One Good Film: Mystery Trip Edition
Trust me: Set aside 82 minutes and click the link for a classic noir.
Back when my kids were little, my wife and I used to pack them into the car on weekend mornings for what we called a “mystery trip” — destination unknown but guaranteed to be fun. Sometimes ice cream, sometimes apple picking, sometimes a movie. Today I discovered one of my favorite classic films, a lesser-known MGM noir that to my knowledge has never been on VOD, hanging out in a fine print on the French video-sharing service Dailymotion. Is it legit? Beats me; the streaming search-engine site JustWatch lists the film as unavailable, but here it is playing in all its glory along with ad breaks.
All I’ll say is that the movie stars one of the great post-WWII tough guys in one of his most unnerving roles, a legendary screen scream queen at the start of her career, a respected director early on in his, and a strikingly traumatized view of homecoming heroes and the secrets they carry. If the post-war era tried to shine sunlight everywhere in America, film noir is where the shadows went, and the shadows in this 1949 film are sharp enough to draw black-and-white blood.
What’s it called? I’ll never tell. That’s why it’s a mystery trip! Just take a break for an hour and a half, click this link, and enjoy. You didn’t hear it from me.
What did you think? Please don’t hesitate to weigh in. We love to hear your thoughts here at the Watch List.
If you enjoyed this edition of Ty Burr’s Watch List, feel free to pass it along to others.
If you’re not a paying subscriber and would like to sign up for additional postings and to join the discussions — or just help underwrite this enterprise, for which the author would be eternally grateful — here’s how.
You can give a paid Watch List gift subscription to your movie-mad friends —
Or refer friends to the Watch List and get credit for new subscribers. When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you'll:
Get a 1 month comp for 3 referrals
Get a 3 month comp for 5 referrals
Get a 6 month comp for 25 referrals. Simply send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media with friends.
There’s a leaderboard where you can track your shares. To learn more, check out Substack’s FAQ.