Quicksand: Irving Pichel

Irving Pichel's Quicksand should be taught in every Screenwriting 101 class. It boasts a simple premise that seems like it was ripped right out of the film noir bible: good-natured auto mechanic Dan Brady (Andy Rooney in a fantastic performance against his usual character type) wants to take a beautiful young woman named Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney) on a date. However, she is one of those high-class dames, so Dan wants to take her somewhere special. However, he is short on dough. So he takes $20 from the cash register at work with the intention of paying it back the next day he gets paid. However, things get complicated when the bookkeeper shows up early the next day and notices the imbalance. This flings Dan into a whirlwind of crime, blackmail, and eventually murder as he tries to escape a fate he clearly doesn't deserve. The screenplay by Robert Smith does wonders in how it sets up seemingly insignificant details which later come back to bite poor Dan. There is hardly a line, character, or prop that doesn't serve some kind of purpose to the story. The story is so tightly-executed that at times Quicksand almost becomes a dark comedy. My one big problem with the film is the ending: running from a supposed murder charge (of which he is unknowingly innocent), he stumbles upon a good Samaritan lawyer who is more than willing to help Dan prove his innocence. Combine this with an innocent woman who desperately loves him (for no real apparent reason) and is more than willing to wait for him while he is in prison and you have a needlessly out-of-place and upbeat ending. I almost wish that the film had ending like Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985). Or here's a better idea: due to the same kind of random circumstances which propelled the film to begin with, Dan is cleared of all of his crimes...but is nailed in the end for the robbery of $20. But I suppose if Quicksand had had that ending, the film would not be languishing in obscurity.

8/10