User reviews

Paul Henreid produced this film in which he starred, eerily portraying a totally amoral man who does not see anything at all wrong with the occasional murder, as long as he 'needs to do it'. John Bennett delivers an equally powerful performance of a woman who, although not good, is certainly not bad, and it is curious that this study of a woman's fixation on a bad man through infatuation was made in the same year as 'Force of Evil' which showed an even more extreme form of that. It must have been 'beauty and the beast' year. The ingenious plot concerns a double-identity, so there are two major threads of intrigue going on at once. Needless to say, Joan Bennett is involved with both Henreids, but prefers the baddie because he is more spellbinding and, let's face it, far from boring. This is a well-directed, sometimes brutal, atmospheric thriller which is something of a lost classic. It is now available on DVD under its alternative title of 'The Scar', which is a most unfortunate title, as people don't like scars (even though there is one in the story). Joan Bennett was really made for these films, as she proved in 'The Woman in the Window' and 'Scarlet Street' for instance. There is something ambiguous about her, something hard that is soft, you can't quite figure her. That's just right for noir. You should never be able to figure noir, everything should stay in the shadows where it belongs. The thing about a good thriller like this is, the mystery goes beyond the story itself and becomes the mystery of people themselves, what is it that goes on inside heads, those impenetrable citadels of secrets.

Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett star in "The Scar," otherwise known as "Hollow Triumph."

As a film noir, "The Scar" works on several different levels. And even though a major plot point in the story stretches the realm of possibility a bit too far, this forgotten little film deserves a better fate than its present public-domain, bargain bin video status.

The plot revolves around John Muller (Henreid), who organizes a major casino heist with a few of his pals. When the sting is botched, Muller runs as far away as he can with his ill-gotten gains. The casino's owner, a gangster (who bears an interesting likeness to Richard Conte) isn't planning on taking this robbery on his back. He dispatches two of his more intimidating thugs to locate him and ... well ... retrieve the stolen money. "Even if it takes you 20 years," he demands. In a desperate attempt to conceal himself from the vengeful clutches of the fore-mentioned gangster, Muller engineers a plan to impersonate a psychologist who, as it turns out, is a carbon-copy lookalike of himself. The only difference between the two is a rigid scar that outlines his left cheek. Can Muller find it within himself to kill the psychologist and begin living a double life? Will the gangsters guns find him first?

I have to admit, with the exception of a couple of protracted scenes, "The Scar" truly is a first-rate thriller. Steve Sekely directs, punctuating just about every scene with classic film noir iconography. Daniel Fuchs' script is also top-notch ... which may have served as a primer for his next project ... the indelible "Criss Cross" for Universal. (He also penned "Panic in the Streets," another great, oft-overlooked film noir starring Richard Widmark.) Joan Bennett's performance comes off as a trifle pallid ... but then again, this was Henreid's picture from the get-go. He commands every scene that he appears in with suave acumen, something that I missed from his performance in the overrated "Casablanca." I'll be the first to admit that I've not seen many of his other pictures. But Henreid really won me over with this film ... he deserves a far better acknowledgement than only as "the other guy" of "Casablanca."

More than anything, I think "The Scar" (or "Hollow Triumph" ... whatever) is a classic example of just how absent-minded popular culture really is. More than ever, movie-goers expect a film that is saturated in bloody action, quick-cuts, and talentless actors. There's not a lot going for movies, today. And thankfully ... most of what's out there will have been long-forgotten by the popular culture consciousness in a few years. I think that modern pop culture has unfairly labeled film noir as being movies lavished with shadows, dames and guns. And while all of these are inherent to the genre, they forget the cold, black heart that beats beneath its surface. "The Scar" thrives on this kind of energy. It's a classic example of what made film noir great ... and why we'll never see anything like it ever again.

