Other Titles • D.O.A. • Opfer der Unterwelt (1952)
Synopses for D.O.A. (1950)
1.
A faceless figure marches down an endless hallway as dark, driving music underscores his doom. It's stocky, stalwart Edmond O'Brien, who plows through the police detective's office like he's got nothing to lose. "I want to report a murder," he demands, grim and sleepy-eyed. Who was killed? "I was." It's a brilliant opening to a memorable film noir classic. O'Brien is a CPA who flees his dull job and small California town for a wild weekend in San Francisco, only to be poisoned and doomed to certain death. With only days to live, his incredulity morphs into a searing drive to find his killers and stinging regrets for what might have been. O'Brien is a familiar noir face, but he usually plays figures of authority: a cop in White Heat; an investigator in The Killers. He's a little stiff here, but his blunt, unglamorous persona is perfect for the Everyman who is randomly visited by death. Rudolph Maté, a cinematographer turned director, moves from sun-bright day scenes to busy nighttime locations with few visual flourishes, but when he takes the camera into the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco the film is energized with a gritty, restless vigor. It's one of the most relentlessly dark films noir ever made--taut, edgy, and low budget. Watch for the Bradbury building in the film's climax, made famous by its memorable use decades later in the sci-fi noir classic Blade Runner. --Sean Axmaker
2.
This famous film-noir murder mystery features an inventive twist: the victim as "detective," desperately trying to solve his own murder. An accountant on vacation in San Francisco gets a dose of lethal, slow-acting poison. He then begins a desperate search for the individual responsible for his impending demise. Irresistible plot given remakes in 1969 as COLOR ME DEAD, and in 1988 starring Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid.
3.
A Thriller As Excitingly Different As Its Title!
Frank Bigelow, an L.A. accountant, takes a vacation to San Francisco to relax and womanize for a few days when he is slipped a slow-acting poison for which there is no antidote. The doctor's prognosis: he has forty-eight hours to live. Forty-eight hours to find his murderer!
This terrifically taut landmark film never lets up for a minute. A great script and beautiful score by legendary composer Dimitri Tiompkin makes this one of the finest noir films ever made. Beautifully restored from the producer's negative. -Wade Williams
4.
The original film noir classic
A doomed man races against time...to find out who poisoned him in this classic film noir. Accountant Frank Bigelow (Edmund O'Brien) arrives in San Francisco for a brief vacation and visits a local dive, the Fisherman's Club, where a mysterious stranger slips him a mickey of "luminous toxin" that leaves Bigelow with less than a week to live! In a desperate attempt to locate his murderer, Bigelow embarks on a lurid odyssey of double-dealing, betrayal and murder that leads to a nightmarish climax.
5.
A Picture as Excitingly Different as its Title!
"A picture as excitingly different as its title!" posters for D.O.A. (1950) claimed. For once, the picture actually lived up to its advertising.
Edmond O'Brien discovers he's been slipped a slow-acting poison, then spends his final hours trying to find out who killed him. And, maybe more important, why. O'Brien is excellent as the corpse-to-be. So are Beverly Garland (billed here as Beverly Campbell) and Neville Brand. Dmitri Tiomkin's great score and Ernst Laszlo's moody camerawork help set the picture's cynical, sinister tone. Location shooting on the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco add immeasurably to the overall effect.
Director Rudolph Mate was known as a top cinematographer (The Pride of the Yankees and Foreign Correspondent, among others) before turning to directing. And it certainly shows in D.O.A. 's striking visuals.
In lesser hands, D.O.A.'s plot could have made for a gimmicky, ridiculous film. This point was proven by the picture's two remakes, 1968's Color Me Dead (great title, though) and D.O.A. (1988). But the original, restored here from 35mm, still stands as quintessential film noir.
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