MAN IN THE DARK



US, 1953, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.
Edmond O' Brien, Audrey Totter, Ted De Corsia, Horace Mc Mahon.
Directed by Lew Landers.

This is a brief, very moderate, supporting feature from the early 1950s. However, it is remembered as one of the earliest of the 3-D films, produced by Columbia.

The film takes advantage of audiences being scared by some of the 3-D effects, guns pointing at the audience, the thrills of a rollercoaster ride (although it uses, not particularly effectively, rear projection).

The film opens with Edmond O’ Brien as a cantankerous patient in a hospital, it emerging that he has been a criminal, executing a high-powered robbery, taken by the police, pursued by the insurance company, getting the custody of the doctor who wants to do brain surgery to eliminate his memories.

After the surgery, he is agreeable and spends his time working on the grounds of the institution. However, an insurance agent confronts him and continues to pursue him. His past criminal associates abduct him, not knowing what has happened, confronting him about the whereabouts of the money, willing to torture him. There is also his former girlfriend, something of a moll but ultimately sympathetic and honourable, played by Audrey Totter.

Most of the film is about the criminal trying to recover his memory, various associations and, particularly, a dream about a theme park and a large figure of a laughing woman. He goes to the theme park with his girlfriend, follows up the clue about a number, finds the money at a shooting booth. The criminals are in pursuit – which means that the hero has to go on the rollercoaster and there are lots of 3-D thrills. The criminals pursue but, of course, they fall to their deaths.

The final dilemma is whether the man is truly reformed and will keep the money or be influenced by his girlfriend and give it up. Happy ending – he does.