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The Worst Film Ever

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

RKO,1949, a peak year for noir, at least that's what I was expecting. But that turns out not to be the case. Instead, the production's more like TV's Father Knows Best, except this suburban dad (Lynn) has one foot in deep trouble. It's a clever, non-clichéd plot device. Dad's pulled into a suicide-to-look-like-murder insurance scheme because he needs money. In short, his job's not paying enough, plus he may be looking at unemployment. At his nice post-war home, there're two cute kids plus a loving Jane Wyatt type wife. In brief, he's living the life GI's fought for a few years earlier. And though he wavers, he can't let the American Dream slip away, even if it does involve a crime.At first, I missed what I thought was needed noirish atmospherics. But now I figure that would have been all wrong. Noir would have pulled in the metaphysics of fate, doom, et al. And that would have detracted from the middle-class morality tale that the film is really about. It's not fate that moves Sam; it's ordinary desires for a happy home, circa 1950. In short, it's the financial underside of 50's sit-coms, where family problems go beyond a late trash pick-up or a cranky neighbor. Plus, it's filmed in that same straightforward manner. Lynn's perfect as the low-key Dad; he's got "solid citizen" written all over him. Ditto Scott as wife and mom. And what a marvelously versatile actor Henry Morgan was. Here his limping detective commands respect despite the disability. Actually, I should have known something was up when Katherine Emery was cast as schemer Jarvis's (Gaines) wife. A favorite of horror-meister Val Lewton's, she was adept at the sinister.I could have done with a less pat ending, but them's the hazards of the Code enforced period. All in all, it's a smoothly done 70-minutes, perhaps too low-key for its own good. Still, the crime drama shrewdly humanizes a familiar 50's stereotype, and in an appealing way.

What's neat about 1949's Strange Bargain is that on an episode of Murder, She Wrote, some of the cast returned for a sequel, during which Jessica tries to get to the bottom of the case. The film solved the case, but for the Murder, She Wrote episode, "The Days Dwindle Down," they added another twist to what we saw.Anyway, it was a good idea because the film was used in flashbacks. The returning stars were Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn (who had long ago left show business and made a fortune in real estate) and Harry Morgan.In the film Strange Bargain, Jeffrey Lynn plays Sam Wilson, an assistant bookkeeper at a company that is going under. He and his wife, Georgia (Scott) are having trouble making ends meet. With the encouragement of his wife, Sam goes in to ask for a raise and learns then that he's fired. Later on, as he's leaving, his boss, Mr. Jarvis (Richard Gaines) asks him to have a drink.Jarvis admits that he's gone through the $500,000 his father left him (the equivalent of about 4 million today), and he is basically broke. He plans on killing himself and making it look like murder so his wife (Katherine Emery) can collect his $250,000 insurance policy; with double indemnity, that makes $500,000. He's going to set it up as a robbery. He will call Sam and give him a signal, and he wants Sam to come to his home then and remove the gun and dump it in the river. For that, he'll leave Sam $10,000 in the open safe.Sam refuses to help him and attempts to talk Jarvis out of it, but he won't be swayed. Sam still refuses to help.However, Jarvis calls him and gives the signal. Sam pleads with him to wait until he can get there and talk to him, but he's too late. He removes the gun and the money.The police (Harry Morgan and Walter Sande) start an investigation and hone in on Jarvis' partner, Timothy Hearne (Henry O'Neill). Sam insists that Hearne couldn't have done it, but he's afraid that the man will be arrested.This is a pretty good film. Lynn's career never recovered after World War II - he was a pleasant enough actor, and still made occasional TV appearances even after he left. Katherine Emery always reminds me of Mercedes McCambridge.Watch it with the Murder She Wrote episode which you can stream.

Because it's only 68 minutes and has no Big stars or director, it's a B film, but it's better than many an A film that it shared billing with. The story, though lacking suspense, is engrossing, and Lynn, Scott, and Morgan are superb. The best part of the movie for me was seeing suburban family life in 1949. Lynn and Scott are happily married and have 2 happy children. Scott volunteers at church and Lynn says grace before meals. But their happy home is threatened because Lynn's salary is insufficient to support a wife and 2 school-age children. Scott tells Lynn to ask for a raise, after all, he's been with the company for 12 years (he didn't serve 4 years in WW2?) The option of Scott getting a job occurs to neither of them, but then, this was years before the feminist revolution.The script is excellent. Dialogue supports characterization so that we 'know' all of these people. I liked Lynn. He's a decent man, one who on the spur of the moment makes the wrong choice. His mistake in judgment ensnares him in a tightening web of trouble. I liked Scott, who exemplifies the perfect mate. I liked Morgan, who always gets his man, but who makes sure that he gets the right one. The ending is a surprise, though once revealed, seems obvious. I liked the director's touch at the finish of having Morgan's cane disarm the murderer just in the nick of time. In fact, I liked everything about this little B film.

Don't mistake brevity and low budget for lack of quality. This movie is very well scripted and conceived. Harry Morgan gives a terrific performance as the policeman and Jeffrey Lynn is appropriately perplexed as the devoted husband who suddenly finds himself holding the bag when he is tricked by his boss into an ill-fated endeavor. Martha Scott is marvelous as his well-grounded wife. Strange Bargain is well-paced and well-acted throughout.Interestingly, this later served as a basis for a Murder She Wrote episode with Jeffrey Lynn, Martha Scott, and Harry Morgan recreating their roles. It actually makes for a fascinating "sequel."