Quicksand (1950)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

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: Now, wait a minute! Don't holler 'til you hurt!

Movie Connections:

References The Lucky Stiff (1949)

Always liked narrated films best

Good crime noir story with a highly energetic(what's new?) Mickey Rooney in the lead role. He also narrated the film and tied together well all loose ends. Great Santa Monica Pier chase scene at the end with a well conditioned Rooney doing all his own stunts. Top camera-work in B&W, with all the light and shadows of great noir. Peter Lorre was his terrific evil, slimy self in a small role, and Jimmy Cagney's sister Jeanne was stiffly effective as Rooney's self-centered girlfriend.

Not a wasted second in the action, and it moves along at breakneck speed as Rooney plays this 40s-50's typical noir morality tale of how criminals typically go from the first petty crime all the way to the worst crimes and finally end up in prison, but always have nice girls waiting for them when they get out.

Interesting to note that almost all his crimes were witnessed, and had the cops on him almost before he finished committing them. Not quite the case in the real world as "nobody sees anything" today and most crimes go unsolved. Don't you wish all crimes were so easily solved as in this film? It would be a very different world than the one we have.