User Reviews

When wife Mary Anderson announces to husband Dan Duryea that she is leaving him and taking their daughter with him simply because she has lost faith in him, he has a lot to think about as he prepares for their departure. Word gets to him that the daughter has been hurt in a car accident, but the fact that Duryea's phone has been taken away prevents Anderson from being able to get through. Duryea's attempt to get the bill paid fails, but while resting after walking all over downtown Los Angeles, he meets the young Bobby (Gordon Gebert) who is neglected by a sister that doesn't want him around. In fact, the self-centered young woman is willing to simply just hand him over to Duryea without any question. A friendship grows between Duryea and Gebert, and when tragic news comes through, Gebert shows Duryea what unconditional love and friendship is.

Both the title and the locations would give the impression right off the bat that this is a film noir, but once you get into the plot, you see that the setup of Duryea at the bottom of the (an unemployed alcoholic) is simply just a plot premise that develops a different style of story. Most warm dramas like this do not thrive on gritty locations, and seeing Duryea very desolate and without hope can fool the viewer into thinking that this will have some sort of film noir payoff. The script focuses on how to people who don't even know each other and are of completely different generations can come together out of the blue and help each other through a rough time.

Views of vintage downtown Los Angeles are greatly utilized in this touching drama that features some very realistic characters that you would not normally see in a film of this setup. Of the supporting cast, Marcia Mae Jones stands out as the kindly food truck vendor who provides a kind ear and a little bit of unexpected cash to the unlucky Duryea. For a child actor that I've never heard of, Gebert is quite memorable, seeming less actorish than trained child stars. This is a unique part for Duryea too, and with the help of the script, he shows that underneath a drunken loser who has lost all hope beats a big heart that just needs to be reopened.

You might want to have a handful of mood elevators handy when you watch this one.

Duryea is out of work, and his wife takes the kid and leaves him. They are involved in an auto accident, out of town, and Duryea must wait until they are out of surgery to receive a phone call informing him as to whether they will live or die. Because his phone bill is un-paid, his phone is disconnected, and he tries in vain to earn, borrow, and even contemplates stealing the money.

To make matters worse, his little pooch is run down in traffic.

When the Phone Company Rep comes to pick up the instrument (this was made long before we all owned our own phones!) Duryea cons the guy into hooking him up long enough to take the long distance call from Chicago concerning the condition of his wife and kid. This is where you will really need the Prozac!

Although this is downbeat throughout, Duryea gives an acting "tour-de-force" and if they ever show it again, it is well worth watching, but you've been warned!

Desperation hangs over this story until the very end! The family's home is a Chicago tenement, and the dad is pictured as a real loser. Mother and child are leaving to stay with relatives until better times happen. Repeated phone calls are no help, and the Long Distance charges result in an order for a disconnect. When the final phone call comes through (thanks go a kind-hearted phone lineman,)the news is bad, and the Duryea character contemplates suicide. Yet the very illogical ending countermands the whole story and leaves one with a feeling of "This could never happen in real life!" A parallel plot can be found in "Night Into Morning" with Ray Milland. I would so like to find this movie on tape or DVD.