UNDER THE GUN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 25, Issue 632, 10 August 1951, Page 16

UNDER THE GUN

(Universal-International) HEN Under the Gun appeared under my nose last week, two _ circumstances suggested that it might be something a little out of the ordinary, ‘and perhaps even a little above the average. In the first place, it had been (as it were) shunted off the main tracks on to a siding a little distance from the neon-light area. That seemed to argue that it didn’t fit the standardised box-office specifications. In the second place, the names associated with the film attracted me. It’s true that the director was not mentioned-exhibitors don’t usually concern themselves with a director unless (like Signor Rossellini) he has achieved distinction in some other field-but four of the players were named, I remembered Richard Conte for a cold-bloodedly competent performance. in House of Strangers, Audrey ‘Totter was in The Set-Up, Sam Jaffe had one of the principal roles in The Asphalt Jungle, and Shepperd Strudwick played the man who shot Willie Stark in All the King’s Men. Such a conjunction of stars seemed more than fortuitous, and it was no great surprise to discover, when the credit-titles came on the screen, that the director "was Ted Tetzlaff, who turned out that chilly tenement thriller, | The Window, a year or so ago. Under the Gun is not in quite the same cla:s as the earlier production, It is not so simple and straightforward a story, it has not the same organic unity, and it does not build up so much emotional ‘pressure. There is probably, in the aggregate, the same amount of suspense (a dramatic device to which Tetzlaff seems partial), but the tension is relieved in action from time to time as the story develops and on the whole one

remains a spectator of the events, free from the feeling of personal involvement which a first-class film should induce. But at the same time, Under the Gun is both exciting and intellectually diverting. The minor climaxes of the action are strong enough to produce a pleasurable thrill of excitement even if one is inclined to speculate on what will happen next rather than feel apprehensive about it-and there are ‘enough odd twists in the story to make speculation itself enjoyable. Conte, we learn, is an underworld bigshot who, through the carelessness of his associates, finds himself in the penitentiary serving 20 years for murder. Nor does there seem much chance of getting out. In this particular institution (the story is set in one of the Southern States of the U.S.), prisoners work in squads under the gun of a trusty, and it appears that a trusty who shoots and kills an escaping prisoner earns a free pardon for himself. That is the set-up, and that is the triggermechanism of the action. If your mind rejects it then your interest in the story will be proportionately diminished. I felt that it couldn’t happen anywhere but in Dixie, but that it could happen there. Once the situation is thus clarified attention centres on how Conte can beat the system. That is where the speculative interest of the film comes in, and I must say that I was relieved to discover that my mind wasn’t crooked enough to keep up. An attractive polish is added to the production by the smooth performances of Conte, Sam Jaffe (a shrewd old prisoner who loses the battle of wits with (continued on next page)