Admirable film.

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A trucker unwittingly becomes involved with a mobsters and must go on the lam with his new bride. This one is pretty standard fare, with nothing to distinguish it from other low-budget films of the period. Mann made of a number of crime dramas such as this early in his career, with the best being "Side Street," before moving on to Westerns. His direction is competent, although he goes a bit overboard with the lights and shadows here. The story gets off to an interesting start but the meandering script fails to sustain interest. Brodie and Long do OK as the young couple. As he often did in his films of this period, Burr chews the scenery as the heavy.

Desperate (1947) *** (out of 4) Exciting noir has truck driver Steve (Steve Brodie) framed for a heist job that resulted in a cop being killed. Steve takes his pregnant wife (Audrey Long) and hits the road to try and get her to safety from the gangster (Raymond Burr) who wants them dead. This film starts off so light-hearted that it pretty much takes you by surprise when things start to heat up because it happens so quick that you barely have time to even get to know the characters. The film plays out a lot like a Hitchcock film would as we've got an innocent man set-up by the crooked one and then the innocent man goes on the run and just keeps finding himself in more and more trouble. The film has our hero going through so much that you can't help but feel sorry for him and at a point you have to wonder if in the real world anyone would have this much bad luck. Mann's direction is the real standout here as he does a terrific job at building up the suspense as Steve gets further and further in trouble. One of the best scenes in the film is when he buys a used car only to get ripped off and has to turn to stealing it. The car eventually breaks down but he gets a ride with a kind old man who just happens to be the sheriff. Not only does this sequence build up some nice suspense but it also has a bit of humor as even our characters start to wonder why all of this is happening. I was surprised to see how good Brodie was here as he has the perfect qualities to carry off the role. He was very believable as the caring husband and we also believed him when he had to play it tough. Brodie is probably best remembered for his various noir roles but horror fans will also remember him from the God-awful FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND. Burr also turns in a fine performance as that terrific voice just makes for the perfect bad guy. Douglas Fowley, William Challee and Freddie Steele add nice support as does Jason Robards as a detective. The only one I didn't care for was Long who was just too annoying for me. The terrific black and white cinematography perfectly builds up a nice atmosphere and Mann's style certainly carries things for the short 73-minute running time. One of the best moments happens early on with a trick shot of a punch being thrown towards the camera. This really kicks things off and the film never lets up.

...Anthony Mann made remarkable film noirs."Desperate" is not your average "gangsters movie" .It's valid drama,and Mann's heroes are the boy-next-door and his wife.The gangsters ,most of the time,work behind the stage,and Mann makes us feel all Steve's trials ,fleeing both the Police and a gangster out for revenge (the relationship between the two brothers is only sketched ,and it's the only flaw of an excellent screenplay).Steve is a good guy,a victim,not unlike William Irish's (aka Cornell Woolrich's) characters ,and the audience sides with him all along the way.Remakable scenes: -The arrival at the aunt's farm and the wedding.-Steve's last meal and the insistent ticking of a clock.Like this? try these...."You only live once" Fritz Lang ,1936 "They live by night" Nicholas Ray ,1948 "Tomorrow is another day" Felix Feist ,1952

This 40s noir B-movie has quite a solid reputation, but its plot is strictly second-rate. Steve Brodie plays an average joe, a truck driver not long out of the army and recently married to a lush wife who bakes cakes to celebrate the fact that she is pregnant. Sadly, hubby never gets to taste her culinary skills because he accepts a last minute lucrative driving job that turns out to be crooked. Raymond Burr's gang of crooks haven't got their own vehicle so, bizarrely, they decide to hire one to carry out a warehouse theft and, one dead cop later, Brodie finds himself on the run as a cop-killer.Mann's direction is better than the plot. He wasn't scared to try something different every now and then. At one point we're even given a blurry POV close-up of Burr's retreating fist after it has connected with Brodie's face. Burr plays the heavy here, as he usually did in his early career. He was a big man even before he put a few pounds on, but looks swarthy here as well, almost Mediterranean. He's certainly the most interesting character in the film, a gangster out to save his brother from the electric chair and endeavouring to have our relatively bland hero take his place.The main weakness in the storyline is the hero's poor decision-making. He practically panics each time danger is at hand, and yet delays contacting the police for an inordinate length of time so that the villains can more or less pursue him at their leisure.This is undoubtedly better than its modest production values would suggest, but it isn't a classic by any measure.