Act of Violence (1949)

Act of Violence is an interesting film that adds some philosophical complexity to its thriller/film noir plot. We start with Van Heflin, a seemingly happy WW II vet living a successful life with pretty Janet Leigh in a small California town. But he has a dark secret, and an old WW II "buddy" (Robert Ryan) with a grudge. In fact, Ryan wants Van Heflin dead, and doesn't care if he goes to jail for it.

So far so good.  We get a lot of suspense and questions as why Van is so nervous and scared.  And then we get the answer - Heflin had ratted out some American POW's for food. He got the food, and the other POW's got the bayonet. Of course, he had his reasons - but Ryan isn't in a forgiving mood.  And then the movie goes off the rails. Heflin leaves his wife, tries to commit suicide, and then hooks up with a hooker with a heart of gold (Mary Astor).  Astor convinces him to hire some muscle to "bump off" Ryan and then we wind up with a completely unconvincing ending that satisfies the Production Code but makes no sense.

The film did well with the critics but bombed at the box-office. And I can see why. Who precisely is the hero? Who do we root for? Not Heflin, the cowardly stoolie. But neither can we root for Ryan, he's a crazed vigilante.  And we certainly can't root for Astor and friends.  And the movie is somewhat unrealistic. Ryan passes up chance after chance to kill Van Heflin.  And the Germans (unlike the Japanese) rarely -if ever- bayoneted American POW's for trying to escape.  And any stoolie who caused American POW deaths would've been investigated - by the US Army - and punished.

Summary: Act of Violence raises interesting issues but can't answer them, because its a 90 minute film noir. And so it falls between two stools. Too talky for a film-noir, too superficial and action oriented for a serious drama. But its well acted and directed.  Rating ***