The Clay Pigeon (1949)

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writer:

Carl Foreman (story)

Stars:

Bill Williams, Barbara Hale, Richard Quine

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bill Williams	...	Jim Fletcher
Barbara Hale	...	Martha Gregory
Richard Quine	...	Ted Niles
Richard Loo	...	Ken Tokoyama aka The Weasel
Frank Fenton	...	Lt. Cmdr. Prentice
Frank Wilcox	...	Navy Hospital Doctor
Marya Marco	...	Mrs. Helen Minoto (as Mary Marco)
Robert Bray	...	Gunsel Blake
Martha Hyer	...	Miss Harwick, Wheeler's Receptionist
Harold Landon	...	Blind Veteran
James Craven	...	John Wheeler
Grandon Rhodes	...	Naval Intelligence Agent Clark

Storyline

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 1949 (France)

Also Known As:

Alma em Sombras

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

My brief review of the film

Reasonably well directed with a nightmare atmosphere to it, the film looks fairly good in the stark black and white, but it is quite a routine noir thriller overall however, with predictable events and situations all the way through. The flashbacks used have an interesting, artistic style to them, but there is little else of note here. The acting and technical aspects are only adequate, and the plot is nothing special, in many ways similar to a Hitchcock thriller, even though Hitch would have made it more exciting and intriguing had he been at the helm. But, at the very least, the film has an appropriately compact running time, which leads to it rarely feeling like it is overly drawn out.