☆ ☆ ☆
Naked Alibi (1954) – J. Hopper
This B-noir feels very
studio-bound, beginning with the police department and city streets of the
generic US city (presumably California) where we first see a belligerent drunk (Gene
Barry) being questioned by a few cops. He starts a fight but is released when they
are able to ID him as a citizen, Al Willis, with no previous arrests. Police
chief Joe Conroy (Sterling Hayden) briefly observes the event but only later,
when one of the cops is murdered, does he figure the drunk as his key suspect.
After harassing him a bit, Conroy loses his job and his badge but still pursues
Willis to Border City (likely Tijuana). The
film manages to keep us uncertain about whether Conroy is psycho or Willis is
guilty. Hayden provides a typical cool
(almost one-note) performance and soon, we know he’s right, as Willis is
leading a double life, with a girlfriend (played by Gloria Grahame), unknown to
his wife, south of the border. Her
singing is terribly dubbed, but she’s the same smart but resigned cookie we’ve
seen in other noirs. She helps Conroy –
but he’s still left walking into the Mexican darkness at the end. Just okay.
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