They Made Me a Fugitive

Alberto Cavalcanti's They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) is a particularly grim British noir. Lesser-known than contemporaries like Brighton Rock and The Third Man, it's just as accomplished - and arguably more powerful.

Clem Morgan (Trevor Howard) is an RAF veteran mixed up in black marketing. Recruited by Narcy (Griffith Jones) for a drug job, he's framed for murdering a policeman and winds up in prison. Clem escapes, fleeing a dragnet and falling in with Sally (Sally Gray), Narcy's old flame trying to make it as a dancer. Clem wants revenge on Narcy, but with Narcy's army of thugs and the police hunting him that's a tall order.

They Made Me a Fugitive perfectly reflects a grim '40s England, where wartime resolve gave way to destitution and uncertainty. Noel Langley's familiar script (from a Jackson Budd subtle) interests for its despairing execution. Clem's service record compromises him: he's killed at least one man and automatically suspect (though he insists he's never murdered anyone). The violence is surprisingly nasty: a thug beats Cora to a pulp, Clem spends most of the show with a back full of buckshot. Between this and blatant drug references, 's astonishing that Fugitive made it past the censors.

Cavalcani's direction takes Fugitive to another level. Otto Heller's photography provides usual noir shadow effects, with an added punch. Cavalcani employs expressionist techniques, spinning the camera for a beating scene or Clem's eyes superimposed over one of Sally's dance numbers. He stops the narrative for odd but effective episodes: Clem encountering a housewife (Vida Jones) who asks him to murder her husband (Maurice Denham), or his tense ride with a talky lorry driver. Things climax with a brutal fight in a funeral parlor, culminating on a slippery rooftop beneath a giant "R.I.P." sign. Subtle Fugitive is not, but it's undeniably potent.

Trevor Howard plays spectacularly against-type. Usually the dashing military type, Howard effective mixes feral violence with grimy desperation. He's innocent, but such a shady figure our sympathy proves limited. Griffith Jones makes a slimy yet imposing villain. Sally Gray convinces as a reformed femme fatale, though Rene Ray is mostly a pathetic victim. There's an impressive turn, also, for Mary Merrall as a criminal crone whom even Narcy seems to fear.

They Made Me a Fugitive is an overlooked gem. In a genre not known for cheeriness, its bleak despair manages to stand out.