Pitfall

Chilling movie, lousy transfer
"Pitfall" is the bleak, beautiful tragedy of a man who makes one mistake, and watches his life spiral out of control as a consequence. I'll forgo a plot synopsis (earlier reviewers have that covered) and merely note that the print-on-demand Synergy Entertainment DVD is a lousy transfer of a terrific movie. The image on this disc is faded and slightly blurred from beginning to end -- for viewers of a certain age, it's like catching this picture, with uncertain reception, on a local TV station's late, late show (back when there were things on late night TV besides infomercials). The sound, though, seems fine.

In the absence of any other available DVD transfers of this movie, this disc will do. It'll have to.

Excellent Title For A Fine Film
Although she appeared in over twenty films before her career was abruptly halted because of rumors surrounding her lesbian private life, Lizabeth Scott is best remembered for her steamy roles in noir films. Scott hits the mark in the 1948 picture Pitfall as Mona Stevens, a seductive siren who charms a conservative insurance investigator ( Dick Powell) into an affair. Powell as John Forbes, the married suburbanite bored with the restricting bonds of middle class conformity, is drawn into a web of deception that begins when he alters an insurance report benefitting Mona. Forbes then begins an affair with Mona. The affair for Forbes serves as a sexual escape from his regimented life as husband, father, and loyal employee. For Mona, the affair might bring her happiness as a future wife and mother. Mona only has convict Bill Smiley ( Byron Barr) to wait for as his parole date draws near. To compound her problems, a psychotic, overweight, private investigator ( Raymond Burr)...

Father didn't know best in this ironic noir
Before he became TV's teddy-bear Perry Mason, Raymond Burr played the heaviest of heavies (and, as was the case with Laird Cregar, his heft led him to be cast in swinish parts in bitter films; The Blue Gardenia and Rear Window are examples). He becomes the nemesis of Dick Powell, a happily married insurance functionary who falls hard for Lizabeth Scott when he repossesses goodies her jailbird boyfriend wooed her with. Unfortunately, Burr, as an investigator retained by Powell's firm, falls for Scott even harder -- he's what we now call a stalker -- and finds out about the illicit dalliance. Great nastiness ensues. By no stretch of the imagination is this film a ringing defense of the institution of marriage; its supposedly "happy" ending is congealed in irony. Director Andre DeToth (who did only one other film noir, Crime Wave in 1954) shows a real flair for the style and narrative of the cycle. The Pitfall is an overlooked and underrated film.

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