Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Decoy (1946)


Decoy is one of ten films in the Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 and so far, is the weakest entry in that set. The film starts interestingly enough with a zombie-like man in a suit silently headed for some unknown but crucial meeting. It goes downhill from there as a wicked blonde (Jean Gillie) confesses her life of crime and wickedness to a detective (woodenly acted by Sheldon Leonard). I don't know if Monogram Pictures made much of a business out of ultra-low budget flicks (I'd never heard of them before this), but this one is pretty bottom-of-the-barrel as far as production values go. There are a few interesting scenes, but unfortunately they're overshadowed by clumsy direction and bad pacing. To be avoided unless you are a noir fanatic.

No comments: