Act of Violence (1948)

[Steve-O]

According to Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style,Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart were at one time attached to play the leads in Act of Violence. I have no doubt what roles they would have played. Peck would have been the family man with a dark secret (not unlike his part in Cape Fear) while Bogart would have played the crippled war veteran out for revenge.

Instead, in 1948, film goers saw Van Heflin as the young businessman and Robert Ryan as the man out to kill him. These two don't have nearly the same star power- but with the addition of Janet Leigh and Mary Astor the credit list ends up becoming a dream cast (at least for film noir fans).

Although I enjoy the film greatly, Act of Violence is challenging to watch. For the first half of the film you just don't know who the hero is.

The opening scene in the movie introduces us to Robert Ryan's character Joe Parkson. He's quickly loads a gun in a seedy hotel room then limps on board a bus. We have a pretty good idea that this guy is not a cop and probably has a few screws loose. However, we're not sure if he's the bad guy. The bus leaves the dark rainy city with Parkson and heads to the sunny suburbs. There the viewer meets the man Parkson is hunting: Frank Enley (Van Heflin). He's standing alongside his beautiful wife getting an award from the community.

With the two main characters introduced, movie goers would probably determine that Ryan is the black hat and Heflin is the potential victim. If you assume that you'd be wrong -mostly. Ryan plays wounded war veteran Parkson like a toy that's wounded too tight. The grizzled actor was no stranger to suspense thrillers at this time. Between the years 1947 and 1950 Ryan was seen in Crossfire, Berlin Express, Caught, The Set-Up, The Woman on Pier 13, The Secret Fury and Born to Be Bad. He played a wide range or characters in those films including an eccentric millionaire, a down-and-out boxer, and a communist spy. In Act of Violence he does what he does best: playing a guy who's more than slightly unhinged. Ten years later he would perfect the character in Odds Against Tomorrow.

Van Heflin is his normal charming self in Act of Violence. Heflin first noir parts were playing lovable drunks alongside Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and Joan Crawford in Possessed. The role of “charming lush” was finely honed by Heflin in the 1942 thriller Johnny Eager. In Act of Violence he is asked to play a sober likable man who betrayed his fellow soldiers during war. He doesn't start hitting the bottle until he hits L.A. two thirds of the way in. However, at the beginning of the film he appears to be living the American Dream.

Enley is a pillar of the community and is happy with his young family and career. After the award ceremony he packs and goes off on a fishing trip with a neighbor. There he finds out that someone is following him. Immediately he knows it's Parkson. Enley ends his weekend early and rushes home. He enters his house in a controlled panic. With his puzzled wife watching, he locks the doors and pulls down the shades. His wife is confused and so are we. Why is he being followed? What does he have to be scared of? Why is he standing in the dark looking terrified?


Director Fred Zinnemann – who would direct From Here to Eternity a few years later – puts the viewer in a tough spot. Enley is a friendly and respectable guy in his community. However during the war as a POW he betrayed his men for food – a betrayal that cost some their lives. The guilt of his act was suppressed until Parkson came looking for him. He has no other choice but to run. Not only does he run from Parkson but he leaves home in the middle of the night to get away from his family. He can't bear to tell the truth to his wife. So who does the viewer root for? The crazy guy trying to get revenge on his former best friend; or the man on the run that took the easy way out during war and is still running years later? Senses of Cinema puts it perfectly in their article on the film: “The moral landscape... is complex and difficult terrain; and Zinnemann effectively swings an ethical pendulum, never allowing us to categorize or pigeonhole his protagonists.” It must have been a hard task for Zinnemann but he pulls it off.

Most viewers probably identify with Enley – a guy who has done some things he isn't proud of – though certainly most couldn't imagine themselves committing the kind of betrayal he's accused of. When Enley finally confesses his sins to his wife in a dank city alley (one of the best looking scenes in the film) he sounds like he's trying to justify his actions as much as explain to his wife what happened.


If Parkson was just your run-of-the-mill movie psycho it'd be hard to feel any compassion for him but viewers will. I mean Robert Ryan has a face that looks like someone left it out in the rain. It was very easy, I imagine, for Ryan to play the ugly bad guy (like in Crossfire). The actor visibly plays his inner ugliness. However, in Act of Violence he's not as bad as he first appears. Parkson's a guy damaged physically and mentally by war. He's convinced himself that the only way to clear his mind is to kill his former Army buddy. In a twisted way it makes sense.

Like Enley, Ryan has a young love (played by Phyllis Thaxter). She catches up to him and tries to talk him out of doing anything crazy. She appears to be the only thing keeping Parkson from not going totally bonkers.

Meanwhile Enley's wife begins searching for her man who used a middle of the night trip to a Los Angeles convention as an excuse to flee. Once she meets her husband's stalker face to face at their front door, she becomes frightened of what he might do to him.

When Frank Enley hits Los Angeles on the run the movie literally gets darker. Looking for a way out of the fix he's in Enley gets involved with a group of parasites that just seem to be lying in wait for a sucker to show up. When Enley enters a seedy L.A. bar and meets Mary Aster they pounce. These scenes in the city are the best part of the film. While it's hard to warm up to or dislike either of the two leads you can certainly enjoy Mary Astor. Her role as the brassy Pat two thirds of the way in steals the movie. While Parkson searches for his prey, this woman of the streets gives Heflin shelter during his flight. However while Parkson's girl and Enley's wife try as hard as they can to get their men out of trouble, Mary Astor's character actually introduces Enley to killers for hire. Teaming up with Pat are Taylor Holmes (Nightmare Alley) as a slimy lawyer and Berry Kroeger (Gun Crazy and Cry of the City) as Johnny the killer. Enley realizes that the men are paid criminals and runs from the group. Drunk and delirious, he now appears to be as crazy as Parkson. After nearly walking in front of a train, Enley agrees to give Johnny thousands to kill his enemy. In the morning he wakes up in Pat's tiny room and realizes what he'd agreed to the night before. He rushes to stop Johnny from killing his ex-friend. What results is satisfying stand off more reminiscent of classic westerns (like Zinnemann's High Noon) than film noir.

The pace of Act of Violence is quick. There's no opening credits just the MGM logo and the film's title after Robert Ryan is introduced. Clocking in at 88 minutes, the film has no fat just meat. And it looks great. By 1948 most film noir shared a similar look: a combination of docudrama (like The Naked City) and German expressionism (used in the proto noir Stranger on the Third Floor). Cinematographer Robert Surtees (a three time Oscar winner who's only other film remotely film noir was the Mickey Rooney trip The Strip) uses the same style and does a fine job. Like most of the LA scenes the lighting is sparse. Dim street lights and table lamps serve as single source lighting in many instances. There's also a great shot of the old Angels Flight when Heflin runs down the dark streets of Los Angeles.


Although gloomy, I find Act of Violence to be one of the best film noir of the period mainly due to the strong performances from the cast and gritty look of the film. Especially the cast - which I wouldn't change if I could.

[JohnChard]

Thanks for the insightful read Steve, I feel the same way about the film. I`ll add my own review to reactivate the thread for this fine movie.



Post war scabs are picked off with noirish bleakness by Zinnerman and his terrific cast.

Act of Violence is directed by Fred Zinnemann and adapted for the screen by Robert L. Richards from a story by Collier Young. It stars Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, and Janet Leigh, with support coming from Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter & Berry Kroeger. Robert Surtees photographs it from various California locations and Bronislau Kaper provides the music that is conducted by André Previn.

An Embittered former POW (Ryan) is hell bent on revenge against his former commanding officer (Heflin) who betrayed his men's planned escape attempt from a Nazi prison camp.

Superior film noir piece that is not only boasting a taut, intelligent and suspenseful story to work from, but also a collective group of film makers on tip top form. The film primarily looks at the point of view of the troubled soldiers who upon returning from war are mentally and physically shot. Some are thriving as the economy in the post war times has picked up, while others are carrying the legacy of battle - - with deep long memories gnawing away with every battle scarred step. They say time is a big healer, particularly with the passing of loved ones and the willingness to forgive those who have done you wrong. But the makers here are not in that frame of mind. The ghosts of the past are not content to sit around in Surtees' menacing shadows, they want out, and with Ryan & Heflin deftly channelling different, yet very flawed, characters, the result is a tough, and at times, fascinating viewing experience.

