Have You Seen It?

Country of Origin: The United States of America. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Production. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Produced by William H. Wright. Screenplay by Robert L. Richards; story by Collier Young. Starring Van Heflin (Frank Enley), Robert Ryan (Joe Parkson), Janet Leigh (Edith Enley), Phyllis Thaxter (Ann), and Mary Astor (Pat). Released 1948. Running time: 82 minutes.

Fred Zinnemann’s Act of Violence is a surprise: it is a true film noir with a genuine heart. This isn’t to say that it is sentimental, optimistic, or sappy. It has many of the elements one would expect from a good film noir: the narrative themes and the visuals are dark, the overall world outlook is appropriately cynical, and there are times when the film crosses over from being simply dark to truly nightmarish. But there is more going on in this film.

At the outset of the film, a tall man with a limp, wearing a suit, trench coat, and fedora, climbs a flight of stairs to his apartment and once there, takes a gun out of his dresser drawer, inserts the bullet clip into the gun with obvious intent, and the title appears on screen: Act of Violence. There are no opening credits, and the movie is on its way.

At its center are two men with shadowy pasts. One is Frank Enley (Van Heflin), who owns a construction business and seems to have it all: a sweet, loving wife, a baby, a house in the suburbs, and a successful business. The other, the man with the limp, is Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan), a clearly troubled man who seems to have nothing left to lose and believes that killing Enley will remedy his problems.

There are many good elements in the film and among them is the use of sound. Here, everyday sounds are used to tap into emotions and psychological states (the persistent running of a water faucet like a conscience that won’t relent; the steady ticking of a clock taps into Enley’s impatience and anxiety; the cry of a baby, under these abnormal circumstances, creates a startling emotional response). Another well-used use of sound is the film’s score by Bronislau Kaper. It is an effectively atmospheric one that completes the mood of darkness and unease already present in the narrative and the cinematography.

Robert Surtees’s cinematography is also a star here. It can transform a safe suburban house into walls of anxiety and discord and the Los Angeles streets and tunnels into a nightmarish terrain of loneliness and a conscience that one cannot escape.

The five major roles are all strong ones, but it is in the roles of Edith Enley (Janet Leigh), Frank’s wife, and especially Ann (Phyllis Thaxter), who loves Joe Parkson, that help create the film’s heart that sets it apart from most other film noir. Edith and Ann are two women who sincerely love their man even when they become aware of the disillusioning consequences of what their man has done or is determined to do. And then there is Mary Astor as Pat, a hooker/barfly who watches over Van Heflin one eventful night and is involved in her own world of darkness.

Act of Violence has the satisfaction one hopes for in a film noir: the nocturnal landscape of shadows that transports the viewer from one’s own world to the dark world on the screen and a story about the psychological anguish of a conscience in crisis. It then collides those elements with the most moving sincerity of heart of any film I’ve seen in a long time. Act of Violence is a killer film noir with a heart.