Yes, "Hollow Triumph" or "The Scar" is a very fine example of film noir. It is tough, gritty, full of duplicity, and identities that shift across screen time. But what really makes this film sing is the vivid low-key photography of John Alton. Yes, perhaps Sekely deserves some credit, but the look is all Alton. "HT" is shot the same year (1948) as two other excellently lensed films by Alton -- "Amazing Mr. X" and "He Walked By Night." Dark sets lit with single light sources, bizarre angles and strong uses of deep focus compositions characterize Alton's work. Alton knew well how to get along with less light, creating the nightmarish worlds we see on the screen. This film's look reminds me of another great noir work -- Welles' 1958 "Touch of Evil" shot by Metty. But as I think of the two cinematographers, Alton seemed to best encapsulate the noir look -- seamy, wet, claustrophobic and dead-ended.

Of worthy mention here too, is: Henreid repeating the cigarette motif we saw earlier in "Now, Voyager," but here given a chain-smoking mania of its own, suggestive of insecurity and metaphoric of his attempts to "cloak" his identity, to shape-shift like a cloud of smoke into something new.

I like Paul Henreid, and Joan Bennett does a fine job in this film, but please, one can only suspend disbelief for so long. There are enough holes in this plot to fill a golf course. An ex-con plans a robbery of a mob casino, and the robbery goes awry. Now, he must try to get away from the mob. So far, so good. Then the film goes off the deep end; I mean the deep end as in the Pacific Ocean.

I will not reveal the complications and plot, as they are too fantastic for any rational person to swallow. An eight-ounce horse pill would be easier to swallow. Suffice it to say that the attempt is fascinating, and responsible for the 6 star rating; however, is it believable? Not in the slightest.

I've just seen this on TCM and the informative intro by Bob revealed that Henreid not only produced and acted in this film, but also directed it without credit when the assigned director was fired earlier in the picture because of the bad rushes. This was Henreid's first directing attempt and would become the first of many. The direction is fine. He attempts some interesting angles and sharp cuts. I didn't have as much a problem as some here with his casting. This wasn't a thug he was supposed to be portraying, but somebody with a brilliant, though warped brain. His accent (and he does have one) is the problem due to the contrivances of the plot. Somehow, he not only meets his exact double, but that double also has his accent. I know there is a scene were he tries to emulate the doctor's supposedly different voice, but in later scenes, he just speaks the same as always. Since this is the major conceit of the movie, it weakens the already iffy logic considerably. Later, when we're introduced to his brother, they do not share a similar accent. Although I'd usually chalk it up to one being raised somewhere else, this is never explained. And, the fact that it does crop up, just shows that his accent is a disadvantage instead of an asset. I enjoyed the movie, but it's not in a league with top-notch noir.

Hollow Triumph is a very good film noir that's often missing from Essential Noir lists, usually only because it's not very well known. Now whereas we could debate for hours whether this movie deserves a place in those lists or not (or debate on which noirs absolutely need to go in those lists), why don't we just take a closer look at the film?

THE STORY SO FAR... Johnny Muller is a criminal, planning to rob a casino with the help of a few friends and two cars. The robbery doesn't go too well and only the car with Johnny and 'Marcy' manages to escape. They hide as it's all too clear that the casino people will do all to get their money back. Hiding wasn't a bad idea, Johnny finds out: one day the newspaper shows a picture of 'Marcy' shot on the streets. No points for guessing who's behind it. Johnny is looking for a way out and finds one when a man on the streets takes the gangster for Dr. Bartok, a psychiatrist. Johnny pays a visit to the doctor's office where even Bartok's secretary mistakes Johnny for her boss, till she observes the one difference that can distinguish the lookalikes: Bartok has a scar on his cheek. Johnny takes a picture of Bartok and uses all his surgical knowledge to copy the scar on his cheek. Unfortunately, due to a mix-up at the photo lab, the photo's printed the wrong way round and Johnny finds himself with the scar on the wrong cheek. But who really pays that much attention to people's faces?

SO IT'S A FILM NOIR THEN... Yes, it is. We have the gangster looking for a way out, the femme fatale (the secretary) with no faith left in mankind and we get a hard-boiled vision on life: who really cares about good and bad? Who really observes other people? Ask yourself the question: would you notice a scar moving to the other side of a person's face? That person is still there, the scar's still there and let's face it: scars can't move, can they?

WHAT MAKES THIS FILM SO SPECIAL? Not the beginning, I found it a bit weak, but a very good climax at the end of the film somehow makes us forgive that.

