TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. et is Robert Florey’s The Crooked Way (1949), with John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Rhys Williams, Percy Helton and John Doucette

By David in TN
saturday, october 12, 2024 at 1:00:00 a.m. edt

TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. et is Robert Florey’s The Crooked Way (1949), with John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Rhys Williams, Percy Helton and John Doucette.

Film Noir Guide: “Silver Star winner Payne, with a piece of shrapnel still embedded in his head, is released from a military hospital after doctors have told him he has ‘organic amnesia,’ for which there is no cure. Military paperwork shows only his name and his hometown, so Payne decides to return to Los Angeles in the hope that someone will recognize him.

“He gets his wish at the airport when he runs into a couple of cops (Williams and Doucette), who call him by a different name and take him to the police station for questioning. (As it turns out, the war hero was a racketeer who turned state’s evidence against his partner, Tufts, who ended up serving time.)

“After being released by the no-nonsense cops and advised he’s no longer welcome in L.A., Payne runs into his ex-wife (Drew), who immediately informs the vengeance-minded Tufts that Payne is back in town.

“Payne gives a solid performance as the amnesiac war hero, and Drew is good as his ex-wife, who has started noticing some pleasant changes in him since his return. Tufts hams it up as Payne’s sinister ex-partner, and girly-voiced Helton is wonderfully typecast as a wretched flunky.”

David in TN: Eddie Muller finally shows a good one that hasn’t been on Noir Alley. In late 40s’ movies, Los Angeles was full of war veterans with amnesia.