Zinnerman, one can reasonably assume, gave his heart for this one. Having fled Austria to escape the Nazis, his heart would be shattered as his parents would become part of that dark piece of history that encompassed the Holocaust. The grim texture {Surtees again dealing in genius like mood enhancements} of the piece carries an air of realism, a need to cast out some demons in the form of cinema. The ending will cause some consternation to first time viewers: definitely! But personally I think it's closure for the director; and to us the viewers it should (has) make for an interesting conversation piece about noir and the way to finish off one of its dark offspring. As for the cast? Ryan & Heflin are superb, two of the finest character actors from the golden era of Westerns and Noirs. But rest assured that here the girls are also their equal. Leigh gives gravitas to the role of the courageous, loving and fretful wife of Heflin's tortured soul. Thaxter blends common sense with anguished loyalty as the girlfriend of Ryan's malevolent cripple. While Astor almost steals the film from the guys as a brassy woman of the bars and streets who takes Heflin in off the now dangerous avenues and alleyways.

Smart, pangy and dripping with noir style, Act Of Violence has so much going for it, and equally as much to say. 8/10

[MartinTeller]

(review from 4/24/10)

Fred Zinnemann's vengeance manhunt tale is a sterling example of the genre, with deep contrast in the lighting (terrific cinematography courtesy of Robert Surtees), slow-burn tension, a descent into the underworld, and the past coming back to haunt you. Overall, this is a really solid and gripping piece of work, with some memorable moments and thoughtful post-war themes. Wonderful climax and resolution, too, and a clever use of sound. And something very unusual for its time: the credits are saved until the very end. The acting is mostly strong. Mary Astor as the world-weary hooker (never stated, but come on) stands out the most. Janet Leigh, in one of her earlier roles, is rather weak. Robert Ryan is menacing but could have been given a little more to work with. As the lead, Van Helfin does a fine job... not a very distinctive performance, but a good one. I'm tempted to give this is a higher rating, but it didn't quite push my buttons in that certain way. Rating: 8

[cigar joe]

Act Of Violence (1948) director: Fred Zinnemann, with Van Heflin, Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh.



This has got everything I love in a Noir insofar as visuals. What a great opening sequence of the seedy deserted backstreets of New York City with a backdrop of bishop crook lamp posts smokestacks and skyscrapers (probably a set, but its striking).

A limping figure determinedly tracking through this wasteland he is Joe Parkson (Ryan), a disabled vet who's commanding officer during the war was Frank Enley (Heflin). Enley betrayed his men by ratting to the CO of the Nazi POW camp that they were digging a tunnel and were planning a breakout. Enley believed he was trying to save lives. All escapees except Parkson were executed. Parkson, who knew the truth of what Enley had done is now tracking him down to kill him.

Meanwhile Enley has since the war become a exemplar pillar of the community in a suburb of LA . The action switches coasts as Parkson gets a line on Enley's whereabouts. You can hear Parkson dragging his bum leg and you know he's coming before you see him giving a creepy effect during the unfolding events.

This has a great denouement in the railyards at night with shrieking locomotive whistles that's not to be missed.

Filming Locations for those interested: Angel's Flight Railway, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, Angelina Street, Clay Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, Glendale Amtrak Station Glendale, California

Part of Warner Brothers Classic Film Noir Collections released with "Mystery Street", DVD Release Date: July 31, 2007

Another 10/10

[Steve-O]

trailer:

[MFPhoto]

I just watched Act of Violence for the first time. An obviously low budget production, I was less enthralled by the acting. Heflin, Ryan, Leigh and Astor certainly are not at their best.

The real star is director Fred Zinnemann and his cinematographer Robert Surtees, both who would later go on to better things. Zinnemann got his start in movies living in his native Germany, but had to flee Hitler’s persecution of the Jews. He learned much before he left, and it shows in so much of Zinnemann’s American work. There are several effective expressionistic shots. One where Heflin is fleeing Ryan shows a transit car crossing the path at an angle. The design of the car, the street and the angle looked as if Murnau, Lang or Pabst shot it.

The opening scenes contain classic film noir shadows. It is obvious something evil is going on. By the time the action gets to southern California, we are bathed in the safety of a well and brightly lit small town day. There is obviously no danger here. But when Heflin learns he is being hunted, even in the security of his own home, those noir shadows return.

The photograph dominates this film and is what really drew me in. It was a great bit of psychological manipulation by Zinnemann and Surtees. I was well aware of this manipulation, but damned if I wasn’t going to go along for the ride!