First, let's look at the cast and director. The director Steve Sekely (born in Hungary as István Székely) made 50 films. His career started in Hungary in 1930. Nine years later he moved to the USA. Most of his films are quite unknown, the biggest exception being an adaptation from a John Wyndham novel: The Day of The Triffids (1962).

Starring as John Muller, we find one Paul Henreid, a man you might recognise from Casablanca (where he played Victor Laszlo) or as the lead in the film classic usually watched for the wrong reason, Of Human Bondage. The femme fatale is often essential to a film noir, which makes the choice of Joan Bennett as Bartok's secretary a very good deal. She didn't only play the lead in Max Ophuls's film noir The Reckless Moment, she was also in the three noirs director Fritz 'Metropolis' Lang directed in the forties: Scarlett Street, The Woman in the Window and - save the best for last - Secret Beyond The Door. In Hollow Triumph she may not play the lead, but she's still an essential part of the movie.

But what makes this movie so special is... the lighting technique. Director Steve Sekely observed how one lamp can light (parts of) a room and took all sorts of lights (from natural exterior light to big Hollywood spots) to light his movie in such a way Hollow Triumph is a lust for the eye. The light (or absence of) is also a motiv in the film (e.g. during the robbery disabling the lights is an essential part of the plan, but it's the presence of light that exposes them when they want to drive away). But Sekely uses all those forms of light in such a subtle way it doesn't bother you when you're watching the film. On the contrary, it even adds to your viewing pleasure.

John Muller (Henreid) is a smart, good looking, nihilistic criminal. He gets out of jail and immediately hatches a plan for a heist, bringing together his old gang. The plan works, but not very well, and his identity is revealed to the mob boss he has ripped off. Muller runs and begins stalking a new identity. Muller is anything but likable, but somehow, his characterization is sympathetic enough to allow the audience to at least consider redemption as an option. As Muller's plan is set in motion, elements of his past creep back into his life and threaten him. But the biggest threat is the most sympathetic, well-portrayed, and engaging character in the film - Joan Bennett's Evelyn.

Hollow Triumph, or The Scar, is not typical noir. It includes relatively few of the clichés of the genre, and incorporates an unusual amount of realistic human emotionalism. Although the film may be predictable at times - especially for those steeped in noir traditions - it also presents many surprises along the way.

Paul Henreid (Casablanca, Dead Ringer, etc) produced and starred (dual role) in this compelling noir. Henreid and veteran B-film director Stephen Sekeley put together a creative team and cast with great talent and comparatively little star power, ending up with a relatively obscure, but excellent example of the genre. John Alton's cinematography is standard noir and awesome. Bennett and Henreid are superb, and the script, though sometimes hyperbolic, helps create memorable characters and story.

Recommended.

An escaped robber named Johnny Muller (Paul Henreid) in a desperate attempt to hide from the hired killers chasing after him decides to take the place of a look-a-like psychoanalyst named Dr. Bartok. The only difference is a scar Bartok has on his face...Johnny carries out his plan with surprisingly success except for one small detail. Along the way to becoming Dr. Bartok, Johnny meets and unexpectedly falls in love with Bartok's secretary Evelyn, who has lost faith in mankind, in one of the greatest film noir romances ever put to film.

The best thing about this unlikely Film Noir film is its superb ending...with the close-up on Evelyn's face at the end and an ending we are aware of but she is not.

It's hard to write 10 lines of copy about this so-so film noir. There just isn't a lot to say about it. It is not memorable enough to add to your collection, and I have a considerable amount of noirs.

Paul Henreid plays a tough guy in here. He's not one I would think of to play this kind of role, but he's fine with it. He's a fine actor, anyway.

Everything, including the cinematography, is okay-but-not memorable. One thing that stood out: the abrupt ending. That was a surprise. It was also a surprise to see this under the heading "Hollow Triumph." I've never seen the film called that. It's always been called "Scar."

If you read about a "tense film noir," etc., don't believe it. "Tense" is not an accurate adjective for this film.

