D.O.A. (1950), a film noir drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, is considered a classic of the genre. The frantically-paced plot revolves around a doomed man's quest to find out who has poisoned him – and why – before he dies.[1]
Leo C. Popkin produced the film for his short-lived Cardinal Pictures, but failed to renew the copyright in 1977, so that it has fallen into the public domain. The Internet Movie Database shows that 22 companies offer the VHS or DVD versions, and the Internet Archive (see below) offers an online version.
Plot
The film begins with what a BBC reviewer called "perhaps one of cinema's most innovative opening sequences."[2] The scene is a long, behind-the-back tracking sequence featuring Frank Bigelow (O'Brien) walking through the hallway of a police station to report his own murder. Oddly, the police almost seem to have been expecting him and already know who he is.
A flashback begins with Bigelow in his hometown of Banning, California where he is an accountant and notary public. He decides to take a one-week vacation in San Francisco, but this does not sit well with Paula (Britton), his confidential secretary and girlfriend, since he is not taking her along.
Marla Rakubian threatens Bigelow when he comes to her for information.
Bigelow accompanies a group from a sales convention on a night on the town. He ends up at a jazz club where, unnoticed by him, a stranger swaps his drink for another. (The nightclub scene includes one of the earliest depictions of the Beat subculture). The next morning, Bigelow feels ill. He visits a doctor, where tests reveal he has swallowed a "luminous toxin" for which there is no antidote. A second opinion confirms the grim diagnosis, and the other doctor implies that the poisoning must have been deliberate.
With at most a few days to live, Bigelow sets out to untangle the events behind his impending death, interrupted occasionally by phone calls from Paula. She provides the first clue: a Eugene Philips had tried to contact him, but died the previous day. Bigelow travels to Philips' import-export company in Los Angeles, first meeting Miss Foster (Beverly Garland), the secretary, then Mr Halliday (William Ching), the comptroller, who tells him Eugene committed suicide. From there the trail leads to the widow, Mrs Philips (Lynn Baggett) and Eugene's brother Stanley (Henry Hart).
The key to the mystery is a bill of sale for what turns out to be stolen iridium. Bigelow had notarized the document for Eugene Philips six months earlier. He connects Eugene's mistress Marla Rakubian (Laurette Luez) to gangsters led by Majak (Luther Adler). They capture Bigelow and since he has learned too much about the theft, Majak orders his psychotic henchman Chester (Neville Brand) to kill him. However, Bigelow manages to escape.
Bigelow thinks Stanley and Miss Foster are his killers but when he confronts them, he finds Stanley has been poisoned too. In Stanley's case, prompt treatment may save his life. Bigelow then realizes that Halliday engineered the theft and had also been carrying on an affair with Mrs Philips. When Eugene found out, he struggled with Halliday and was pushed over a balcony to his death. Halliday murdered Bigelow to tie up the loose ends. Bigelow tracks Halliday down and shoots him to death in an exchange of gunfire.
The flashback comes to an end, Bigelow finishes telling his story at the police station and dies, his last word being "Paula." The police detective taking down the report instructs that his file be marked "D.O.A." (dead on arrival).
Cast
Critical response
The New York Times, in its May 1950 review, described it as a "fairly obvious and plodding recital, involving crime, passion, stolen iridium, gangland beatings and one man's innocent bewilderment upon being caught up in a web of circumstance that marks him for death"; O'Brien's performance was said to have had a "good deal of drive", while Britton added a "pleasant touch of blonde attractiveness."[3] In 1981 Foster Hirsch carried on a trend of more positive reviews, calling Bigelow's search for his own killer noir irony at its blackest. He wrote, "One of the film's many ironies is that his last desperate search involves him in his life more forcefully than he has ever been before... Tracking down his killer just before he dies — discovering the reason for his death — turns out to be the triumph of his life."[4] Critic A. K. Rode notes Rudolph Maté's technical background, writing, "D.O.A. reflects the photographic roots of director Rudolph Maté. He compiled an impressive resume as a cinematographer in Hollywood from 1935 (Dantes Inferno, Stella Dallas, The Adventures of Marco Polo, Foreign Correspondent, Pride of the Yankees, Gilda among others) until turning to directing in 1947. The lighting, locations, and atmosphere of brooding darkness were captured expertly by Mate and director of photography Ernest Lazlo."[5] Michael Sragow, in a review of a DVD release of the film, characterized it as a "high-concept movie before its time."[6] The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 18 reviews.[7]
In 2004, D.O.A. was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Production
The shot of Edmond O'Brien running down Market Street (between 4th and 6th Streets) in San Francisco was a "stolen shot," taken without city permits, with some pedestrians visibly confused as O'Brien bumps into them. The Bradbury Building featured in the film still exists at 304 South Broadway in Los Angeles.
After "The End" and before the listing of the cast, a credit states the medical aspects of this film are based on scientific fact, and that "luminous toxin is a descriptive term for an actual poison."
Remakes
D.O.A. was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on the June 21, 1951 broadcast of Screen Director's Playhouse, starring Edmond O'Brien in his original role.
The film was remade in 1969 as the Australian Color Me Dead directed by Eddie Davis.[8] In 1988 it was filmed again as D.O.A. directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, with Dennis Quaid as the protagonist.[1]
Soundtrack
All compositions by Dimitri Tiomkin.[9]
- Main Title 2:40
- Reporting a Murder 1:06
- Lover’s Quarrel 1:12
- Eddie’s Bar 0:46
- Juke Box Theme 1:39
- Hotel Rhumba 4:22
- Phone Call 1:13
- Another Rhumba 1:27
- Fisherman’s Jive 3:34
- Fisherman’s Blues 2:54
- Paula’s Love Note 0:29
- Strange Sickness 1:48
- Luminous Poison 1:24
- Escape to Nowhere 3:25
- Don’t Come Paula 2:43
- It Was Suicide 0:44
- Allison Hotel 2:13
- Bill of Sale 0:50
- Tracking Reynolds 0:25
- Unknown Assailant 0:55
- Assassin Escapes 0:30
- Hotel Hoods 0:36
- Soft in the Belly 2:24
- The Gold Urn 0:48
- Taken for a Ride 3:48
- Last Farewell 4:08
- Stanley’s Confession 1:22
- On the Trail 3:21
- Retribution 2:13
- D.O.A. 1:31
- Wolf Calls 0:410
See also
References
External links
