can't run, he can't hide, he can't fight, but, worse than this, he can no longer evade feeling that he deserves to die. His flailing efforts to escape get out of his control and put him in even greater danger.Why did this terrific early Fred Zinnemann movie die at the box office? The title was a dog, for one thing, boring and vague. There was no romance. But, most of all, the subject was unbearably grim--not just the manhunt aspect but the soul-searching, the questions the movie asks about guilt, forgiveness, and reparation (the scene when Heflin tries to buy his way out of trouble is one of the most chilling in the film). These were questions that clearly preoccupied Zinnemann, whose previous movie was The Search, and whose parents had died in the Holocaust while he was safe in America.All the performances are wonderful, emotional when necessary but never showy. The most disturbing, in a way, is Mary Astor, an actress as classy as her assumed name, who plays a slovenly middle- aged prostitute with self-effacing simplicity. And, despite the grandeur of the theme, there are nice little touches, such as Ryan's being so obsessed by his quest that he tries to cross the street in front of a patriotic parade--a scene that has a grotesque echo later, when Heflin's wife, desperate to save him, has to push her way past a parade of stumbling, leering, drunken convention-goers.One quibble: It is reasonable that Ryan should have some kind of handicap or disfigurement, to symbolise his damaged body and soul. But did it have to be a limp? The limping villain, with the sound of his creepy, irregular gait offscreen frightening people in the silence of the night, was a cliché a generation before this movie was made.

Aaron Igay This is an exciting quick-moving suspenseful film and I will recommend it even though I didn't care for the morally dubious conclusion. Highlights include the lead running from his stalker through a deserted 1948 downtown LA. We get a glimpse of The Angel's Flight railway, the extremely short funicular featured in about 20 films, it seems lots of directors thought it looked cool moving diagonally through the back of their shots. When it's not down for repairs you can still ride its' complete one block route today for two bits. The original was taken down and rebuilt in a new location a 1/2 block south. Janet Leigh was in this film, and she's apparently such a great actor I didn't even realize it was her until I saw her name in the credits, which very oddly for that era were at the end of the film instead of the beginning.

secondtake Act of Violence (1948)Is this possibly Janet Leigh's best performance ever? Oh yes, that's Janet Leigh, the one in the shower in "Psycho." And Van Heflin is continually underapprectiated, so another chance to appreciate him here. Robert Ryan and Mary Astor are both in top form, too. And so is cinematographer Robert Surtees, making this one of the most dynamic (and varied) of film noirs.This is a classic. It has the feel of a noir, of course, even though much of it is set in a small town, but it has the key plot elements of the returning veteran unable to cope with the new post-war reality. Filled with believable surprises, fast and gorgeous, acted to the hilt, and yet still stylized a little beyond mere reality. A gem, a joy. The director? Fred Zinnemann, who used Leigh in the original "Manchurian Candidate," is also the man who pulled of "High Noon" and "From Here to Eternity." All four of these films have a combination of vigorous visual style, top notch acting with subtlety, and most of all, social significance. They deal with issues of their various times in ways that never preach, however. Of the four, it's actually possible that this one is the tightest and best of them all. Higher praise? Not possible.

Steffi_P In the period immediately after Word War Two there was this massive divergence of moods in cinema, with fantastical escapism on the one hand, and dark pessimism on the other. This was particularly pronounced at MGM. Although the Arthur Freed unit was carrying on the studio's reputation for dreamlike extravagance, new production chief Dore Schary was also pushing a line of frank and gritty "message" movies, many of which dealt directly with the recent conflict.Act of Violence runs like a kind of dark flipside to the sublimely poignant Best Years of Our Lives, which won Best Picture for MGM a few years earlier. The director is Fred Zinnemann, who would later film a couple of Best Pictures himself, but at this point was still honing his craft in the B-unit. As in the handful of other features he had made up to this point, his primary concern seems to be creating atmosphere and tension through use of space and lighting. Virtually every shot is filled with streaking shadows and stifling frames, and to be honest this is all laid on a bit too heavily, even if it is very precise. Ironically though, his aim to give the picture this consistent claustrophobic feel means that sometimes he is forced to achieve it more subtly – for example in the shot where Robert Ryan crosses the road in front of the military parade, Zinnemann frames the action neatly with objects and people. The effect is the same but it looks very natural and unforced.Zinnemann also gets to prove his ability at handling action scenes. This is something directors usually perfect sooner than they do drama, which again is ironic for Zinnemann as he would spend most of his later career making deep dramatic pictures with little action. His staging of drama is coming along here though. He does a lot of long takes in dialogue scenes, where against cinematic convention one actor has their back to the camera whilst talking, thus focusing us on the reactions of the listener. One of the strongest pieces of direction however is the way Zinnemann introduces the two lead characters. We first see Ryan walking from a distance, then closer to, but from behind, we then see he has a gun, and then we finally pan up to his face. We are thus given clues as to the kind of man he is and what he may be capable of before we are allowed to connect with the character. The opposite approach is taken for Van Heflin, who is introduced to us with a big facial close-up, which would have been meaningful to audiences of the day as they would know Heflin and the sort of characters he played. From this point on Zinnemann allows the story to deconstruct Heflin's stereotype and add flesh to Ryan's.This intelligent focus on actors naturally brings out the best in the performances. Heflin's is strong if a tiny bit overdone at times. He probably relished this chance to show off his range. Ryan sadly doesn't get to do enough with this character, but he has great presence, and that is essentially what his character is for most of the movie – a presence. Mary Astor is great too – another player with fantastic range. I'll also mention Berry Kroeger, who plays the hit-man Johnnie, and was clearly cast as a face to fit the part, yet he does a pretty good acting job as well.One thing that does link these darker MGM post-war flicks with the studio's lighter upbeat fare is a kind of melodramatic overstatement, which is great in the right place but harms a picture like Act of Violence. In spite of the staccato, atonal intro, the music is largely schmaltzy strings spoiling the sincerity of the dramatic moments. The dialogue is fairly trite and unmemorable. It is mainly the good acting and competent direction which saves this one.