seymourblack-1 Many of the standard film noir components are blended together brilliantly in "Deadline At Dawn" to create a murder mystery that features a culprit whose identity, when revealed, is a genuine surprise. As its title suggests, the plot involves a race against time which adds tension and intensity as an innocent fall guy tries to prove that he's not a killer. Numerous twists, dead ends and colourful characters complicate the search for the real murderer and the dark city streets in which much of the action takes place, seem to carry a threat all of their own.When on-leave sailor Alex Winkley (Bill Williams) wakes up in a New York City newsstand with a hangover and $1,400 in his pocket, he struggles to remember what happened before he blacked out. Gradually, he recalls losing all his money in a fixed card game and a woman who invited him to her apartment to fix her radio. As she refused to pay him for restoring her radio to working order, Alex comes to the conclusion that he must have stolen the money from her apartment to cover his losses.In his confused state, Alex goes to a nearby dance-hall where he meets a taxi-dancer called June (Susan Hayward) who later takes him back to her place for sandwiches and listens when he tells her about the guilt he feels about not being able to remember how the $1,400 came into his possession. June advises him to take the money back to the apartment and agrees to go with him. When they go there, they find that Edna Bartelli (Lola Lane) has been strangled to death and Alex becomes anxious because he can't remember whether or not he killed her and also becomes convinced that the police will obviously regard him as the prime suspect.June, whose life and work in the city has made her very cynical, feels some sympathy for Alex and finding his exceptional naiveté rather refreshing, decides to help him in his search for the real killer. Together, throughout a long hot night, they follow up whatever leads they can find with increasing desperation as they're also sharply aware that they only have until 6.00 a.m. to complete their investigation because, at that time, Alex has to catch his bus to report back to his base in Norfolk, Virginia."Deadline At Dawn" packs a lot into its 83 minutes and features a series of interesting characters. Alex and June are helped in their endeavours by a good natured cab driver, Gus Hoffman (Paul Lukas) who puts his cab at their disposal and shares his thoughts on life with them. Edna Bartelli turns out to be a woman with many enemies because she and her gangster husband, Val (Joseph Calleia) ran a blackmail scheme with many victims. Three of these victims, a blonde woman with a limp, a mystery woman with a gun who enters the Bartelli apartment to recover some letters and a Broadway producer who's a business associate of Val Bartelli, all become obvious suspects as does Edna's ex-husband, Sleepy Parsons (Marvin Miller).The main strengths of this movie are its plot, which is based on a Cornell Woolrich (aka William Irish) novel, its array of well-drawn characters and Nicholas Musuraca's cinematography which contributes so much to the wonderful look and powerful atmosphere of the piece. In addition, a whole series of strong performances, especially from Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas and Joseph Calleia make this an enjoyable thriller that remains totally gripping throughout.

jjnxn-1 Terrifically gritty noir. Susan, still a B actress at the time took a big step forward with this little gem, one of the great overlooked noirs. She's tough and no nonsense but caring. She also looks phenomenal considering she had given birth to twin boys just before making this. Bill Williams is just right as the naive gob and Paul Lukas adds great support as a cabbie who lends a helping hand. The film is also full of wonderful touches, Susan's snappy no-nonsense talk, the incidental characters the leads come across and the sets and set-ups of the shots with intriguing little details just randomly placed in the background. Well worth seeking out.

secondtake Deadline at Dawn (1946)If you can overcome, or overlook, the slightly stilted plot and the improbability of the events (in an O'Henry kind of way, if you know his clever short stories, though the actual writer is Clifford Odets, whose politics are not very visible), you'll be able to catch the really fine acting and directing here. And the nicely felt night crime drama that is really just a beautiful sappy love story (the best kind). The cast is small, the plot twists unreasonable but still enchanting, and the effect, in the end, is tightly wound.While you might think the murder is the central premise (and it's key, for sure), or the sailor's blackout is the main event (and it isn't, really), you will eventually see it's the sailor himself, his utter innocence, that is both the core of the film and the driving force. This is the Odets part of the writing, character driven, and the sailor, through some effect of drinking we assume, has had a brief blackout, and he comes to his senses on the streets of New York with a lot of cash in his pocket. He's troubled, but we sympathize. Then a woman he was with is found dead. Still, this sailor is such the definition of innocence, there's no doubt--almost no doubt--that someone else did it. But who? And how can he defend himself?Enter Susan Hayward, playing at first a kind of professional dance companion (the innocent side of prostitution, and a good match for our man). After work, she wants to help him because he's so clearly a good person, and then a cabbie strangely gets involved, too, sucked into the idea that justice will go wrong if the real killer can't be found. The dead woman had a couple of unsavory friends, and these two get into the plot in stages, and what we end up with is half a dozen clearly defined people all fighting for some small piece of personal clarity and internal well being.It helps that all the actors are first rate small time contributors (Hayward is the one star, and is terrific). It also helps that the whole scenario is limited in time and space, so we get to feel like we are there, in New York, in this small neighborhood at night. It's great stuff on that level alone. The director? It's his one and only film. But the cinematographer was an old pro at the peak of his career, Nicholas Musuraca, who did a whole slew of noirs and dramas, some worth seeing just for the photography ("Spiral Staircase" comes to mind, but see the IMDb list). So whatever the small time credentials of much of the cast, there is some seriousness here that won't let go.If the plot is a little preposterous, it's only because it's trying to package things too neatly. The writing is first rate, beyond plot structure, with some classic quotable lines that are either film noir staples or philosophical nuggets (the latter from the cabby, in particular). A film that would reward a second viewing just for the details of dialog and camera-work.

evanston_dad This modest film noir is flat-out crazy and a tremendous amount of fun.Bill Williams plays a sailor on leave who follows a floozy back to her room, passes out and then finds upon waking that the floozy is dead and can't remember what if anything he had to do with it. He's got to catch a boat (or is it train?) at dawn, and is afraid he'll be implicated in the murder if he doesn't find the true killer before then. He teams up with a dance hall hostess (Susan Hayward) and, before the evening's out, a cab driver (Paul Lukas) and sets out into the New York midnight to solve the crime.The screenplay doesn't make a lick of sense, and my wife and I found ourselves actually laughing at the preposterous developments and turns in the story. It's hilarious how committed these three people are to solving this crime despite the fact that there's absolutely nothing attaching the sailor to it, and how easy a time they have following up on clues in as huge a city as NY despite the fact that the clues are things like "he was wearing a tuxedo" and "she had blonde hair." A plot twist at the movie's end, when the real killer is revealed, is right up there with the best of them. Oscar winner Paul Lukas brings much more acting ability to his performance than his role requires, and Susan Hayward is absolutely riveting. This was my first and so far only exposure to this acclaimed actress, and I look forward to many more.What a blast this movie is! Grade: A-