I'm commenting here only about some of the rather silly comments expressed elsewhere about Paul Henreid. First of all, he wasn't "Hungarian/French/American", but Austrian/American, born a member of the Austrian nobility in Trieste and raised in Vienna. His original name was too long to reproduce here, but he first acted under the name of Paul von Hernreid. Several have mentioned his THICK accent, but he has almost no accent at all in most of the film, and what accent remains is so light as to be indeterminable (almost the kind of Continental European accent one can hear in Audrey Hepburn's speech when she's not making a determined effort to speak English with no accent at all); whatever the accent may be, it is certainly not "thick"! And his brother in the film is played by American Edward Franz, who very often played roles in which he had no definable accent but seemed to be speaking with one just the same(!). That is pretty much the way I heard him in this film, too. Others claim Henreid was trying to change his good-guy image, but he had already done that several times in films, most especially as Nazis in two English-made films (one of which being the quite notable NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH) prior to arriving in the U.S., and concurrently with this film he appeared in ROPE OF SAND as one of the most despicable villains of the late 1940s (at one point, he blinds Burt Lancaster by forcing his head into the sand, and then tries to run over him with a truck!). As with at least a few of the commentators, I usually find that Henreid lacks a certain amount of star charisma, but he seems to have more of it in this film than in any other of the thirty or so films I've seen him in. Ironically, it is in what is probably his least-known starring role effort. Too bad.

Paul Henreid starred and produced this okay film noir crime drama. This is Henreid's movie as he dominates most of the scenes obviously looking to escape his nice guy-good guy image for something far darker. He's not bad but the preposterous script did not provide much assistance; It's just too much of a leap of faith for the viewer to accept for this storyline to work. Henreid no sooner is let out of prison than he can't wait to organize his gone-soft mob to knock off the biggest gambling racket in town run by feared gangster Rocky Stansyck. The heist is a surprisingly low budget shoot; it goes wrong and Henreid is on the run from Stansyck's crowd. He happens upon a look alike shrink except for a facial scar and plans to steal his identity. In the process of stealing the identity Henreid accidentally scars the wrong side of his face. No matter - nobody notices! Tough Joan Bennett is the shrink's secretary in a good role. Lovely Leslie Brooks has a throw-away role. Herbert Rudley as Marcy is quite good though as Henreid's right hand man in his mob. The rest is fairly predictable. The exceptionally dark nourish shoot and atmosphere were very good and bailed out the mediocre script and plot to some degree. This is okay for film noir buffs.

On the run from mobsters, Paul Henreid comes across a doctor who looks exactly like him. The only difference being that the doctor has a scar on his cheek. Bizarrely, Heinreid decides the best way to hide from his pursuers is to kill the doctor and take his place (this is funny as physically he still looks much the same as the man the mobsters are looking for) He kills the doctor, gives himself a facial scar and proceeds to impersonate the doctor. Unfortunately he has blundered and the facial scar is on the opposite cheek to that of the doctor. We are asked to believe that no one notices this, including the two ladies in his life. Despite the silly plot Henreid gives a fine performance and there is a nice twist at the end which provides a crime don't pay message.

Hollow Triumph (1948)

Maybe Hungarian/French/American actor Paul Henreid (of "Casablanca" fame) knew by 1948 that he was not going to be an American movie idol. So here he went all out and produced this film and starred in two (two) of the leading roles. No one could stop him. And it almost works. There is no making up for his styrofoam abilities, but he is serviceable, at least, and the photography (by John Alton, a noir great, see "The Big Combo") makes it worthwhile alone. Joan Bennet is not cast well, I suppose, but she has her own kind of cheerful innocence that works fine.

Not to trip over myself with superlatives. This is a decent movie with maybe an overly clever (and highly implausible) plot getting mostly in the way. And yet, with all these issues it still is involving. It partly succeeds because it uses the best of the era--great Hollywood studio machinery top to bottom--so it looks and feels very professional. And there are some terrific location scenes that are worth the ticket alone. Hungarian director Steve Sekely was and is little known and yet he clearly makes the most of what little he had to work with here...enough to wish we could get his pre-war Hungarian films on DVD for a look. Probably lost to American audiences forever.

