Act of Violence (1948)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Act of Violence (1948) – F. Zinnemann

Superior noir that grapples with blame, shame, and existential angst while still functioning as a solid thriller.  Robert Ryan (one of the all-time great heavies) is stalking Van Heflin, a successful builder, with the aim of killing him.  Everywhere you look there are shadows and darkness (as a result of omnipresent low-key lighting design).  Heflin doesn’t immediately let on why this is happening to his wife (impossibly young Janet Leigh) but eventually we discover that he betrayed his own men in a Nazi POW camp and Ryan is one of the few survivors who has finally tracked him down.  Although Heflin’s dedicated himself to doing good for his community, Ryan doesn’t let him off the hook and Heflin can’t forgive himself either. Things take a few dark turns when Heflin runs into the night and into a tired scamming Mary Astor who leads him to a shady lawyer and hit-man.  As you can tell, many of the generic elements of film noir are in full flourish here. And, of course, it doesn’t end well.