D.O.A. (1949)Rating:
Release Date: 12 May, 1998 Retail Price: $14.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (6 total) |
D.O.A. (1949) Reviews
The living dead man!
A highly effective morality thriller during which a boring man, with a boring job, living in a boring little town, learns that excitement comes at a steep price. Frank Bigelow is a tax accountant feeling suffocated by his uninspiring circumstances and closed in by a long term relationship. Looking for a dose of escapism, he heads out to San Francisco for excitement and the opportunity to get laid by carefree young women. His quiet sober life and wholesome girlfriend are contrasted with wild drunken parties accompanied by Jazz. Not coincidentally, it is at a swinging jazz club that he accidentally drinks some poison tainted booze. The clincher? This poison is lethal and there is no known antidote. He has become a living dead man. In a city full of people he is isolated and alone, wishing for nothing more than his old boring life. A terrific film!
SO THIS IS FILM NOIR...
Rarely, at my age, does a 5-star drama get past me that has been out for 57 years. Well this one did. Seeing it for the first time last week was a rare, refreshing treat.
After reading many of the fine reviews here, I became intrigued with what was described by many reviewers as "a strange noise", "whistle", or "music", every time Frank Bigelow [Edmond O'Brien] saw an attractive woman. I watched it alone, with my spouse, and with my daughter, and we all found it rather unsettling when indeed the strange music, like whistling glissandos, followed Frank Bigelow's stare toward young females in San Francisco. We believe that the strange sound was to show the contrast between Bigelow's original demeanor of just another "typical" guy out for some capricious fun in San Francisco and the one we saw later in the movie. Once he knew he was a walking dead man, this "glissando effect" was abruptly absent to show his new outlook and his maniacal focus on discovering who in fact had killed him. That's right, "who HAD killed him". That is what the movie is about -- Frank Bigelow's investigation of his own murder.
WOW!
Once the happy-go-lucky scenes passed early in the film, the scenes became very intense and the movie's pace really booked! Sub-plots and new co-stars like Luther Adler and Neville Brand were introduced and given three-dimensional characterizations through action, which is something to see. Edmond O'Brien very believably depicted a man who became strengthened by his freedom of fear of death, which made him into an almost-irresistible force. He was certainly a far cry from the milquetoast accountant out to sow a few wild oats during a trip to San Francisco before getting married as which he began the film. All of this intrigue happened in only 83 minutes. I have watched D.O.A. five times in the last 4 days. The only modern film that compares is "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin from 1967.
This DVD played without fault but had NO features whatsoever, but for $6.98 through Amazon that was more than I expected.
More Customer Reviews (18 total)
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