This is officially a B-movie, produced at a smaller studio, but it feels very professional and really A-movie in technique (thanks largely to Alton, I think). If you like noirs, and you like brooding dark and eventually depressing material, I wouldn't hesitate to watch this, but keep in mind the caveats.

John Muller (Paul Henreid) robs a casino and gets away with it. However, the casino boss vows to catch up with him. Muller hides himself in a couple of jobs before taking on the persona of Dr Bartok, a psychotherapist, after killing him. He falls in love with Bartok's secretary Evelyn (Joan Bennett) and they plan to flee the country together. Evelyn doesn't believe that he will show up to sail away with her.....

There is so much that is wrong with this film but yet it is still entertaining. The cast are good and there is a nice twist at the end. There are also memorable scenes that include the robbery at the beginning, the moment that a couple of contract killers show up at the garage where Muller is working - will they recognize him?, etc. However, the film has to lose a couple of points just because of the plot.

John Muller puts a scar on the wrong side of his face and no-one recognizes! Once he becomes the scarred Dr Bartok, none of his work colleagues notice that his scar is on the wrong side of his face? His secretary doesn't notice anything either? Worse still, in her case, is the fact that she has had an affair with Muller before he becomes Dr Bartok and she doesn't suspect that it's the same person? As well as not spotting the scar on the wrong side of his face! It's absolutely ludicrous. His patients also don't notice anything. Neither does his girlfriend Virginia (Leslie Brooks) or any of his social crowd at the casino. Not even John Muller's brother can recognise him coz he's got a mark on his cheek! If you saw your brother standing infront of you with a mark on his cheek that you hadn't seen before, you'd still KNOW it was your brother. And if he said he wasn't your brother, you'd reply "what the f*** are you playing at?" It is truly laughably bad script-writing.

Another point that you have to suspend belief on is that John can suddenly become a psychotherapist after a brief period of reading some books about it. Actually, now that I think about it, that is quite realistic.

The film keeps you watching despite being completely unbelievable.

Paul Henried plays a double role in "Hollow Triumph," a 1948 film also starring Joan Bennett. Henried is John Muller who, the minute he gets out of prison, hatches a robbery plot of a casino with his old gang. None of them want to go along with it, but Muller bullies them into it. It doesn't go as planned. The owner of the casino, Stansyck, is known for hunting people down who wrong him even if it takes years, so Muller is now a marked man. When he's stopped on the street by a dentist who believes him to be Dr. Victor Bartok, Muller begins to hatch an idea. They look exactly alike - except for a scar on Bartok's left cheek.

"Hollow Triumph" or "The Scar" as it's also called is a very entertaining movie even with a preposterous plot. One small point is the casting of Eduard Franz as Muller's brother. Were they separated at birth, with Muller brought up in Germany and his brother raised in the U.S.? Or did someone cast Eduard Franz thinking that because of his name, he had an accent? Paul Henried does a good job in his dual role, though we really don't see a lot of Bartok's personality. Joan Bennett is good as an embittered woman who believes she's unlucky in love.

Seeing "Hollow Triumph" in 2008, one thing sticks out: a guy filled his gas tank for a dollar.

... with Paul Henreid kicking noble freedom fighter Victor Laszlo of "Casablanca" down the stairs and embracing his dark side. Henreid plays recently released ex-con John Muller. He violates Clint Eastwood's timeless warning "A man has got to know his limitations" and walks out of jail and into the robbery of a gambling joint that goes wrong. He escapes, but the guy whose place he robbed, Rocky Stansyck, makes it a rule that he hunts down and kills anybody who even tries to rob him. Some of his associates are immediately caught by Rocky, and he knows they will talk, so Muller is a dead man with 60 thousand dollars. That would be about 1.2 million in 2021 dollars.

Now Muller's basic problem is not only that he is not as clever as he thinks he is, but that he is actually very intelligent. And counting on that intelligence lets his thrill seeking side get the best of him so he doesn't plan things out as well as he should. He overlooks things that he should not. The plot is improbable, but it works well as Muller finds a novel way to disappear into the life of another. Irony upon irony brings our overconfident protagonist closer to his unexpected ending. What is that ending? Watch and find out.

