John Seal Poor old John Payne. It must have been hard working in Golden Age Hollywood with that last name, so close to that of a genuine A-list star. Of course, Payne came by his nom de screen honestly, whereas his counterpart was born Marion Morrison — so chances are JP believed he had every right to use his birth-name, damn the consequences. And, indeed, he managed to parlay his talents into a reasonably solid if unspectacular 30 year career, including the male lead in holiday favorite Miracle on 34th Street. Still, one wonders if he could have gone further with a different moniker — which brings us to The Crooked Way, a film made only two years after the aforementioned Christmas classic but already a step down from A to B-list for Payne. Directed by Robert Florey for indie La Brea Productions, the film stars Payne as Eddie Rice, a veteran suffering from amnesia. Unfortunately, Eddie's forgotten that, prior to his war service, he'd been the wise guy responsible for sending gangster Vince Alexander (Sonny Tufts) up the river — and Vince is still eager for revenge. Co-starring Rhys Williams as a friendly cop and squeaky-voiced Percy Helton (who I ALWAYS get confused with John Fiedler) as a cat-loving criminal, The Crooked Way is a better than average pseudo-noir featuring astonishing cinematography by genre specialist John Alton. Even if you don't find the story engaging, you won't soon forget Alton's work.

RanchoTuVu A WW2 vet (John Payne) returns to Los Angeles from a rehab hospital in San Francisco to try to recoup his past after losing his memory during the war as a result of shrapnel that is too embedded in his brain to remove. This being a film noir, his past turns out to have been mostly spent on the other side of the law but is now atoned for in the audiences' eyes as he fought bravely enough in the war to have been awarded a Silver Star. However to the authorities in LA, it's a different story. A couple of LA detectives recognize him as someone they knew from before the war as he is departing the train station as he arrives back in LA and whisk him away to headquarters where no one believes his amnesia story or his medals, giving him his first hints as to who he is and was. He goes from being ex-soldier Eddie Rice to the underworld Eddie Riccardi, and the film explores which of these two possibilities he will end up as. The Riccardi character was involved before he went away to war with crime boss Vince Alexander who is played by Sonny Tufts. Payne is decidedly better than decent but Tufts seems downright impressive, especially at the beginning when he's having someone beaten up and then killed by two of his goons. The relationship between Payne's and Tuft's characters gets revealed as well as that of the relationship with night club singer Nina Martin (Ellen Drew). Directed by Robert Florey (Danger Signal), the pace is excellent, and the photography by John Alton captures some memorable scenes of near total darkness with nothing but the characters' outlines to be made out.

Michael_Elliott Crooked Way, The (1949) ** (out of 4) Weak film noir about war vet Eddie Rice (John Payne) who is suffering from amnesia after going through shell shock. His doctor recommends he go back to his old stomping grounds to see if perhaps someone will notice him and tell him who he really is. This doesn't take long to happen but unfortunately for Eddie he learns that he's in bad with several gangsters. THE CROOKED WAYS features a few interesting ideas as well as some terrific cinematography but in the end the story is just way too loose and the direction downright flat. There are a few interesting ideas here including using a war vet who was a lousy crook only to discover bravery during the war. I think this aspect could have been focused on more and the film would have benefited. Another good aspect is simply the amnesia touch as this is a very simple but often effective gimmick used in various noirs and other dramas. I think this story line is something very hard to mess up but sadly Florey does just that. There isn't an ounce of energy to be found anywhere in this picture. The film is downright flat from the opening scenes all the way to the closing and it really appears that no one got the message that they needed suspense and tension in a film like this. The mystery involving who this guy is never comes off nor does anything doing with his ex-wife who is still with the gangsters. I think the twists and turns in the screenplay were all obvious ones that never really paid off. I also wasn't too impressed with any of the performances including Payne who seemed too bored here. I'm not sure what the reasons for but there wasn't any passion or energy in his performance. The same is true for Ellen Drew as the ex-wife. Rhys Williams is pretty good as the Lieutenant and Sonny Tufts isn't too bad as the gangster. Future Oscar-winner John Alton does a terrific job with the cinematography as he gives the film a unique and original look. As you'd expect there's a lot of darkness and shadows but the cinematography really makes the atmosphere something interesting and the look alone almost makes this film worth sitting through. With that said, overall this is 90-minutes worth of boredom without enough energy to keep it going through the end. Considering the talent you have to strike this one up as a disappointment.

Robert J. Maxwell It's another one of those inexpensive mystery/gangster movies about an amnesic veteran who returns from the war and tries to recover his identity or, if he still has his memory, tries to figure out what's been happening in his absence. It's all pretty veiled. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Here, it's just unexceptional.John Payne discovers in Los Angeles that he has a shady past. But what else can you expect? (He turns out to have won the Nobel Prize for Medicine?) It's really another B feature with a careless plot and performances that are in no way interesting. Want an example of an unimaginable coincidence? He's just been released from an Army hospital. The psychiatrist has advised him to go to Los Angeles where he enlisted. That's the only thing they know about him. He steps off the train in beautiful Union Station. Two men are standing around and one turns to him and says, "Hey, Eddy!" A few minutes later he leaves them to make a phone call. He's spotted from across the street by his wife, who just happens to be at that particular point in space and time.Sonny Tufts is the most interesting performer in the picture. He usually is. He wears his debauchery on his face as if flying a flag. "Wow, have I been a bad boy!" I didn't find it worth sitting through. If I wanted a decent amnesia movie, I'd watch "The Bourne Identity" again. Someone else might enjoy it more. Judging from the user ratings, someone has.