Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

weathwoods I always like watching actors playing against their typecast character, and watching Vincent Price in his pre-Dr. Phibes days is great. William Bendix and Ella Raines add to the spell of this story about a self-confident lawyer (Edmond O'Brien) who gets snookered by a murderous, sophisticated investment bad guy (Price). One minor problem: Would a man as astute as Andrew Colby fall for that trick with Charles: I mean, no ambulance, no oxygen and no blood transfusions, yet he falls for the lieutenant's little scheme? But a great film nonetheless.

mark.waltz What could have been an intriguing film noir of a set-up for murder gone wring becomes an overly complex and problematic plot that wraps up faster than it took to set it up. Bodyguard Edmund O'Brien is set up to supposedly kill someone, but it's very apparent that there's more going on than even the audience can see. Ella Raines who works for the calculating Vincent Price (whom O'Brien has been hired to protect), falls in love with O'Brien but there's a plot thickening behind the scenes that makes this confusing and frustrating. Some great symbolic moments add to the noir feeling of the plot line, but it's just all a messy set-up both plot wise and scam wise. William Bendix is a tough detective, with John Abbott as Price's right hand man. There's a sub genre of film noir which tried to be artistic and draw the audience into its own web, but what happens here is that the spider who builds the web ends up tangled as well, making what is caught pointless prey. As usual, Price is riveting, and everybody does their best, aided by a few interesting twists and turns. However, a messy script is the real problem, going too far out of its own way to get properly to its final destination.

MARIO GAUCI Little-known but rather splendid minor Noir with an intricate, ingenious plot (a small-time lawyer takes a job as bodyguard to the tycoon he has come up against in his latest case and is immediately drawn into unwittingly committing premeditated murder on his behalf, being a man who had taken a rap for him but has now come to collect!) – in hindsight, the title is very appropriate – and a top cast (genre stalwarts Edmond O'Brien, Ella Raines and William Bendix and, naturally as the smooth villain, Vincent Price). Universal, who produced this, churned out a number of excellent efforts during the form's heyday – notably several works by Jules Dassin and Robert Siodmak – which, this being made by second-tier talent, may explain how it got to be overlooked in the long run! O'Brien starred in his share of classics – notably the much-remade THE KILLERS (1946) and D.O.A. (1950) – and, in fact, when I went through some genre stuff early in the year, I acquired a couple of his lesser vehicles i.e. TWO OF A KIND (1951) and the self-directed SHIELD FOR MURDER (1954), but they ended up not making the list I eventually checked out (my collection of such items having basically gone out-of-hand in the last few years)! Lovely Raines, then, was the quintessential Noir heroine but, like Jane Greer and Audrey Totter (who were more the femme fatale type), she seemed to be out of her element in other genres, so that her career lasted only as long as the field held sway…but, of course, whenever this kind of film is discussed even now, their names inevitably crop up! Typically, Bendix is the cop smelling a rat: though he was a friend of O'Brien's late father, his integrity does not allow him to make it easy for the hero – especially when the latter becomes the prime suspect of a second murder, which was committed with his gun! Again, the climax delivers a real coup as Bendix announces that the latest victim (Price's live-in secretary, played by the sinister-looking John Abbott) is still alive…so that the real culprit is caught red-handed while attempting to finish the 'job', leading to the traditional shoot-out in a darkened room. In spite of the inherent gloom, the film does not entirely eschew humor throughout – especially when O'Brien confronts Price during a business conference with a bill amounting to peanuts, which is then resumed at the very end, as the hero is about to take what is owed to the former client (whom he had even tried to pass off as an associate of the first murdered party who could incriminate Price – I did say this was complexly-plotted!) before his current employer is taken away, only to be stopped in the act by Bendix who sarcastically asks him to exercise his official profession of lawyer and sue the man!

bmacv Despite some atmospherically dark camerawork in the midtown streets and cavernous brownstones, The Web keeps its tone on the lighter side. Set among Manhattan sophisticates, it gathers together Edmond O'Brien, Ella Raines, Vincent Price and William Bendix. That reads like a recipe for a succulent film noir; not quite that, The Web is noirish enough and satisfying.Rich and ruthless industrialist Price hires poor but honest lawyer O'Brien as his bodyguard. His first night on the job, O'Brien shoots and kills an intruder, an old associate of Price's just out of prison. The killing looks suspicious to a street-smart police detective (Bendix), who lacks the evidence to bring a charge. But when the murdered man's daughter tries to kill him in revenge, O'Brien starts to have second thoughts ("Was I set up?"); he also starts to have amorous thoughts about Price's Gal Friday (Raines).The performers redeem the run-of-the-mill material. Price reminds us what a smug villain he could be before horror movies snatched his soul. For once neither a dim-witted sidekick nor a brute, Bendix convinces us as a shrewd cop. Raines -- a star in two early Robert Siodmak noirs (Phantom Lady and Uncle Harry) -- leads us to wonder why her career never took flight; sleek, quick and smart, she's every bit as good as her contemporary Lauren Bacall. Only O'Brien fails to impress; he always plays O'Brien and works better co-starring than in the lead.Like The Crack-Up and The Unsuspected, TheWeb is a suspense thriller that happens to fall under the influence of the noir cycle that was reaching full speed in 1947. It's fun, but far from canonical.