The lucky break this film had was not only getting ground breaking John Alton as its cinematographer, but getting Joan Bennett to play the leading lady. And here is a secondary theme you won't see much in the Leave It To Beaver world of mid 20th century production code filmland - that of the single woman past a certain age. And not the stereotype of a "spinster" who is often an object of derision of films made at this time. Bennett is playing a beautiful woman of intelligence and class who is probably early 30s. And yet despite her frantic yoo-hooing, life has passed her by. "It's a bitter little world" she says at one point. She knows the score, she has become callous and hard from so many romances that haven't worked out so that she almost can paint them by number. Do you know the future of a single childless woman in mid 20th century America? Look no further than the char woman towards the end of the film - who has a pivotal scene by the way -to see her eventual destination. And I'm sure she knows that.

This film fell into the public domain years ago, so murky prints are plentiful on youtube, but there was an excellent Blu produced of it a few years back. I recommend that print. It's the best way to enjoy Alton's noirish photography.

Hollow Triumph finds Paul Henreid cast in the dual role of small time crook John Muller, recently released from prison and dreaming of a big score and his doppleganger, psychiatrist Dr. Victor Emil Bartok.

Henreid the crook has been released and no sooner than he's out than he refuses to heed the warnings of his older brother Eduard Franz and go straight, but that he reassembles his old gang for a robbery of the gambling palace owned by Tom Browne Henry.

Paul's the only one who gets away, but Tom's a mean dude when crossed and Henreid has to find a way to disappear. Providentially the psychiatrist appears on the scene and Paul's found a way. It's his idea to kill the psychiatrist and assume his identity.

That unfortunately brings some additional complications, most of them in the person of Joan Bennett, the secretary of psychiatrist who falls for the crook big time. She proves his undoing as many a woman has.

Henreid produced as well as starred in this film for the short lived Eagle-Lion studios, a hands across the sea project that was the brainchild of J. Arthur Rank and Universal Pictures. He does well in the kind of role his old rival from Casablanca Humphrey Bogart would have done. Bennett also did well in a part that makes her kind of the ultimate winner here.

Hollow Triumph, released in the USA as The Scar is a stylish noir thriller, the kind that if someone like Fritz Lang had directed would have been a classic.

The educated criminal John Muller (Paul Henreid) is released from prison and reunites his gang. He plots a scheme to heist the casino owned by the dangerous and powerful mobster Rocky Stansyck, but the holdup goes wrong. Two thieves are captured by the Stansyck's gangsters and they disclose the identities of Muller and his partner Marcy (Herbert Rudley) before being murdered. Marcy travels to Mexico and Muller hides in a city. Soon Marcy is killed in Mexico and Muller is jumpy. One day he is followed by a man and he learns that the man is the dentist Dr. Swangron (John Qualen) that tells that Muller is the doppelganger of hie neighbor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Bartok, and the only difference is a scar on the face of Bartok. Muller visit's Bartok 's office and meets his secretary, Evelyn Hahn (Joan Bennett). He also studies and prepares to impersonate Dr. Bartok. Will his plan work?

"Hollow Triumph" is a great film-noir with an ironical story of an intelligent gangster that decides to pose of psychoanalyst ans assume the identity of a man that is identical to him. He succeeds but he does not know who he is impersonating and he will find in the end. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Cicatriz" ("The Scar")

The trivia notes that: "According to contemporary newspaper articles, Paul Henreid decided to produce this film himself, so that he could play a bad guy for once." Unluckily, Paul Henreid has slightly miscast himself here in this "Tales of the Unexpected", although he has given himself a meaty enough acting task. Early on, this film hinges on a ludicrous premise, and later on, a coincidence which strains credulity beyond its limits. Still, once you just accept these aspects of the story and just go with it - this a well-shot, dream-like yarn, with a delectable performance from Joan Bennett as a hard-shelled soft-centred character who gets caught up in the story. Perfect noir lighting, a tense atmosphere and a heavily ironic and somewhat tragic dénouement make this memorable, despite its oddity.