Quicksand

This independently made film is aptly named, as Dan (Mickey Rooney) falls into a trap and every move he makes to get out just sends him deeper into trouble.

Dan, a mechanic, wants to take out Vera (Jeanne Cagney), the new cashier at the local diner. He spends all afternoon trying to either borrow 20 dollars from someone or trying to get someone who owes him 20 dollars to pay him back. He reasons with himself that today is Monday and the guy who audits the books for the garage doesn't come buy until Thursday. So he steals a 20 out of the register at work to pay for the evening out.

But then the auditor comes by on Tuesday, the next day, before he's had a chance to get the twenty dollars that all of these friends of his have borrowed at one time or another. So he goes across the street, buys a 100 dollar watch with a dollar down on the installment plan, and then goes down the street and pawns it for 30 dollars. He replaces the 20 dollars he stole from the garage before it can be discovered, but now he's in debt for one hundred dollars for a watch he doesn't own anymore.

Dan makes worse decisions with even steeper moral and legal consequences as he commits bigger crimes to cover up smaller ones, until less than a week later he's running from a murder charge. Or is he? Watch and find out.

Along the way, Vera turns out to be the devil standing on his shoulder, encouraging him to take bigger more illegal chances. The angel on his shoulder is Helen (Barbara Bates), who in spite of barely knowing Dan is almost a stalker when it comes to following him around and mooning after him. But at least she does have good moral judgement.

There are good performances by the entire cast, but I really liked Taylor Holmes as the criminal attorney Dan manages to carjack at gunpoint towards the end of the film. He has a folksy charm and warmth about him that I imagine would endear him to clients, judges, and juries alike. I would like to know his inspiration for his part, because I'm sure whoever it was he was a successful lawyer.

This was really a very versatile role for Rooney, his second since leaving MGM. Just don't look for the exuberant Andy Hardy of his MGM days - In this role Rooney is running for his life from some kind of trouble the entire running time, and when he's not doing that he's knocking a few back at some bar and waxing cynically philosophical.

Quicksand is directed by Irving Pichel (The Most Dangerous Game/ Destination Moon) and written by Robert Smith. It stars Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Barbara Bates & Peter Lorre. Lionel Lindon photographs it around Santa Monica, California, and Louis Gruenberg scores the music.

Auto mechanic Dan Brady (Rooney) fancies himself as a ladies man, so when he sets eyes on sultry looking blonde Vera Novak (Cagney), he just has to date her. Intending to put it back tomorrow, Dan borrows $20 from the till of the garage where he works, the money to be used for the date with Vera. However, with Vera comes baggage, not only in what she wants out of Dan, but in the form of her ex-boss Nick Dramoshag (Lorre), who has designs on Vera too. Pretty soon Dan finds that his life is getting out of control as he gets in deep with robbery and maybe even murder?.

Quicksand was received coldly back on its release, a generation of film goers had grown accustomed to Rooney lighting up the screen as Andy Hardy and turning in frothy performances in musicals. Here he goes against type, and the public wasn't ready for it, even tho he arguably gives one of his best career performances. As a film it's a very tight piece. The plot is in the classic noir tradition of having a male protagonist trapped in a downward spiral, no matter what he does, each decision he makes is a wrong one and only worsens his situation. That there's a blonde femme fatale (Cagney is sexy in a powerful way, with shifty glances telling so much) sat at his side as his life goes belly up; still further fuels the darker edges of the film noir feel. There's a devilishly bitter irony hanging over proceedings, too, that Dan could have escaped all this if he had not spurned the attentions of the more homely, but loyal, Helen (an adorable Bates). The film, and tone, is also boosted by Lorre turning in one of his sleazy sloth like performances, while a mention is warranted for Art Smith as Dan's boss, Oren Mackay, the kind of boss you could easily punch for fun.

We possibly could have done with some more noirish artistry from Lindon for his photography, but he does OK, with a parking lot/back alley pursuit well shot. While Gruenberg's score is right in tone, especially the theme tune piece, which has a distinctly Cape Fear edge to it. It would come as no surprise to me to find that Bernard Herrmann had watched and listened to Quicksand prior to scoring the Mitchum & Peck classic. Look out too for Red Nichols and His Five Pennies band during a club scene, it's a nice touch that adds a bit of period detail. Clocking in at nearly 80 minutes, Quicksand doesn't hang around, it's briskly paced and suspenseful into the bargain. Certainly it's minor film noir, but all things considered, it's one of the better B's from this most wonderful of genres. 7.5/10

One of the lesser-known treasures of classic film noir, this tough little chronicle of a hapless boy taken on a criminal joy ride by his own uncontrollable lusts succeeds partly because of the brick-house design of Cornell Woolrich's original story, partly because of its ingeniously chosen cast. Pairing the still fresh-faced Mickey Rooney with the creepily worn-looking Jeanne Cagney instantly suggests corruption; the subtext that the boy is just a pawn in a weird game being played between this nasty dame and her lover (Peter Lorre, looking one drink over the line) makes the spine crawl.

Here's an unusual film noir because it stars an actor that you wouldn't think would be in a crime film: Mickey Rooney.

But, like a lot of comedians, singers and other non-dramatic actors, Rooney could surprise you with his dramatic talents. He wasn't all Andy Hardy fluff.

Rooney was a fine, fine actor and he does a good job here in this role as a man who makes one mistake after another. Those mistakes compound into a major crime and Rooney winds up in major trouble. In fact, it's pretty amazing to watch this unfold as one small crime leads to one thing after another making things worse and worse as it goes along.

Jeanne Cagney is good as the typically-floozy blonde who is prevalent in so many of these film noirs. Barbara Bates is the wholesome good girl, but she really makes some stupid decisions late in the film, too. In other words, the three main characters are not evil people but they have major flaws.

Overall, it's an odd film of sorts and one that starts slowly but gets better and better as the story progresses. Definitely worth a look to see Rooney play this kind of role.

If you have then this film is for you. Mickey Rooney plays a mechanic who wants to take a waitress out on a date but doesn't have enough cash to impress her with. He steals and then needs to commit more crimes and bigger crimes to cover his tracks. Finally his walk on the wildside ends in murder. But is the guy dead or just knocked out?

Without giving away the ending a similar film is Detour which had a lot of trouble with the censors for its own ending. In my opinion braving the censors gives Detour more punch. But Quicksand is still an enjoyable Film Noir and one of my favourite Mickey Rooney films. We see Rooney in too many musicals and family films. Quicksand gives him a dark side.