Tonight's Movie: Swell Guy (1946) at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

I'm back from a terrific long weekend at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival.

I plan to share a festival overview with photos in the near future, but first I wanted to dive right into some reviews while the movies are fresh in my mind. I saw 10 films at the festival, of which half a dozen were new to me; of the four repeat watches, I'd only previously seen one theatrically.

I want to mention at the outset that this particular review contains more plot spoilers than usual, in order to make some points, so anyone wanting to see it "cold" for the first time -- if it can be found! -- should wait to read this review after watching.

The plot of SWELL GUY (1946), a first-time watch, may sound familiar: A long-unseen relative, who's wrongly obtained funds from a wealthy woman, arrives in a small California town with a Spanish name. His visit causes great excitement among family and friends.

One relative is clued in from the outset that the man is, well, not such a "swell guy," but most are oblivious. He ultimately dies a hero in a train accident, leaving many admirers to mourn him, while those most closely impacted by his behavior during his time in town feel nothing but relief that he's gone.

SWELL GUY was written by future director Richard Brooks from the 1921 Gilbert Emery play THE HERO, but I was quite struck by the similarities with Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943), which intriguingly was released by the very same studio, Universal Pictures, just three years previously.

That said, while newspaper reporter Jim Duncan (Sonny Tufts) isn't a murderer, SWELL GUY as a whole is a darker picture, as we watch the destructive Duncan spiral into nothingness.

Unhappy, flirty rich girl Marian Tyler (Ann Blyth) ignores the devoted war veteran Mike O'Connor (John Craven) to dally with the older, more glamorous Jim...only to find herself pregnant. And there is zero hope for Jim to do right by her because, as it's shockingly disclosed late in the film, he's already married!

It goes without saying that this is not exactly a typical mid '40s plot. Not only is Jim already married, his seemingly placid sister-in-law Ann (Ruth Warrick), who dreams of traveling, suddenly wants to throw caution to the winds and leave town with Jim, despite her nice husband (William Gargan) and little boy (Donald Devlin).

Although Jim has been leading Ann on -- it's implied he may have had an affair with her as well as Marian -- once he's got what he really wants, money, he meanly mocks and abandons her.

PEYTON PLACE has nothing on the goings-on in this little town, filmed by Tony Gaudio in Anaheim and Glendale. There's a remarkable scene late in the film where fellow reporter Dave Vinson (Thomas Gomez) brutally takes down Jim and eviscerates him for being the rotten phony he is; Jim is ultimately left sprawled on the floor, an utter drunken mess. (And did I mention he's also a gambler?)

An opening narrative card suggests that people harbor both good and evil, but Jim is pretty much entirely evil...except for his final decision to prevent a tragic death, at the cost of his own life. Given that Jim had nothing left to live for at that moment, though, one has to wonder if it was more suicide than altruism.

The movie is a fast-paced 87 minutes, directed by Frank Tuttle, and it was certainly interesting, though I'm not sure I'd be anxious to watch all this doom and gloom a second time. At the same time, I felt fortunate to have been able to see it on a big screen, in an excellent crisp 35mm print; the movie was fascinating and memorable, I'll say that much.

A couple hours after we watched SWELL GUY, Eddie Muller said to the audience "I've never seen a movie quite like that...I'm not entirely sure what I watched the morning."

I'll also note that Ann Blyth biographer Jacqueline Lynch described SWELL GUY as "shocking."

In fact, the movie's most interesting character is played by Blyth; she makes poor decisions but ultimately wises up and grows up. Her final scene implies she finally appreciates her loyal boyfriend, who gives her much more love and kindness than she deserves. One can only hope that she repays his love in kind in the years to come.

Tufts, who could be congenial and occasionally give a strong performance (EASY LIVING), is fairly one note here. He's not so much menacing as annoying; Jim's loser behavior gets old fast, and we never really understand what "makes him tick." But perhaps that's part of the point; his mother's hatred of Jim causes one to think maybe he was simply born bad.

I'd question whether his mother had anything to do with his behavior, but his brother is perfectly normal, so the answer to the question of "nature vs. nuture" seems to land on "nature" here.

Although the ground is loosely laid for Warrick's character's discontent -- she collects travel folders, you see -- it was still a bit shocking that she considers abandoning not just her marriage but her little boy. I didn't really buy that aspect.

The supporting cast also includes Mary Nash, John Litel, Millard Mitchell, Vince Barnett, and Patrick McVey. Great "faces" like Charles Lane, Anne O'Neal, Sarah Selby, and Frank Ferguson also dot the cast.

SWELL GUY is a wild ride of a movie, a look at one man's dark soul and the repercussions of his actions as he operates amidst the imperfect people of a small town. While I wouldn't say I loved it, I'll definitely never forget it.

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