ada the leading man is my tpye

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ravenloftrealm Robert Taylor is his usually surly self in this sluggish crime drama. Playing a federal agent, Taylor tediously supplies voice over on how he is assigned to catch smugglers stealing plane engines in South America. Part of the gang is Ava Gardner. She is legendary as a Hollywood sex goddess and I'm still waiting to see her in just one effective role as a femme fatale. She's pretty much a goody two shoes here and does little to show off her sultry assets. The pace is brutal as the film plods ahead with little or no suspense. This film is a complete waste of time despite what seems on the surface to be a decent cast. This is the bottom of the barrel where crime dramas of the 40's are concerned. Try, 'Out of The Past' with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer instead.

LeonLouisRicci The sultry, steamy tropics rather than the rain soaked American city streets are interestingly substituted here as MGM decides to oneupmanship RKO at their own game of Film-Noir.It works, sort of, as the layers of a horizontal Hell are draped across most of the scenes and give it that eerie, sticky, web of entrapment expression. It is quite impressive high-contrast work that has a veneer of a fatalistic frame of impending encroachment. The second person narration is used, although first person would have worked better, because this has an awkward feel and distracts from the proceedings. The actors are all in top form and the ending is one of the most unusual displays of how to use black and white photography to aggrandize the presentation of brightly lit darkness.

mamalv "The Bribe" is one of the forties film noir entries, and I love it! Top stars of the era include Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, and Vincent Price. It is a story of an honest cop, Rigby played with remarkable insight, by Robert Taylor, who falls in love with a suspect (Ava Gardner), and can't make up his mind on if she is guilty or innocent. John Hodiak is the husband, who is a former fly boy turned crook. Charles Laughton is at his sinister best as the "pie shaped man" who is hired by Vincent Price to pay off Rigby. Laughton dogs Rigby, knowing that he is in love with Gardner, till he caves in and decides to take a bribe to save his love. As in many film noir, only Taylor's last name is used, we never know Rigby's first name, interesting. Taylor is very convincing as a man torn between love and honor. He is so conflicted, that you feel sorry for him, wishing that Ava would just run away with him before he turns crook himself. She drugs him and makes sure he can't stop the crooks, but he recovers, and confronts her, not realizing the trouble she is in herself. In the end, love and honor conquer all. There is a spectacular fireworks ending, that is reminiscent of "Ride the Pink Horse." All in all the love scenes are sincere, probably because Taylor and Gardner were having an affair at the time of filming, despite the fact that Taylor was very married to Barbara Stanwyck. Quintessential film noir.

papajim1 Film Noir? (kinda).. Slow paced. Plot a bit unbelievable, but lots of plots are. Taylor talks too much. I really liked Charles Laughton's portrayal, felt disgust and sympathy for his character at the same time, I think it was a gem of a performance. Ava is beautiful, as usual. Price is sinister, as usual. Hodiak is competent, as usual. Final fireworks are very impressive. If you have and hour and a half to spare, watch it and you'll only be wasting about 30 minutes.