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Nobody Lives Forever
A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.
Release : | 1946 |
Rating : | 7 |
Studio : | Warner Bros. Pictures, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Art Direction, |
Cast : | John Garfield Geraldine Fitzgerald Walter Brennan Faye Emerson George Coulouris |
Genre : | Drama Crime Romance |
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Admirable film.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Ex-army John Garfield returns to his home town of New York to pick up with his girlfriend Faye Emerson (Toni) and the $50,000 he left with her to look after. Uh-oh, she's no longer his girlfriend and tells him that she's blown his money away in a poor nightclub business venture. She seems to be doing alright now, though, with her new partner nightclub owner Robert Shayne (Chet). Garfield wants his $50K back and negotiates this in his own way before heading to LA with buddy George Tobias (Al). It is here that he is persuaded by a gang headed by George Coulouris (Doc) to get involved in a scam to marry wealthy widower Geraldine Fitzgerald (Gladys) and fleece her of $2 million and share the spoils. He only goes and actually falls in love with her – scuppering all plans and putting himself in danger.The film starts well enough but tails off and becomes boring, especially towards the end. There is not really any suspense or anything particularly that stands out towards the end of the film and everything ends predictably. Far more should have been made of the Faye Emerson character and Garfield doesn't cut it as a tough guy. He's small in stature and would get a hammering in a fight between himself and any other cast member so it's quite an unconvincing portrayal due to a casting misfire. He is no hard man. He's more like a pipsqueak in the Elisha Cook Jr mold.The film is OK but what is of more interest is Faye Emerson's character of Toni Blackburn. Who would have thought that years later she would get a sex-change and actually change her name to Tony Blackburn and become a British DJ on Radio One.
Home from service in World War II, roughly handsome hotshot gambler John Garfield (as Nick Blake) tries to reconnect with sexy blonde Faye Emerson (as Toni Blackburn), but learns she's used up his dough, and hooked up with another stud. Discouraged, he moves to Los Angeles, with fawning companion George Tobias (as Al Doyle). There, con artists Walter Brennan (as Pop Gruber) and George Coulouris (as Doc Ganson) persuade Mr. Garfield to bilk $2,000,000 out of wealthy widow Geraldine Fitzgerald (as Gladys Halvorsen). "She's a dish," says Tobias, and Garfield proceeds predictably...Probably due to its release amid so many other great Garfield films, "Nobody Lives Forever" seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. It labors somewhat, during the last act, as the production seeks to take full advantage of a moody setting. Still, this is an excellent "film noir" from the forties. A perfect lead, Garfield is magnetically smooth. He receives great assist from Jean Negulesco's stylishly hiccuping direction, Adolph Deutsch's sweet musical score, Arthur Edeson's black-and-white camera, and the usual suspects at Warner Bros. And, the players breathe some nuance into W.R. Burnett's fine script.******* Nobody Lives Forever (11/1/46) Jean Negulesco ~ John Garfield, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan, Faye Emerson
A very usual plot covers this story. A manipulator wants to fleece a wealthy widow but falls for her instead. The problem is that he had made previous commitments with other hoods to take this woman for a ride.John Garfield is perfect as Nick. He falls for Mrs.Halverson, a wonderful Geraldine Fitzgerald.The gang is in top form with Walter Brennan as Pop, George Coulouris'Doc is excellent. By the way, for a hood Coulouris speaks very well and in fact sounds like a very educated person in some scenes. George Tobias really provides some comic relief, but in a straight role as Nick's sidekick.You wonder why the Fitzgerald character can't fall in love with her financial adviser, nicely played by Richard Gaines. The two seem to be a perfect match but I guess there would be no story if that occurred.Faye Emerson is the dame that Nick had previously hooked up with. She is a real hot number here. Few realize that in real life she had been married to Eliot Roosevelt, FDR's son.
Though John Garfield and the gorgeous Geraldine Fitzgerald turn in strong performances, this film can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a film noir/gangster flick or a love story. There's even a bit of war propaganda thrown in, as we're pointedly told a couple of times that Garfield's Nick has grown in character from his service overseas. Plot-wise, not much develops, and there are few surprises along the way. Nick's old girlfriend (Faye Emerson) shows up again late in the film, but plays no real part in the action of the final act. George Tobias as Nick's sidekick is annoyingly one-dimensional, and offers little in the way of the comic relief the director intended. This movie feels like it was written by committee. It's worth seeing only for real Garfield fans.