CinemaSerf

The claustrophobic setting and the photography here really do promise much, but as the story unravels it becomes all a bit disappointing. Henry Fonda is beleaguered war veteran “Joe” who has returned to discover that a lot has changed since his departure. For a start, his beloved “Jo Ann” (Barbara Bel Geddes) turns out to have been slightly economical with the truth about her relationship with the odious magician “Max” (Vincent Price). On that front, his former assistant “Charlene” (Ann Dvorak) is not entirely unknown to “Joe” either. Now this is told via flashback, and so we know that “Joe” is holed up in an apartment that’s been riddled by official bullets and that someone is dead at his hands. What we don’t yet know is who and why. That explanation doesn’t work so well here, despite a strong effort from Fonda and a gently engaging one from the ladies. Price has the best role in the story, I think, but he just over-eggs his character and what little sense of jeopardy the flashbacks allow is replaced by more than an hint of rather stolidly played out love-quadrangle melodrama. It’s based on a much grittier story by Jacques Viot - that has nothing to do with war, veterans nor psychological exhaustion, and that imbues the characters with much more nuance and passion than we see here as “Joe” is almost given excuses for his behaviour by his traumatic experiences in France. Sadly, after a really compelling and dark start it heads to a conclusion that just leaves very little to the imagination.