'Inside Job' is a semi-noir drama, notably for one reason only: this film is the very last credit on the CV of cult-film figure Tod Browning. Although he had a serious drinking problem (partly because he took advantage of free beer shipments for life, a gift from the president of Coors Brewing, whom he had befriended), Browning was fortunate enough to have invested his money well, so that he no longer needed to work when his creative talents failed. After directing 'Miracles for Sale', the original story treatment for 'Inside Job' (sold to Universal) was Browning's last script sale.
Certain themes recurred like obsessions throughout Browning's career as a screenwriter/director. He was fascinated by physical deformity, spiritualism, carnival side-shows and confidence schemes. Several of his best films depict an elaborate 'caper' crime. 'Inside Job' is a straightforward caper film, and it suffers from the absence of the elaborate setpieces and improbable motivations that propel so many of Browning's films.
Although Tod Browning wrote the original treatment for this film, it doesn't do him credit. There are some good things in the storyline of 1946's 'Inside Job' ... but all of those elements were present in 'You and Me', a much better film directed by Fritz Lang in 1938 for Paramount.
A married couple are both ex-convicts; both of them work in a department store that has a policy of hiring and rehabilitating ex-convicts. The husband and wife are both trying to go straight, but they fall afoul of a gangster who pressures the husband into participating in a robbery of the department store. This synopsis describes 'Inside Job' exactly ... and it ALSO describes the earlier and better 'You and Me', which adds a few details that aren't in the Browning version. In 'You and Me', the marriage between the lead characters is complicated by the fact that the wife hasn't told her husband that she's still serving parole ... so he doesn't realise that their marriage isn't legal. Most significantly, 'You and Me' is a semi-musical film with elaborate 'sangspiel' sequences by Kurt Weill, whilst 'Inside Job' is a straightforward caper film that hovers in the doorway of noir territory but never quite crosses the threshold.
All of the good parts of 'Inside Job' are so similar to 'You and Me' that I've difficulty believing Tod Browning had not seen that film before he wrote 'Inside Job'. Or possibly the blame should go to Browning's long-time collaborator, Garrett Fort.
SPOILERS COMING. The set-up of 'Inside Job' is marginally different from that of 'You and Me' in that husband Eddie Norton *and* his ex-con wife Claire both participate in the robbery, and they do so unwillingly ... because they're being blackmailed by villain Bart Madden. Tod Browning had a penchant for twist endings that often squandered any meagre plausibility that his plot lines possessed. In this case, the twist ending for 'Inside Job' is one of his more plausible ones, and it deviates from the ending of 'You and Me'. Eddie and Claire pretend to participate willingly in the robbery, but they actually contrive to summon the police. After Madden is shot dead, Mr and Mrs Norton turn themselves in as his accomplices.
Despite its similarity to 'You and Me', 'Inside Job' could have been a good film. Preston Foster is good as the villain, but Alan Curtis is bland as ex-con Ed Norton (shouldn't he be working in the sewer, and living upstairs over Ralph Kramden?) while Ann Rutherford is even worse as Ed Norton's wife Trixie, I mean Claire. Veteran character actors Joe Sawyer and Samuel S. Hinds give dependable performances here, which don't vary in any way from the typecast roles they've essayed elsewhere. Bit-part actor Oliver Blake shows up briefly. Blake impresses me in films that give him more than a few lines of dialogue, but when he has only a walk-on role (as here) his presence is distracting: Blake's facial structure is so unusual that he inevitably calls attention to himself even when playing brief 'stick' parts that aren't meant to divert us from the main action.
The biggest problem with 'Inside Job' is its lacklustre direction by Jean Yarbrough, who probably holds the record for churning out more bad movies and inept television episodes than any other director. In the game of bridge, a 13-card hand with no high cards is called a Yarborough ... and Jean Yarbrough had no trumps. During his long career, he directed a lot of performers whose work I admire, but they invariably did their worst work in Jean Yarbrough's films.
It's a pity that 'Inside Job' wasn't directed by Tod Browning, even though he was having personal problems at this point in his life; a Browning version of this material would have been much more interesting than what Yarbrough did with it. I'll rate this movie 4 points out of 10. Skip this limp caper and watch Fritz Lang's 'You and Me' instead, which rates 10 out of 10.
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