TRAPPED is the latest release in an ongoing series from Flicker Alley, The Film Noir Foundation, and The UCLA Film & Television Archives. While this combination Blu-Ray/DVD is up to their usual impeccably high standards, the movie it contains is not. That’s not their fault of course, but I was looking forward to this release for a chance to see the young Lloyd Bridges in action. Bridges fits the part but he’s more interesting in hindsight for what he became not for what he does here. The exact same thing can be said for Barbara Payton. In fact the accompanying commentary spends more time on her sad, lurid later history than on her performance.
The movie was made in 1949 by Eagle-Lion Films the low budget successor to the legendary Poverty Row studio PRC Pictures. It was one of the earliest films to be directed by Richard Fleischer (son of animation pioneer Max Fleischer of BETTY BOOP & POPEYE fame) who specialized in B movie noirs until his big break came in 1954 with Walt Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA after which he never looked back. Some of his later movies include THE BOSTON STRANGLER, TORA! TORA! TORA!, and DOCTOR DOOLITTLE. Both discs include a short featurette on Fleischer, narrated by his son, which is a nice tribute to him.
TRAPPED was inspired by the success of the company’s earlier movie T-MEN (1947) about the Treasury Department and its agents. This movie opens with documentary footage of the Treasury Department at work – which proves to be more interesting than the actual film itself. Once again the T-Men are out to bust up a counterfeiting ring. They release the group’s leader (Bridges) who had been double crossed and sent to prison. Upon his release he immediately reunites with his girl (Payton) and they go searching for the betrayer who has the counterfeit plates. An agent posing as a buyer (John Hoyt) helps bring about their downfall.
It’s an interesting tight little film with an atypical good guy performance from Hoyt until we get to the last 30 minutes. At that point Lloyd Bridges just disappears from the movie and Barbara Payton quite suddenly comes to a bad end. It’s like they ran over budget and had to wrap it up quickly. The finale which takes place in the long gone LA trolley barn among the cars is exciting and well staged except for a moment where the action is unfortunately sped up making it resemble a Keystone Kops comedy. The demise of the double crossing partner (James Todd) manages to be both surprising and satisfying.
Kudos once again to Flicker Alley, The Film Noir Foundation, and the UCLA Film & Television Archives for their excellent work in bringing back this forgotten minor film. I do believe had it not been for the leads and the director who were on their way up the Hollywood ladder, this movie might have stayed forgotten. The source material for the restoration came from a 35mm print in the hands of a private collector who generously turned it over for preservation. The movie looks and sounds great. I just wish it had been a better movie.
The Capsule Critic 