Main Cast: Bill Williams, Barbara Hale, Richard Quine, Richard Loo
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 63 minutes
Plot
Richard O. Fleischer made his feature-film directorial debut with the well-crafted melodrama Clay Pigeon. Inspired by a true story, the film stars Bill Williams as Jim Fletcher, whose wartime experiences in a Japanese POW camp have left him with profound emotional problems. Awakening from a coma in a naval hospital, Jim is astonished to learn that he's been accused of murder. Not quite certain of his own guilt or innocence, he escapes from the hospital in search of his best friend, another ex-POW named Ted Niles (Richard Quine). En route, he is forced to kidnap Martha Gregory (Barbara Hale, Williams' real-life wife), the widow of the murdered man. Martha despises Jim at first, but is won over to his side when it becomes obvious that someone has set Jim up as a fall guy. Clay Pigeon was the first RKO film produced under the new Howard Hughes regime. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Bray - Blake; James Craven - John Wheeler; Martha Hyer - Miss Harwick; Harold Landon - Blind Veteran; Grandon Rhodes - Naval Intelligence Agent; Frank Wilcox - Hospital Doctor; Frank Fenton - Lt. Cmdr. Prentice; Marya Marco - Helen Minoto
Credit
Albert S. D'Agostino - Art Director, Walter E. Keller - Art Director, Richard Fleischer - Director, Samuel E. Beetley - Editor, Paul Sawtell - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Robert de Grasse - Cinematographer, Herman Schlom - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, Harley Miller - Set Designer, Clifford Stine - Special Effects, Phil Brigandi - Sound/Sound Designer, Clem Portman - Sound/Sound Designer, Carl Foreman - Screenwriter
The film tells the story of Jim Fletcher (Williams), a former inmate in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, who awakes from a coma at a naval hospital, only to be told he's been accused of murder. Fletcher is not quite certain of his guilt so he escapes from the hospital in search of his best friend, another ex-POW.
Martha Hyer as Miss Harwick, Wheeler's Receptionist
Harold Landon as Blind Veteran
James Craven as John Wheeler
Grandon Rhodes as Naval Intelligence Agent Clark
Critical reception
Time Out film reviews wrote of the film, "Directed by Fleischer with tight, spare energy, although the implausible script and bland leading performances (with Hale as the dead friend's wife, initially hostile but soon losing her heart) make it much inferior to The Narrow Margin.[2]
