Quicksand (1950)

Director:

Irving Pichel

Writer:

Robert Smith (original screenplay)

Release Date:

24 March 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

A guy who yields to temptation just once...... ....and finds it's once too often!

Plot:

After borrowing $20 from his employer's cash register, an auto mechanic is plunged into a series of increasingly disastrous circumstances which rapidly spiral out of his control.

Plot Keywords:

Auto Mechanic | Waitress | Garage | Embezzlement | Window Shopping

Cast

Mickey Rooney	...	Daniel 'Dan' Brady
Jeanne Cagney	...	Vera Novak
Barbara Bates	...	Helen Calder
Peter Lorre	...	Nick Dramoshag
Taylor Holmes	...	Harvey
Art Smith	...	Oren Mackey
Wally Cassell	...	Chuck Davis
Richard Lane	...	Det. Lt. Nelson
Patsy O'Connor	...	Millie
John Gallaudet	...	Moriarity
Minerva Urecal	...	Landlady aka Old Snoop
Sidney Marion	...	Shorty McCabe (as Sid Marion)
Jimmie Dodd	...	Buzz Larson (as Jimmy Dodd)
Lester Dorr	...	Baldy, Jewelry Clerk
Kitty O'Neil	...	Madame Zaronga

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Finland:S | UK:PG (re-rating) (2004) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA

Company:

Samuel H. Stiefel Productions

Trivia:

This film has one of the first examples of product placement with a box of Bit-O-Honey candy bars by Jeanne Cagney's cash register.

Quotes:

Daniel 'Dan' Brady: I had the right girl all along and I didn't know it.

Movie Connections:

References South of St. Louis (1949)

Rooney does melodrama

Wow. Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre. Together. And with Jimmie from the Mickey Mouse Club *and* Jack Elam! I didn't know what to expect. In case you were wondering, Rooney proves he can act in the opening scenes. He's a car mechanic looking to get in good with the new waitress at the diner, but he's flat broke until tomorrow. "Danny" starts down a slippery slope by copping a few bucks from the till at work, then lets Vera (Jeanne Cagney) steer him wrong by way of a game arcade owned by her former employer, Nick (Lorre). Nick makes the creepiest possible arcade owner, and Vera pines darkly for a mink coat in a store window. These are not good people to fall in with.

While the film starts out pretty cleverly, the coincidences start to pile up fast and furious. Danny's little white theft festers into a mugging, grand theft auto, a burglary, and worse. The wrong people keep finding out too much about Danny's activities, and soon the cops are crawling all over him.

The acting is quite good, and the direction and pacing are clean. But the wild improbabilities that have piled up threaten to topple the whole house of cards, from the convenient witnesses to the convenient cops to the convenient car trouble. Remember: Danny is an auto mechanic. He can't keep his own car in running condition? Still, it's a treat to see Rooney in such desperate straits. For those looking for Raymond Chandler, tho, this isn't noir; it's still just melodrama.