Turfseer Director Edward Dmytryk was known for creating film noirs prior to being blacklisted in the 50s due to a past association with the Communist party. Ironically, Dymtryk quit the party after the writer of the first draft, John Wexley, lambasted him at a Communist party meeting over changes he made to the script, toning down the pro-Socialist message. You would think that people in the government after World War II, would have been pleased with the basic premise of the film: that Nazi war criminals were still alive and hiding in such places as South America. But the "party" line was that the war was over and the Fascists had been defeated; any suggestion that this nascent bunch of deplorables were plotting to rise again was decidedly politically incorrect. Despite the unusual theme for a film noir (and it's debatable how much of a "film noir" this film is), Cornered proved to be a rather lame potboiler in its execution. The narrative actually begins decently. Dick Powell plays Canadian RCAF flyer Lawrence Gerard, a former POW, who returns to France to find out who was responsible for the death of his bride of 20 days, a member of the French resistance. His father-in-law Rougon informs him that it's Marcel Jarnac, an official in the Vichy government who collaborated with the Germans (Jarnac is officially declared dead but Rougon doesn't believe it but has no idea where he is). Gerard finds a tantalizing clue in the freshly burned out office of Jarnac's associate--an envelope addressed to Jarnac's purported wife. Gerard ultimately attempts to find the widow in Buenos Aires. It is at this point that the narrative falls apart given the totally unlikely course of action Gerard takes. The Canadian enters the bad guys' lair under his own name making it quite clear he's looking for Jarnac and intends to take him down. In real life, such a person would probably last a scant week in such an environment before bumped off by the unsavory thugs he's looking for. To add insult to injury, Powell is not the charming, cynical private eye Phillip Marlowe in the clever adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell my Lovely (called Murder, By Sweet in the American release, also directed by Dmytryk a year earlier in 1944), but a decidedly unlikable hothead. Gerard is approached by the portly Melchior Incza (played by character actor Walter Slezak) who is later revealed to be working for Jarnac. Incza offers his services as a guide around town but Gerard is determined to find Jarnac on his own. Gerard soon meets Jarnac's alleged widow at a party where he also meets Tomas Camargo, a fascist connected to Jarnac, and Camargo's uncle, lawyer Manuel Santana, who turns out to be operating an anti-Fascist group, tracking Jarnac on his own. After hounding Mme Jarnac, she finally reveals to Gerard that she's being paid to pretend she's Jarnac's wife and she's actually afraid of him. A good deal of the convoluted plot is taken up with Gerard's ruse--pretending to have an entire dossier on Jarnac which he threatens to release to the press unless Camargo agrees to reveal Jarnac's whereabouts (Gerard only has one signed title page of the dossier which he found in the burned out ruins of Jarnac's associate back in France, which he gives to Incza). The climax leads Gerard to an old meeting place of Jarnac's where he finally reveals himself (and murders Incza in the process). You can pretty much guess what happens next--a struggle to the death between Gerard and Jarnac with Jarnac ending up on the losing side of Gerard's set of multiple (fatal) punches. A paper detailing Camargo's connection to Jarnac ends up in Santana's hands, who plans to reveal it in court, not only to get Gerard off the hook for the Jarnac homicide, but to expose Camargo's organization in Buenos Aires. Despite the worthy warning of a Fascist resurgence, the Nazi villains here are a decidedly generic bunch. They really are a bunch of stock characters from the typical murder mystery of the day. With the one-note Powell and an overly talky plot, Cornered fails to come close to the much more worthy film noirs of its day.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Edward Dmytryk, this film is a mess. First, it stars Dick Powell (!) as a blustering ex-P.O.W. Canadian pilot (!). After the war, he's bent on trying to find the man who killed his wife of only 20 days (must have been some woman!). The plot is unbelievable and so confusing, with so many twists and turns, you'll get whiplash trying to keep up, if you're even interested enough to try. Plus, if you've ever read a Robert Ludlum novel (particularly The Rhinemann Exchange), you'll be sorely disappointed in the intelligence (or lack thereof) and one dimensional nature of Powell's character, and the route he takes to enact his revenge. John Wexley's story and adaptation were scripted by John Paxton.World War II is over and Powell has just returned from his stint as a P.O.W., receiving his year's back pay. He's going to need it too because he'll be canvassing the globe trying to find out who killed his wife, and then tracking him down. When he can't get a VISA to travel into France, he rows (from England across the