LeonLouisRicci Somewhat Underrated Film-Noir, a Solid Entry, but Not as Cynical or Downbeat as the Best of Pure Noir, but contains a goodly amount of Bad Behavior and Shady Characters.John Garfield Leads an Outstanding WB Cast with Walter Brennan showing an enormous Range here as an Intelligent, Loyal, Friend of Con-Man Garfield. The Females are in direct Contrast to each other. Faye Emerson as the Unfaithful and Evil Toni, is Nasty and Unfeeling. Geraldine Fitzgerald as the "Mark", a Widowed Millionaire, Naive, Saintly, and as Warm and Cuddly as a Puppy.The Strong Script from W.B. Burnett has some Gripping Wordplay with Gangster Grit. "You bring out a gun and I'm going to make you eat it.", Garfield tells George Coulouris as a Sunken Eyed and Bitter Crook on the Skids. He looks like and Acts like a Drug Addict. Maybe that's why His Nickname is Doc.An almost Spiritual Scene in an Old Mission where Garfield has His Epiphany is Outstanding and Profound. There's Plenty of Mood and Shadowy and Sleazy Sets Populated with Low-Brow, Low-Income Regular Folks and Dregs. The Ending may be Elongated a bit but adds a Damp, Dock-Side Atmosphere to the Conclusion.Overall, an Overlooked Film that is Rich and Rewarding for Fans of Film-Noir, Garfield, WB Gangster Movies, and Anyone Interested in the Post-War Milieu.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Originally offered to Humphrey Bogart who turned it down for the part of private eye Philip Marlow in the overly plotted and almost impossible to follow "The Big Snooze" no one could have done a better acting job portraying con artist Nick Blake as the ruggedly handsome as well as sensitive John Garfield; who was also some 15 years younger then Bogart. Nick who just came back from the war in Europe finds that his 50 G's he left with his girlfriend Toni Blackburn, Faye Emerson, was gone due to bad investments on Toni's part. It's now Toni's boyfriend grease ball Chet King, Robert Shayne, who runs the New York City night club that Nick controlled before he was drafter into the US Army. Using a little friendly persuasion, like threatening to brake his skull, Nick gets his 50's G's back and heads west with his friend Al Doyle, George Tobias, for greener and sunnier pastures in far off, from NYC, California. It's there that Nick plans to practice his craft in romancing and then conning elderly widows and end up taking them for a ride together with their deceased husbands money.It's when Nick set his sight on young & pretty recently widowed Gladys Halvorsen, Geraldine Fitzgerald, that he starts to get second thoughts about ripping her off of her's dead husbands 2 million dollars that he left to her.This doesn't go well with Nick's fellow con man Doc Ganson,George Coulouris, who never like Nick in the first place and resented Nick getting 75% of the take: Gladys' two million! What soon happens in that Nick falls in love with Gladys and decides to back out of the con and buy off Doc and his boys , from out of his own pocket, with the money that he promised them. This causes Doc to do things, like he alway likes to, his own way by kidnapping Gladys and holding her hostage until she get's Nick to pay Doc and his boys off with her, and well as his, money.***SPOILERS*** The great John Garfield was never better as Nick Blake a man with both fists of stone as well as a heart of gold which almost ends up costing his as well as Galdys' lives. with the help of Al and old friend and con artist Pop Granson, Walter Brennan, Nick goes all out to rescue Gladys. That soon ends up with a wild shootout at Doc's hideout with both Doc and Pop getting gunned down in the crossfire. As for the surviving Nick he finally saw the light and went legit and now together with Gladys put his life of crime behind him.P.S Check out Richard Erdman as the bellboy at the hotel that Gladys was staying at who's surprisingly, now, almost 70 years after the movie was made, is still around with us! Erdman was later to play the role of US POW Huffy the guy in charge of the German POW camp "Stalag 17" in the Academy Award winning film of the same name.

st-shot Returning vet Nick Blake comes back from the war to New York to claim his sizable fortune held onto by main squeeze, lounge singer Toni (Faye Emerson). She's double crossed him however and he has to beat it out of her new boyfriend to get it back. He along with a sidekick then light out for LA where they run into old associate Pop Gruber. Gruber to his regret gets Nick involved in a scam with Doc Gabson to charm a rich socialite Gladys Halverson out of her sizable fortune. Nick and Gabson quarrel over the intended split and the down on his luck Doc is forced to accept the terms. Matters then become complicated when Nick falls for Gladys and wants out of the scheme. Using his own cash he attempts to pay off the gang members but Doc who has been nursing a grudge with Nick kidnaps Gladys and makes exorbitant demands.Nobody Lives Forever is a rather tame and dull genre piece that starts fast but slowly loses steam before crawling to its suspense drained finish. Director Jean Neglusco establishes the character of Nick and his New York situation quickly and economically with rapid editing and subtle inference fleshing out his background. Once in LA things slow measurably as the con job morphs into romance for Nick and the conflict with Gabson warms up.John Garfield is effective as the returning GI hardened but not totally disillusioned by what he's witnessed. Geraldine Fitzgerald's Gladys is impassionate and too detached to the danger around her. George Coulouris' Doc Gabson is the film's most interesting character. A petty, jealous has been of a crook relegated to working with two comically inept flunkies he laments the loss of his salad days and shows resentment for all around him with venal flare.Neglusco never lets this noir get too dark as he plays it safe most of the way with the romantic angle and lighthearted humor that dilutes the drama . Combined with its erratic pacing that makes a shambles of the film's climactic moment Nobody Lives Forever washes out in all directions.

