Beautiful, moving film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Great noir crime thriller with supernatural (?) sci-fi elements. A femme fatale who cannot wait for her man to come out of jail and retrieve the $0.4 million that he has stashed somewhere, gets to know about an antidote that could bring him back from the dead, if he was put to death in the gas chamber.The tall Jean Gillie was very beautiful and acted reasonably well. She tears through one man after the other without even delivering a kiss. Majorie Woodworth who played the doctor's nurse was also easy on the eyes. Jim Vincent plays the street smart detective with ease. Except for a few instances, the film is not that big on noir cinematography. Some of the scenes have a play like quality about them like when Jean Gillie's explains the motivations for her actions to the idealistic doctor. The ending was superb - the note left by the person who buries the money is very cynical - "to you who double crossed me, I leave this dollar for your troubles. the rest of the dough, I leave to the worms."Some of these low budget noir flicks like DECOY and DETOUR would put a lot of so called classics to shame. The film deserves a remake for sure.(8/10)

Being in the mood for a short burst of Film Noir a month ago,I decided to take a look at a title that a very kind IMDber had sent me.Finding myself really enjoying the movie,I got a disappointing surprise,when my DVD player stopped playing the film 45 minutes in.Trying on 3 other DVD players,I as shocked to find that none of them were able to play the full feature.Desperate to see the full film,I started to search everywhere online for the title,and was delighted to recently stumble on the title,which led to me getting ready to see the full decoy finally take place.The plot:Rushing into the flat as Dr. Lloyd Craig drops to the ground from a gunshot,police officer Joe Portugal finds Margot Shelby taking her final breaths,as Shelby attempts to get hold of a sealed box laying on the side.Picking up the box,Portugal asks Shelby to tell him how she got hold of the box.The past:Successfully robbing $400,000,gangster Frank Olins soon finds the law catching up with him,and showing their appreciation over Olins refusal to reveal where the cash is hidden,by sending him to death row.With her boyfriend only having a few days to go before he's sent to the gas chamber, Margot Shelby begins making plans on how to get Olins out of jail,and also get him to reveal where the cash is hidden.Catching the attention of small time gangster Jim Vincent,Shelby using all of her cunning skills to make Vincent believe that if he helps her to find the location of Olins cash,then he will get half the amount.As Olins takes his finally steps to the gas chamber,Shelby begins to talk to a Dr working at the morgue called Lloyd Craig,who tells Shelby about a drug that can bring the dead back to life.View on the film:Burning down the good ol' country gal image she had shown in the British Comedy Tawny Pipit,the graceful Jean Gillie (who tragically died of pneumonia 3 years later,age 33) gives a tremendous performance as Margot Shelby,with Gillie showing a red mist to cover Shelby's eyes,as she gets closer to tracking down the money.Along with the red mist,Gillie also shows a real skill in keeping Shelby's cards close to her chest,as she begins to put her plan in to action.Wrapped around Shelby's fingers, Edward Norris gives a masterful performance as Jim Vincent,with Norris showing Vincent's low-life roots to become brittle,as he is taken in by Shelby's charms,whilst Herbert Rudley gives an excellent,twitchy performance as Lloyd Craig,who Rudley shows is desperate to get back to his comfort zone.For the superb screenplay by Stanley Rubin and Nedrick Young give the title a distinctive Gothic Horror edge,which allows for the writer's to create a deep feeling of the characters entering a sinister world.Strongly linked to the Gothic Horror edges,the writer's inject a deep decaying root into their Film Noir world,by showing the relationship between Shelby,Vincent and Craig to be one that is built on a pack of lies,which lead to an extremely cynical final note.Returning to the US with his then-wife Jean Gillie,director Jack Bernhard gives the title a real sense of elegance,thanks to Bernhard closely working with cinematographer L. William O'Connell to cover the movie in shimmering low-light,which along with showing the characters attempting to hide their true motives,also allows Gillie to look like a ravishing Femme Fatale.Digging into the titles Gothic Horror streak,Bernhard gives the film a harsh,cold atmosphere,by allowing the 'red mist' from Shelby's eyes to be cast across the screen,as Decoy shows itself to be a marvelous Film Noir,that the viewer won't want to recoil from.

Originally produced by Pathe/Monogram, Decoy is currently being issued on a disc with Crime Wave from Warners. The print has been beautifully restored, and while it was definitely shot on a limited budget, it does not look any cheaper than most film noir from that period. Jean Gillie, the British actress who makes her American film debut in this picture, is the ultimate femme fatale. Sheldon Leonard is one of the good guys this time, and as she spills her story to him, we are drawn into the action. There are so many memorable scenes and images in this film. Particularly, there is a point in the narrative where Miss Gillie runs a guy over with a car—and another one where she shoots a man out in the forest and just laughs about it. But she makes up for (some of) this when she helps save a friend from the gas chamber, but unfortunately he has a short future. Jean Gillie had a short future, too. She died three years after she made this film of pneumonia.

Decoy - it's directed by someone you haven't heard of, and stars people you've also likely never heard of, unless you're super well-versed in obscure film-noir produced by poverty-row film studios. The only thing about it that might ring a bell is that it was produced by Monogram Pictures, the company to which Godard dedicated Breathless. Thankfully it got included not in some other obscure DVD collection, but as part of a recent Film-Noir box-set released by Warner Brothers (it's on a double-bill with another nifty little flick, Crime Wave). It may not be a really great film, but as a B-movie it does the trick in terms of giving us a sordid tale of greed, life after death, and the lack of morality in human beings, either always there or growing piece by piece.In Decoy it's a femme fatale whose heart is as black as a midnight abyss; Margot Shelby (interesting lead female Jean Gillie) is after money, lots of money, from her man who is waiting on death row, who pulled off a heist but kept the secret of where the money was under total wraps. She wants him freed, but only for the sake of that 400 grand. Enter in a doctor (very good Herbert Rudley as Dr. Craig) who sets off our story in atypical but absorbing reverse: he appears at the start of the movie walking like a zombie, hitches a ride to San Francisco, and shoots a woman in a room - the details of everything that has happened is told by this woman, Margot, with total clarity.Again it's not the most sensible plot to start, but it grabs a hold of attention and keeps things juicy all the way through the most startling thing of all: the resurrection of Frank Olins by a mysterious serum that Dr. Craig possesses that somehow brings back a man from the gas chamber! The characters and detail make up for a couple of scenes in the middle that are stiffly directed by first-time helmer Jack Bernhard; he does have a few memorable scenes, such as the unearthing of the money in the woods, or that scene where Olins "rises" from the dead. And the two significant actors, Gillie and Rudley, make up a lot of excellent time on screen watching what they might do next.Decoy is a fun little "what-happened" pulp delight that has just enough turns of the dark and savage - it's violent (at least in its time), and it's even sexy to a degree.