alexdeleonfilm FRAMED", Columbia, 1947, 82 min. This the one in which a slightly scruffy Glen Ford (just after "'Gilda", which made him a highly bankable Star) plays a mining engineer down on his luck, drifts into town, gets busted for a brakeless truck driving accident for which he gets thirty days in the local hoosegow, but is bailed out by a mysterious blonde (Janis Carter) for no apparent reason other than that she seems to have eyes for him. If he knew what she really had in mind for him he would have taken the ten days, gladly! As the plot thickens the incredibly alluring Carter really racks poor lovesick Glen over the coals setting him up for an insurance scam where he will be "accidentally killed" in a car crash so she and her real boyfriend (Barry Sullivan) can collect on the policy and scram. Glen barely survives and Janis gets her just deserts but her performance is so subtly-shaded with both hidden menace and obvious allure, and she is just so all-around fantastic in "Framed", that I couldn't help thinking that, all kidding aside, this must have been the Best Performance by an Actress for all of 1947 - - the year that Loretta Young actually got it for "The Farmer's Daughter".

MartinHafer Glenn Ford plays a stranger who drifts into town one day. However, he soon finds himself in a tiny bit of trouble and a beautiful lady (Janis Carter) comes to his rescue. However, this is NOT a kind lady but a femme fatale with an evil plan. Her and her married lover (Barry Sullivan) plan on murdering him in order to cover up some embezzlement. However, two huge monkey wrenches are tossed in--Carter's character is evil more evil than you might expect and Ford's is not nearly as stupid as she hoped. While the plot is decent (not great), the film is ultra-stylish, smoking hot and full of femme fatale badness--exactly what I like in a film! Not quite as hot and exciting as Ford's later film, "Gilda" but still quite good. It makes you wonder why Carter never really took off as an actress--she was exquisitely nasty and hot.

Brian Camp FRAMED starts out with a bang, with Glenn Ford trying to steer a speeding truck with no brakes to its destination, but gradually it started to lose me as it sped along into increasingly illogical plot turns. Janis Carter plays the least appealing femme fatale I've ever seen in a film noir. (In any lineup of great ladies of film noir, her name has never come up.) Here she's plotting with her lover, a married banker (Barry Sullivan), to fake his death, retrieve the money he's embezzled, and head off to happier climes. But they need a patsy with no ties to substitute for the banker. And that's where Ford, a mining engineer looking for work, comes in. We're supposed to believe Ms. Carter can entice Ford, but he never displays anything but rank hostility in her presence. When he finally kisses her, it's more of a physical assault than an act of lust. When it comes to carrying out the death-faking part, they enact a scene straight out of DOUBLE INDEMNITY. The plan they adopt is so poorly thought out that even the most cursory police investigation would see through it. Ford at least is punchy and irritable throughout, a side of him I've never quite seen before. He glares with the best of them and passes out drunk a couple of times. He's nice to Edgar Buchanan, though. And who wouldn't be? As silly as the proceedings get, it's never too predictable and moves at a fast clip throughout. This is low-end film noir, a far cry from James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler, but still worth recording off TCM and watching once. Barry Sullivan (whose centennial is tomorrow, August 29) plays a solid citizen with a corrupt core, a long way from the rugged western heroes he'd portray ten years later (e.g. FORTY GUNS), but closer to the antagonists he'd specialize in playing on TV dramas in the 1960s and '70s.

dougdoepke What an opening! Mike's truck goes careening down a mountain road before pinballing through town. It's not only a riveting effect, but establishes Mike (Ford) as an honest workingman when he turns over his proceeds to the injured Jeff (Buchanan). Too bad he meets up with spider woman Paula (Carter) who spins a greedy web around the well- meaning patsy. As Paula, Carter is a powerful presence. She's got a way of acting that shows a lot of eyeball that's kind of scary. Actually, I think she's too strong, making her switch to the laid-back Mike not very believable. Their chemistry never really gels the way Paula's does with Steve (Sullivan). Unfortunately, that's a lack that undercuts the script's central twist.Still, it's a solid noir thanks to the classic elements of the screenplay. Ford makes an interesting low-key fall guy. Not too many mining engineers turn up in noir, which I guess accounts for his occasional spiffy suits that look more like uptown Manhattan than temporary truck driver. Still, he's basically the classic working stiff looking for a job. Too bad he sees Paula's well-turned ankle first. Anyway, director Wallace films in journeyman style, except for that one inspired moment after the crash when Paula does a sharp gasping intake. It's a brief cameo shot whose only purpose is to connect Paula's sexuality with violence. For 1947, that's daring and Carter brings it off memorably. I guess it just goes to show how less can imply so much more in the imagination—a lesson contemporary film seems to have forgotten.The movie may not be front rank noir, but it does have its moments.