BACKLASH
US, 1947, 66 minutes, Black-and-white.
Jean Rogers, Richard Travis, Larry J. Blake, John Eldredge, Leonard Strong, Robert Shayne, Louise Currie, Douglas Fowler, Sarah Berner, Richard Benedict.
Directed by Eugene Forde.
Backlash is a short supporting feature of 1947, released by 20th Century Fox.
It is a crime story, a law story, a police investigation story with touches of the humane.
The central focus is a lawyer, played by John Eldredge who is seen speeding at the opening, held up by the police, recognised as a lawyer who is able to defend criminals. He is then seen with the bank robber whom he had previously defended.
For a short film, this story is crowded with characters. A burnt-out car is discovered and identified as that of the lawyer with a badly burned body inside. Immediately there are speculations.
On the one hand, there are two police investigators, one with a happy family, the other with a bit of an eye for the women. Then there is the lawyer’s partner who is in financial difficulties but is also in contact with the shady woman who changes her name and identity who is the girlfriend of the bank robber! Audiences will think he is in the car but he soon appears, complicating matters.
The main person under suspicion is the lawyer’s wife, with whom he had a difficult relationship, and whom he suspects of poisoning him. She also has a strong relationship with the district attorney.
During investigations, there are many flashbacks illustrating what has happened, especially the poisoning where the lawyer collapses during the meal, the doctor treats him and then is interviewed by the detectives – and the poison is real.
Lots of interviews, lots of flashbacks, lots of opportunities for the audience to speculate who it was in the car when, ultimately, the lawyer is seen alive, and a threatening conversation with a stranger who has done work for him – which means that he is in the car and that the lawyer has orchestrated everything, including faking the poisoning.
The film was directed by Eugene Forde who began work on the silent era in 1926 and continued, his final work on television, in 1953 – although he lived for 33 years without working in the industry.
