The Price of Fear

It's the Plot that Propels this Good Looking but Dull Unfolding of this Crime Flick with Film-Noir Elements.

The Noir is the Doomed Femme-Fatale and Her Down-Beat Relationship with Lex Baxter, the Framed Protagonist.

Baxter is Miscast as is the Aging and Far From Glamorous Romantic Lead, Merle Osbourne.

That Captures Baxter in Her Web as She Falls-From-Grace and Spirals Ever Downward Toward Destruction.

The Voice-Over Narration from Copper Charles Drake Surprisingly just Vanishes After the First-Act, almost as if They had Second-Thoughts.

Overall, Watchable but Unremarkable Acting, Warren Stevens is Unconvincing as a Crime-Boss Forever in Threatening Mode.

The Movie Doesn't have much of an Edge, but the Talky Plot can Keep Viewers On-Their-Toes while Not Offering much of a Suspenseful or Edgy Tone.

Moderately entertaining B picture, "The Price of Fear" embodies several noir elements, but plays as little more than a made-for-television crime drama. A hit and run sets off a chain of events that include murder, blackmail, double-cross, bribery, and theft. A late-career Merle Oberon stars as Jessica Warren, a successful financial advisor who makes a fatal mistake. While an unexpected turn offers her the opportunity to blame someone else, by implicating another, she inadvertently provides an alibi for murder. In her mid-40's, Oberon retains her beauty, although her confidence must have been faltering, because the other characters are obliged to throw compliments her way. Casting the eight-years-younger former Tarzan, Lex Barker, as her love interest, was even more flattery to an aging star. Barker's character is not the brightest bulb, and the 6'4" blonde hunk falls for Oberon's icy charms and easily into her duplicitous trap.

Engaging a voice-over introduction and employing Irving Glassberg's crisp black-and-white cinematography, director Abner Biberman and writer Robert Tallman construct a decent, if unexceptional, mid-1950's film noir. Oberon and Barker are ably supported by Warren Stevens and Phillip Pine as gangsters and Charles Drake as a police sergeant. While the roles are undemanding, the cast is creditable for the material.

Fast moving and relatively taut, "The Price of Fear" has the usual plot holes and an unconvincing romantic angle that seems to develop overnight. However, the twists are enough to keep viewers' attention and provide 80 minutes of entertainment for fans of Oberon and Barker and for less-demanding film-noir enthusiasts.

Businesswoman Merle Oberon runs over an old man and speeds off. She has second thoughts and stops at a phone booth. After she gets the police, Lex Barker, on the run from gangsters who are about to kill his partner, spots it, hops in and zooms off. Miss Oberon reports the car stolen. Buddy/police Lieutenant Charles Drake thinks there's something wrong with the set-up.

There's something about this sort of 1950s drama that strikes me as not impossible, but brittle. So many of the lines are delivered without any emotional weight to them, as if the character is thinking about his words, then considering why he has chosen those words, until all feeling has been rendered out out them. Perhaps it's the pace of the dialogue that I find so unappealing. In the late 1930s, the pace of dialogue in the movies sped up, and the audience was given the impression of a stream of consciousness. Certainly Joseph Gershenson's two bars of theme that rise up majestically from a large orchestra overwhelm the performances instead of accentuating them.

Merle Oberon is always worth experiencing in any circumstances, and here they are rather confused. She is a top member of society, a lady above reproach, who happens to a car accident: an old man with a dog loses control of his dog and walks out into the street without seeing her coming, she hits him, she wants to report it immediately to the police taking responsibility at once, but as she already is starting to talk in a phone booth, her car is stolen. Instead she reports her car stolen. That's how it begins.

It appears she wasn't quite satisfied with the film herself, because after this film she almost never appeared on screen again - just a few TV shows, some minor parts now and then, while she still had a long life ahead and never lost her beauty.

It certainly isn't one of the best noirs, rather pale for a noir, and the script is too muddled up with improbabilities. How could she at all have anything to do with those rude gangsters, that later gets her involved, the last thing she wants? She blames her weakness, and that is very womanish, of course, so there is much in this film to discuss - Lex Barker isn't very attractive either, so their love business isn't very convincing. Anyone could love her, but he is rather wooden, while the other guy, Warren Stevens, is simply impossible in his rudeness.

It's worth seeing for her sake, you will remember her, but you will forget the picture.

After being framed for the murder of an ex-partner in a dog racing track, Dave Barrett (Lex Barker) steals a car from a woman named Jessica Warren (Merle Oberon), who is in a phonebooth. He doesn't know that she is about to call the police to tell them that a man has been the victim of a hit-and-run...by her car, which she was driving at the time. She sees Barrett steal her car, then suddenly decides to let him take the fall for the accident. Now it's a double frame-up for Barrett!

This movie explores a lot of different themes, most of all fear; fear of getting caught, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, etc... It's a good title, as it covers many of the motivations for the characters. I liked how it keeps you guessing as to how Barrett and Warren will deal with ever-changing situations, which not only keep the movie rolling along, but makes it fairly deep. On top of all that, you have the criminal and police element making things difficult for all of them.

I found that the story wandered a bit, but is pretty tight overall. The performances were understated and natural. It was compelling and had a lot of nice surprises in it. A good noir-ish crime drama. Wouldn't have minded seeing more of Gia Scala in it, but despite that, I'd see it again someday.