Post-war angst and the struggle to adjust to a world which has undergone rapid change has formed the basis of many a film noir, probably too many to count. Cornered (1945) could be placed in that category, but I reckon it goes a few steps further and draws not so much on the angst of the veteran as the psychological trauma he must endure, and not simply the difficulties of returning home but the impossibility. What’s more, it raises the unwelcome and uncomfortable idea that the roots of the conflict may not have been eliminated, merely pruned back and weakened, that they may in fact sprout again. And then there’s the way that the concept of revenge is presented, not critiqued just presented. In brief, the scenario placed before the viewer can best be described as bleak.

Laurence Gerard (Dick Powell) is first seen being demobilized. He’s collecting the pay accrued to him while he was a POW. This is in London and it’s expected that he will make his way back to his native Canada. It is soon made clear though that the tight-lipped and laconic Gerard has no intention of doing what others might have anticipated. His plan is to go to France, something he manages without official sanction and thus offers an early insight into the implacable nature of the man. The reason behind his determination to cross the Channel by hook or by crook is soon cleared up – his wife of only a few weeks was killed and his short sojourn in France reveals that her death, alongside an untold number of others, came about as a result of the actions of a collaborator named Marcel Jarnac. That individual is said to have died but Gerard is dubious.

And here we have the basis for the remainder of the movie: Gerard wants revenge, a reckoning for the loss of his wife and he is prepared to go to the ends of the Earth to achieve this. Well, maybe not quite the ends of the Earth, but as far as Buenos Aires in Argentina at any rate. His theory is that if Jarnac is to be traced, then his widow is the one most likely to offer a lead. The quest brings him into contact with a host of suspicious characters, people whose allegiances and motives are hard to pin down. There is Melchior Incza (Walter Slezak), a self-declared “tour guide” of indeterminate origins, the wealthy and well-connected Camargos (Steven Geray & Nina Vale), Santana (Morris Carnovsky), Camargo’s uncle, and Mme Jarnac herself (Micheline Cheirel). Gerard is convinced that somebody from among this ill-assorted group can provide a link to the elusive Jarnac, and with a combination of blunder, bluster and the odd flash of guile, he finds him in the end.

Cornered was the third time director Edward Dmytryk worked alongside producer Adrian Scott and writer John Paxton. They would do one more movie together before the shameful HUAC fiasco put paid to all that. The film has a strong anti-fascist tone, and sounds a warning against post-war complacency, pressing home the point that all the sacrifices and hard won victories of the preceding years could easily be undone by failing to be alert to the patience and determination of totalitarian opportunists. The horrors that had been endured are never far from the surface – the early scene in the cave where the graves of  the victims of Jarnac’s treachery are located is quietly poignant, and then there are the regular episodes of PTSD which strike at Gerard. That’s all retrospective though and the movie takes pains to point out the risks ahead. In the creepily effective climactic scene where Jarnac still exists only in the shadows, he softly intones how people like him are forever vigilant for dissatisfaction in society, for the opportunities to exploit disillusionment and turn misery and discontent to their advantage. Somewhat depressingly, the same kinds of people are still taking advantage of inequality and deprivation today and manipulating them to their own ends. Those lessons that ought to have been learnt 70 years ago remain relevant, sadly.

Dick Powell could play flippant and crack it wise with the best of them, but his performance in Cornered has none of that quality. Instead, there is a grim and driven sense to his work here, something entirely befitting a man who is not only grieving the loss of his wife but is also fighting against the effects of his injuries and experiences. His features are set throughout and there’s a severity to him that is highlighted by the crew cut he sports and the livid scarring at his temple. When he finally gets to confront Jarnac and gets to exact revenge, he becomes a personification of Nemesis. The climax of the picture has a brutality and starkness that still chills, but while it does offer some satisfaction it is problematic too. In the final analysis, revenge is unhealthy. It takes as much, if no more, from those who seek it as it does from those who face it and the best writing tends to emphasize how undesirable and even destructive it is. If Cornered has a weakness, it is the way revenge and its inevitable consequences fail to be adequately critiqued.

Walter Slezak was a fine villain in a number of movies – Lifeboat, The Fallen Sparrow – and was able to use his bulk and joviality in a way that was both effective and subversive. Morris Carnovsky, another of those who drew the attention of HUAC, brings a hawkish intensity to a role that appears ambiguous at first. Steven Geray drifts in and out of the action and had that soft, servile obsequiousness about him that is easy to despise. Micheline Cheirel is sympathetic as Mme Jarnac, but perhaps it would have been better, in terms of plotting and suspense, if she could have brought a bit more of an edge to her part. The only other female character of note is that played by Nina Vale, and she adds plenty of showy allure and sensuality. The actress only played in a handful of movies before disappearing entirely and I’ve not seen any information on why that was so. Intriguing. And that brings me to Luther Adler. He appears only at the end of the film, even then largely draped in shadow. I think the decision to keep him unseen for so long was a good one, it lends weight to the character and in some ways I would have preferred it if we had never been given the chance to see his face at all; in many ways, a faceless evil is even more powerful than one we can confront.

Cornered was released in the US on DVD by Warner Brothers in their now out of print Film Noir Collection Volume 5 paired up on disc with Anthony Mann’s Desperate. No supplements were offered. It is a movie with a lot going for it, although I do think the handling of the revenge aspect is disappointing. While the wrap up tries to address that to some extent it’s not entirely successful. So, what we have is a thought-provoking and solid noir with a flaw in the handling of one of the core themes. Well worth a viewing regardless.

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