Act of Violence (1948)

[lester1/2jr]

                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIan01ck2fg
This is a good, somewhat critically acclaimed ,sort of second tier film noir that doesn't reinvent the wheel but uses established noir conventions in an entertaining and substantitive way.  It hinges on the guilt one man feels about a decsision he made during WW2:  He knew that the men in he prison camp he was with were planning an escape and he knew they were never going to make it.  He pleaded with them not to go but they were desperate and starving and so forth.  He went to the head nazi guy there and TOLD THEM WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN in hopes that they would stop it before it started and belenient with the men.  or maybe, somewhere in the back of his mind, he was simply throwing them under the bus to get preferential treatment for himself because HE was starving and desperate.  who knows, either way the plan was a disaster and most of the men were slaughtered.  Except one, who now turns up at the guys house intent on klling him or at least scaring the hell out of him and turning his life upside down.  Janet Leigh from Psycho is in it. 4/5

                    The DVD came with a second feature "Mystery Street" which I was interested in in particualr because it takes place in my hometown of Boston. There are some cool shots of Beacon Hill, the bunker Memorial, Harvard Medical building in the hospital district and some places allegedly on the Cape.  The first 20 minutes were great, a leggy blonde who gets into some hot water and she hooks a drunk bar patron into getting involved in her episode and it's all very tense. Unfortunatly, she gets killed off and the rest of the movie is a solid but less exciting CSI (circa 1950) type detective mystery, starring Ricardo Montabon of all people.  in boston!