Steven Kenet, suffering from a recurring brain injury, appears to have strangled his wife. Having confessed, he's committed to an understaffed county asylum full of pathetic inmates. There, Dr. Ann Lorrison is initially skeptical about Kenet's story and reluctance to undergo treatment. But against her better judgement, she begins to doubt his guilt.
Robert Taylor Audrey Totter Herbert Marshall Dorothy Patrick H.B. Warner Warner Anderson Moroni Olsen John Ridgely Morris Ankrum Elisabeth Risdon Vince Barnett Jonathan Hale Charles Arnt Ray Mayer Robert Hyatt Russell Arms John Beck Eula Guy John Hamilton Selmer Jackson Frank Jenks Milton Kibbee Dorothy Neumann Ray Teal Dick Wessel
Muro de Trevas, Anklage - Mord, La muraglia delle tenebre, Muro de tinieblas, Zid înalt, Den höga muren, 铜墙铁壁
USANR
USA
"I don't want Kenet psychoanalyzed, I just want him cleared for trial. He's sane! I'm talking about legal sanity. That's all the District Attorney's office is interested in. We don't care anything about neurosis, psychosis or arterial thrombosis! Did he know the difference between right and wrong when he killed her, that's the only question."
Similar to another noir-adjacent drama from 1947, Nightmare Alley with Tyrone Power, I like whenever Hollywood's Golden Age pretty boys turned gritty, taking opportunities to challenge themselves with roles that required something more intense than the usual easy glamour. Mind you, MGM's High Wall is still a mixed bag, gorgeously photographed by Paul Vogel but relying on too many genre tropes to fully cohere -…
"No mind, no memory."
Being the hub of opulence, MGM seemed to struggle with adapting to noir territory within the formative years of the genre (think the stylistically off Postman Always Rings Twice, which remains great, though mostly due to its source material), a bloated runtime often being indicative of said problem. High Wall wishes to squeeze 35 minutes of plot into 99 minutes of movie. Cinematographer Paul Vogel tries his best, operating an uncharacteristically mobile camera, gracefully gliding, tracking, dollying around - quite literally the sole cause for joy during the first two acts. One then, nestled in the arms of Vogel's ostensible expertise, futilely awaits the simplified psychoanalytic techniques to beget dream sequences a la Suspicion (this film's…
High Wall (1947) is MGM's answer to Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), pretty much using the same premise with Robert Taylor in Gregory Peck's role and Audrey Totter, coming hot off her performance in Lady in the Lake (1946), replacing Ingrid Bergman in the scenario. Where it's different is that there was less questions to the guilt of Taylor's character with there being a proper baddie being revealed in this story. Where the film struggles is that it's mostly unfocused and doesn't touch on the right strings to build the tension the same way Hitchcock's film did. However, the final 15 minutes or so where excellent! And in that regard if was worth sitting through a so-so experience just to get to that conclusion.
This was kind of a mess. There were just too many things that were unbelievable (a romance, ethical issues, legal issues, etc.) for this to make sense. I did like the cinematography and all the moody shadows.
The performances were adequate. I'm one of the few who doesn't mind Robert Taylor. I know there are better actors but there is something about him that works for me. It doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes. On the flip side, I have never been impressed with Herbert Marshall. He's boring. Nothing changed my mind after seeing his performance here. Audrey Totter is the reason why I watched this movie. She was solid but bland.
A well made if somewhat dull film about a guy who finds himself locked up in an asylum after he confesses to murdering his wife. The performances are all solid and it has some great shadowy noir style, but I didn't find anything about the central mystery to be particularly compelling. The film feels very, very long despite running at a relatively short 99 minutes.
I cannot express just how goofy the “psychology” in High Wall is, and I understand if that takes you out from enjoying this. But I think if you can get past that the movie is quite good. It's fun to see Audrey Totter play such a prominent role and Robert Taylor is goofy but somehow likable here.
A shadowy Noir with a surprisingly good performance from Robert Taylor. He’s quite believable as a potential murderer and genre darling Audrey Totter is the perfect costar for him in this role.
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
*SOME SPOILERS*
A puzzling, hapless would-be noir about a flier with a headache (Robert Taylor) trying to work out if he murdered his wife, assisted by a nurse (Audrey Totter) who keeps saying his name. I had always considered the Mitchum-MacLaine romance, Two for the Seesaw, the absolute highpoint of Characters Unnecessarily Repeating Each Other’s Names cinema, but this one really shows you how it’s done. Steve.
It’s difficult to know what the point of any of this is (I mean the film, I’m not lapsing into existential despair, though it was touch-and-go for a while), but let’s try to unpack it a bit. High Wall should really get into its flashback after about 10 minutes. It takes 40. That…
It was a stupid movie let's be honest about it. The basic principle was valid and the means to keep the story going but it's soon got dried out like a bunch of potatoes in the dirt it just doesn't flow it doesn't grow and it doesn't show. After 30 minutes in the movie you just seen it all and you don't really need to continue because nothing more will happen except nothing more that is something new it's all the same except the very ending and of course like with all movies even nowadays it's always the big names that have either done it or the victims or all these things so that's a bit of a disappointment movie…
PLOT: a mystery withheld by memory, a parlour game: i thought i had him but he got me instead
REVIEW: something’s missing among stylized shadows, post war trauma, lapses in memory; the complete story, lost, disturbed. the authorities trying to prove legal sanity, the doctors seeking diagnosis. amnesiac episodes and deep accumulating resentments, recreations, regression: ward c, a carousel, a divan. the third act especially leaves something to be desired and i’m not sure what phrase was more overused: homocidal maniac or steve. but of course we still have all those 1940s elements to appreciate: the houndstooth blazers, the signage, a streetlight, a gated elevator, the milk glass lights.
RATINGS:
bechdel test: FAIL?
diverse cast: FAIL
(UN)RELATED MUSIC CUE: the smudge/ lemonheads track, divan.
“You can’t argue against statistics my friend.”
High Wall is a straight up B-Noir, of the amnesiac variety. It has an interesting usage of the psychiatric legal storyline. Great cinematography. Noir.
“She’ll be through when I get there, I’ll see to that.”
Los traumas de la guerra mundial son un tema recurrente en el film noir norteamericano, como luego lo sería Vietnam en el cine de los ‘80. Muchos de los protagonistas del cine negro son héroes de guerra que regresan con alguna herida física, mental o emocional que condiciona su reinserción en la “normalidad social” de la posguerra. Aquí el soldado traumatizado es Robert Taylor, cuyo cerebro confundido no puede reconstruir si fue testigo de un crimen violento o si directamente lo cometió. El film es uno de varios que Hollywood realizó a la sombra de la divulgación del psicoanálisis, un poco como Cuéntame tu vida. Pero una diferencia importante es que Ingrid Bergman en el film de Hitchcock cree que…
