THEY MADE ME A FUGITIVE (1947)

Good example of a British film noir. Trevor Howard plays a former RAF flier who drifts into a life of crime, joining a gang of black marketeers (headed by Griffin Jones) who use the Valhalla funeral home as a front for smuggling anything from booze to cigarettes. When Howard finds out they're also handling drugs, he decides to leave, but Jones frames him for the death of a policeman and he's sent away for 15 years. Howard manages to escape and work his way back to London to get revenge on Jones. The movie has an undertone of dark comedy, such as a scene at the funeral home when Jones whistles "Silent Night" as his gang members hide in empty coffins. One such scene turns from comic to serious: while on the run, Howard breaks into a rural home to get food and clothes, and the wife, instead of being scared, tries to get him to kill her alcoholic husband. He declines, but after he leaves, she goes through with the murder and pins it on Howard. Sally Gray plays Jones' rejected girlfriend, a chorus girl who winds up helping Howard. Sebastian Cabot can be seen in a small role as a bar owner. All the acting is fine; the older woman who plays the funeral home director is especially good--I think the actress's name is Mary Marrell, but I'm having a hard time confirming that. However, Jones is astonishing, in a role that is 180 degrees away from his usual light, upper-class characters. Here, a mean glare disfigures his usually handsome looks; he's a brutal sadist, particularly to women, and comes off just short of psychopathic. The climatic fight between Jones and Howard takes place on the funeral home rooftop, around gigantic R.I.P. letters. The ending (spoiler ahead!!) is not so predictable: Jones dies after falling from the roof, but with his dying breath, he continues to insist that Howard killed the cop, and all other witnesses are either dead or unreliable. Howard is taken away and there is a glimmer of hope when the inspector notes that they will continue to investigate the case to come up with new facts to help clear Howard, but his fate remains ambiguous. Recommended. [DVD]