I Walk Alone **** (1948, Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey) – Classic Movie Review 2158

Lizabeth Scott relishes another of her key roles as torch singer Kay Lawrence, sandwiched between two Hollywood greats – Burt Lancaster as tough guy Frankie Madison who returns to New York after 14 years in prison for a cop killing and Kirk Douglas as Noll ‘Dink’ Turner, Frankie’s former crime partner in bootlegging, now a reformed wealthy nightclub manager.

Booze smuggler Frankie is expecting Dink to honour their fifty-fifty agreement made as he was caught and Dink got away. But Frankie finds everything changed when he seeks his money from his Dink, who stalls him by offering him his ex-girlfriend, chantoose Kay, as a plaything. Soon Frankie is seeking not only his money but also vengeance on Dink.

Hal B Wallis’s production for Paramount’s glum 1948 film noir gangster movie enjoys cutting a swathe through its typically complicated storyline, and has the inestimable value of presenting this great star trio in their prime. In his third picture, Lancaster looks tough and dour as the hoodlum and Douglas is no happier as his now rich nightclub-owner buddy who soon decides it’s high time he was out of the way.

Wendell Corey as the accountant Dave and Mike Mazurki as the heavy Dan, plus Leo Tover’s cinematography and Hans Dreier’s set designs, conjure up the authentic noir atmosphere needed to complete the picture.

Byron Haskin directs Scott, like he does in another classic film noir, Too Late for Tears (1949). Charles Schnee’s screenplay is based on Theodore Reeves’s play Beggars Are Coming to Town.

Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in 1922. Her most recent film is Pulp in 1972. From then she was engaged in real estate development and volunteer work for various charities, such as Project HOPE and the Ancient Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Scott suffered heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and died on January 31 2015, aged 92.

© Derek Winnert 2015 – Classic Movie Review 2158