THE CROOKED WAY (1949)

Eddie Rice (John Payne) is a WWII vet who was wounded in action, has shrapnel in his head which cannot be removed, and has spent some time in a military hospital with amnesia. He has no memory of his pre-soldier life except that he lived in Los Angeles. His doctor believes he has organic amnesia, which can be permanent. Eddie feels lost and isolated so his doctor suggests that he go to LA where he might run into people who knew him and could help him. Right off the bus, he is recognized by a cop named Williams who thinks he should get back out of town. He is then recognized by a woman named Nina (Ellen Drew), who was obviously involved with him but who is not terribly happy to see him (we discover later that she is his ex-wife). Nina tells Vince (Sonny Tufts), a big-time thug, about Eddie. We soon put the pieces together, long before Eddie does, and discover that Eddie Rice was Eddie Riccardi, gangster, who worked with Vince. The two were involved in a murder case before the war and Eddie went into the Army, leaving Vince to take the rap alone and go to prison. Oddly, Eddie is not forthcoming with his former associates about his amnesia, and he winds up taking a severe beating from Vince's thugs. Now both the cops and criminals want him to leave town, but old feelings well up in Nina and when Eddie comes clean to her, she decides to help him, despite working as a secretary for Vince. But Vince ends up killing Williams, who was the cop who put him away years ago, and frames Eddie for it. What’s an amnesiac who used to be a bad guy but wants to be a good guy supposed to do?

This film noir has story problems, chief among them for me being Eddie's reluctance to explain to people about his amnesia. From the first scene in LA, when it's obvious that the cop bears him ill will, it would seem that an explanation of his state would help, even if not everyone might believe him. It's odd that he doesn't get much support from his doctors. Eddie's past circumstances aren't delved into very far, so the character remains a cipher to us. That's not unusual in a noir, given the genre's preoccupation with the ambiguities of identity, but we often get some more clarity by the end, and that doesn't happen here. Though the ending is in theory a relatively upbeat one, it doesn't really feel that way since it's possible that the thuggish Riccardi part of his personality could resurface (again, not unusual in noir films, but it also feels like a bit of a cheat). For me, John Payne hit his peak as the romantic lead on 1947's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. After that, he detoured into crime and noir films, but I never quite buy him as the tough guy he plays. Here, as a passive amnesiac, his soft style works better but I still think he's not a great fit for his part. Drew is bland as all get-out; when I looked her up on IMDb, I discovered I'd seen her in a few movies but couldn’t recall her. Far and away the best performance comes from Sonny Tufts (pictured) who is completely believable as the vicious Vince—the movie, which bogs down at times, regains its energy whenever he appears, and he's central to two effective scenes of torture. The biggest thing this movie has going for it is its shadowy noir look, largely due to cinematographer John Alton who won an Oscar a couple of years later for the colorful musical AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. Also with Percy Helton (as a small-time, cat-obsessed crook) and Rhys Williams as the cop. [TCM]