imogensara_smith Many films from the mid-forties deal with men struggling to readjust to their civilian lives after their wartime service. NOBODY LIVES FOREVER offers a twist: the hero's pre-war career was as a successful con artist. He doesn't have any trouble getting his job back, but does he still want it? World War II is a source of anxiety and moral confusion in many postwar noirs, but this film (set during the war) suggests that a stint with Uncle Sam can straighten out a crooked guy.In contrast to the convoluted plots so common in noir, this is a simple story. Just out of the army, Nick Blake (John Garfield) returns to New York to find his girlfriend has given the money he left in her keeping to another man. After clearing up that little business, he takes off for Los Angeles, where he is talked into fleecing a rich widow, Gladys Halvorson (Geraldine Fitzgerald.) Guess what? He falls for her and wants out, but has to deal with his vengeful accomplices. The plot is unoriginal but also foolproof, and the film's leisurely pace and rich characterizations are the primary appeal, evoking a raffish, Runyonesque world. Leading the troupe of colorful character actors is George Tobias as Blake's sidekick Al Doyle, who doesn't do much except tag along for the ride, cracking wise in thick New Yorkese and complaining bitterly when he realizes Nick has "gone overboard for this tomato." Walter Brennan is Pop Gruber, Nick's boyhood mentor in crime, now down on his luck and scraping a living with a telescope, selling "the moon and stars for a dime" and picking the pockets of his drunken customers. Then there's cadaverous, sinister George Colouris as Doc, a has-been con man consumed by jealousy of Nick. Even the smallest characters—from an ex-jockey bellboy to the counterman in an all-night diner who can't stand to hear the words "java" or "pal"—add flavor; they're a great bunch of "cheap, hungry chiselers." Richard Gaines (Jean Arthur's fiancé, Mr. Pendergast, in THE MORE THE MERRIER) is also amusing as Manning, the widow's business manager, whose only interest in life is golf. Only Faye Emerson, as the nightclub singer who betrayed Nick while he was overseas and keeps turning up for vague plot purposes, misfires; she sings well, but she's a little too bony, toothy and disgruntled for a femme fatale.When someone suggests that after his sabbatical in the army Nick might not be up to conning the widow, he snaps scornfully, "For me that would be like turning over in bed." The same is true for Garfield playing this morally-conflicted-tough-guy role—but he never lets you feel he's just going through the motions. His performance is split between his "Jewish Jimmy Cagney" persona, spitting out lines like, "Come up with a rod and I'll make you eat it," and his sexy romancer mode. When he turns on the charm, his mark starts to melt like a snowman under a sun lamp. (I can sympathize, being a pushover for Garfield myself.) Geraldine Fitzgerald is lovely and gracious, with a frail, childlike innocence guaranteed to soften the toughest guy.There are some scenes in smoky back-rooms, and a terrific show-down on a misty oil rig, but this noir is really about as dark as chocolate ice cream. It's full of low-key charm, often stemming from the culture clash between the mugs and the ritzy world they invade. Nick belies his pose as a sophisticate by making paper airplanes out of his program during a concert of classical music. ("Don't you adore Bach?" Manning asks, and Al, awoken from a deep slumber, replies, "Bock? Yeah, cold, with a nice big head on it.") Nick is also uncomfortable leading Gladys through a rumba ("A man looks sort of silly doing this") and looks like a fish out of water when she takes him to the mission of San Juan Capistrano. As was the case with Garfield (the former Julie Garfinkle) in Hollywood, it's precisely Nick's streetwise grit and bad-boy charm that win over the classy dame.NOBODY LIVES FOREVER was the last film at Warner Brothers for both Garfield and Fitzgerald, who were equally thrilled to escape the studio. Garfield went on to form an independent company that produced his finest films, including BODY AND SOUL and FORCE OF EVIL. He and many others had good reason to resent the studio's relentless pigeonholing and the poor material they were sometimes forced to accept; but this farewell film is a reminder of what the factory system had going for it: a reliable output of supremely watchable movies. With its witty script, easy craftsmanship and excellent cast, NOBODY LIVES FOREVER is a prime example of how good an average, formulaic studio product could be during Hollywood's "golden age." It's a shame that, like so much of Garfield's output, this film is so hard to find.