Cornered

Cornered is a solidly-made albeit unremarkable RKO anti-Fascist thriller that is evidently influenced by film noir less in appearance than in John Paxton's screenplay with Dick Powell spitting out the kind of tough guy lines he uttered the previous year in Murder, My Sweet, also directed by Dmytryk. Powell is no Bogart however and his relentlessly impassive performance as he plays a WWII fighter pilot just released from a PoW camp in pursuit of a Vichy collaborator who killed his 20-year-old war bride is less suited to his manner than his usual métier, the musical comedy. The story moves along efficiently with a typical array of shady characters including Walter Slezak as the unctuous and sweaty go-between.

 

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