channel?) there. Of course, he still has his gun (a German Luger!), which he wraps in cellophane (!) so it won't get wet when he sinks the boat and swims to shore. He finds his way to the Prefect's office, which is conveniently run by someone (his Father-in-Law?) who knew his wife. Like nearly everyone he encounters from here on out, the Prefect urges him to forget it and discourages him from his vendetta, which he naturally ignores each time. He then takes Powell to his wife's grave, a site hidden in a cave of French allied persons who were killed by Vichy, French enemies (those that collaborated with the Nazi's). This gives Powell an opportunity to exhibit his acting skills (?), covering his forehead and eyes with his hand as he grimaces ... emotion provided by the film's score./p>Powell learns that Marcel Jarnac, the Vichy trigger-man, is thought dead, but that his boss is believed to be in Paris. He gets to Paris just in time to find that the police have cornered this man. However, by the time he gets there, the man has been killed in a fire. So, he searches through the rumble and (low and behold!) finds the front page of a dossier about Marcel Jarnac. And, because of the date handwritten on it, he's convinced that Jarnac is still alive. He also finds some burnt stationary of a Swiss insurance company with Mrs. Jarnac's name on it. So, he goes to Switzerland and bribes an official at the agency to obtain her last known address. He picks up some of their stationary (!) and writes a letter to her at the address, then stakes it out. Ellen Corby (I Remember Mama (1948)) appears uncredited as the maid at the residence who addresses the envelope with a Buenos Aires forwarding address and puts it on the mailbox for the postal worker. Of course, Powell intercepts it right after she puts it there, and just before the mailman arrives.Powell now travels from Switzerland to Buenos Aires where Walter Slezak, obviously trying to channel Sydney Greenstreet (The Maltese Falcon (1941)), is waiting for him. After brushing him off, Powell goes straight to a hotel where, after checking, he grabs a phonebook and finds a listing for Mademoiselle Jarnac. However, when he dials the number, she won't take his call. Then, with Slezak's "help", Powell meets a string of characters, one after the other (virtually everyone in the credited cast), which are seemingly all "bad" guys because they too try to dissuade him from his mission. Several of them are German (ex-Nazis?). Initially, Powell's character trusts no one, so he listens to no one. However, then (suddenly) he trusts and listens to anyone who has information regarding Jarnac or his "wife". He follows these "hot" leads blindly and recklessly to the film's conclusion. The only bright spot left in this one is the appearance of Byron Foulger, who appears uncredited (& typecast?) as the hotel's night clerk.

AaronCapenBanner Edward Dmytryk directed this post-WWII thriller that stars Dick Powell as Canadian Flyer Laurence Gerard, who returns to France in order to find out who is responsible for the deaths of a resistance group, which included his new wife. The man thought responsible for collaborating with the Nazis is believed dead, but Laurence doesn't buy it, and so pursues the trail into Argentina, where he discovers that Nazism is far from dead, and he will do whatever is needed to defeat them, and avenge his wife. Good idea for a film is squandered because Powell's character is so lacking in intelligence, preferring to punch and knock down everybody he encounters, that you lose all interest in his journey.

MartinHafer In 1944, Dick Powell made MURDER MY SWEET. It was perhaps his greatest performance and a welcome change from his pretty-boy crooner image earlier in his career. Playing Phillip Marlow, he was tough, sarcastic and mesmerizing. So, not surprisingly, when I learned that a year later he made another gritty noir-like film (CORNERED), I had to see it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very talky disappointment.Powell plays a Canadian pilot was had been shot down in Occupied France during the war. There, he met a woman and married . Ultimately, however, he was caught and imprisoned by the Germans and she was killed by some French informer. When the film begins, the war is over and Powell is determined to find the informer and make him pay with his life.The trail, however, is quite cold in France. But, on a lark, he learns that the man MIGHT be in Argentina and simply blunders into a pack of ex-Nazis and Nazi sympathize s like a drunk goat in an antique shop! Again and again, Powell's character comes off as just plain stupid--showing no grace or style--just punching and blindly walking into one dangerous mess after another. And, as a Hollywood film, he's able to miraculously avoid death again and again! In addition to Powell's very poorly written character, the film fails ultimately and is completely mediocre due to its very, very talky script. While there is some action, there isn't nearly enough and most of the time the film just consists of Powell talking to people and the people, naturally, lying. The script simply didn't rise to the occasion and this dark film is flat.