and Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) has taken just about that limit. Fiftyish failure Chris has just marked 25 years with the same employer. That's the good news. The bad news is he has exactly the same job that he had when he first got there - bank cashier. Plus it looks like there are no promotions in his future. His wife Adele was originally his landlady. In middle age he married out of loneliness and now is pretty much relegated to being her housekeeper and her verbal punching bag with her constantly comparing him to her dear departed husband, a police officer who was drowned in the line of duty. Living spouses are usually no competition for dead ones, who lose all of their faults as soon as they lose their pulse, and this situation is no exception.
Then one night meek Chris makes an uncharacteristically bold move and interrupts what he perceives as a mugging. He's instantly smitten with young pretty Kitty March (Joan Bennett), the mugging victim. Chris may completely misunderstand Kitty - he thinks she is a young innocent alone in the big city- but Kitty has totally misunderstood Chris - she thinks he's rich and an acclaimed artist because of his knowledge of art and the fact that he mentions that he is a painter - it's actually his Sunday hobby. Neither corrects the wrong impression the other has because each wants something. Kitty wants money from Chris so she always has a sob story as to why she is poor and seemingly alone in the world. Chris wants to feel young and alive again, which he does with Kitty, so he finds ways - illegal ones - to give her the money she wants by embezzling from his employer and by stealing from his wife's personal stash of cash.
However, Chris and Kitty are not as different as you would think. Kitty is a doormat in a way herself. That mugging that Chris saw was actually Kitty's boyfriend Johnny (Dan Duryea) hitting Kitty for not giving him any money. In spite of Johnny's worthless ways she can't live without him and does whatever he asks which usually involves ever more elaborate schemes to get money out of Chris. She doesn't seem to mind the rough treatment she receives from Johnny either. All of this deception gets even more deeply layered before the film is through and eventually leads to murder. I'll let you watch and find out who is the victim, who is the killer, and who is the accused.
The acting by all of the principals here is just perfect. Although it seems that Kitty is a prostitute, at the beginning of the film she has a roommate that explains Kitty is a failed model because she is too lazy to show up to work. This was probably done to satisfy the censors because minus that explanation you couldn't help but conclude that Kitty is a prostitute and Johnny is her pimp. They certainly both have the attitude. Highly recommended as one of the great film noirs.
Then one night meek Chris makes an uncharacteristically bold move and interrupts what he perceives as a mugging. He's instantly smitten with young pretty Kitty March (Joan Bennett), the mugging victim. Chris may completely misunderstand Kitty - he thinks she is a young innocent alone in the big city- but Kitty has totally misunderstood Chris - she thinks he's rich and an acclaimed artist because of his knowledge of art and the fact that he mentions that he is a painter - it's actually his Sunday hobby. Neither corrects the wrong impression the other has because each wants something. Kitty wants money from Chris so she always has a sob story as to why she is poor and seemingly alone in the world. Chris wants to feel young and alive again, which he does with Kitty, so he finds ways - illegal ones - to give her the money she wants by embezzling from his employer and by stealing from his wife's personal stash of cash.
However, Chris and Kitty are not as different as you would think. Kitty is a doormat in a way herself. That mugging that Chris saw was actually Kitty's boyfriend Johnny (Dan Duryea) hitting Kitty for not giving him any money. In spite of Johnny's worthless ways she can't live without him and does whatever he asks which usually involves ever more elaborate schemes to get money out of Chris. She doesn't seem to mind the rough treatment she receives from Johnny either. All of this deception gets even more deeply layered before the film is through and eventually leads to murder. I'll let you watch and find out who is the victim, who is the killer, and who is the accused.
The acting by all of the principals here is just perfect. Although it seems that Kitty is a prostitute, at the beginning of the film she has a roommate that explains Kitty is a failed model because she is too lazy to show up to work. This was probably done to satisfy the censors because minus that explanation you couldn't help but conclude that Kitty is a prostitute and Johnny is her pimp. They certainly both have the attitude. Highly recommended as one of the great film noirs.