User reviews

And I'm not talking about Mr Rooney. We chose this from an online list of Film Noirs, but in fact it turned out to be barely 'noir' at all but a very entertaining little crime thriller. Rooney plays well outside his comfort zone in this one, portraying a poorly-paid garage mechanic who chooses the wrong girl for a date. Out to impress her he steals $20 from the garage's till, fully intending to pay it back the next day. However, events conspire against him and he has to take out a loan to get him out of trouble. Things go from bad to worse and his girl reveals herself to be only interested in money and a $2000 fur coat. Before long, our hero is up to his neck in crime and the police start to show some interest. A really neat little film which shows just how well Mr Rooney could handle more beefy parts. Where do Amazon get their films from? We watched this on Amazon streaming and the quality was deadly.

Good original script, great performances by all, especially by Mickey Rooney, Peter Lorre, Jeanne Cagney and Barbara Bates. Very captivating spiral of troubles in which Dan, the character of Mickey Rooney, is caught. They all did a very good job, absolutely worth seeing.

It's a story as old as the human species: a hard-working young man makes one poor decision to cover for another, and in no time he's in far over his head. One heated moment leads to the next, and... well, this definitely fits the bill as a film noir. This movie is most aptly named, and relatable in spirit if not in detail - who hasn't faced compounding problems at one point or another? 'Quicksand' is consistently engrossing and fantastically entertaining as protagonist Dan sinks further and further into ill-doings.

Though the production seems relatively straightforward in all regards - characters, dialogue, scenes, overall narrative, and direction - the combination of all these elements is marvelous, and there are still a couple clever turns at points. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; Robert Smith's screenplay is wonderfully compelling in communicating a tumble down the rabbit hole, and we can't help but wonder just where it's going to end up. It helps that the cast is so swell, including not least of all perpetually fresh-faced Mickey Rooney - bringing unexpected physicality, nuance, and emotional range to the lead role of hapless, desperate Dan. Few actors have so innocent an appearance, and few would be so perfect for the part. Yet one can't overlook the involvement of Peter Lorre, whose unmistakable countenance and quiet intensity makes his character of Nick duly smarmy. And of course costars Jeanne Cagney and Barbara Bates are excellent, their natural charm and poise belying devious selfishness as Vera or naive hopefulness as Helen, respectively.

If I have any particular criticism to impart, it's perhaps that the ending is a little too ham-handed for its own good. Yet to my delight, this is the only specific detraction that comes to mind over these 79 minutes. And beyond that, there's just not much more to be said without betraying details. Especially compared to other features that play within the same storytelling space, this one isn't quite as sophisticated and twisting in its plot. But if anything, that comparative simplicity makes it all the easier to engage with, for in being thusly forthright, the movie can focus on making every scene, story beat, and performance count without worrying about keeping up with curve balls. Ultimately 'Quicksand' is such a plainly enjoyable and satisfying film noir that I think it's a strong recommendation for pretty much anyone - this is well worth one's time, wherever one may find it.

Mickey Rooney is surprisingly good as the car garage mechanic who gets into trouble and then makes the worst of it trying to get out of it, which inevitably gets him consistently from bad to worse, all because of a blonde scandal beauty, who happens to have some unfinished business with Peter Lorre, in which settlement she finds it convenient to use Mickey Rooney for an instrument, in which operation he all but gets his head blown off. Well, this is just the surface of this very unpleasant business, it's all a story of extremly ordinary unpleasantness that anyone could get mixed up with and which most people do - situations like this normally happens in everyone's life in one way or another. The question is how Mickey is going to get out of it. He tries desperately, which really turns the film ino a very noir thriller but with undeniable qualities, that are impressing, especially for a B feature. It's a great script, Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre keep the film thrillingly sustained by their outstanding performances, Mickey of the younger more hysterical kind and Peter of a more mature and suavely flegmatic kind. If you react against the unpleasantness of the plot and the situation, please be patient, for eventually you will be rewarded and compensated by the very well contrived turns of events, and after all you will leave the show well satisfied.

I found this noir film very interesting because of the main character's actor choice, Mickey Rooney. Mickey Rooney was a comedian and radio personality before becoming an actor for Quicksand.

To my surprise, Rooney made a pretty good 'Dan' Brady. I was impressed he was able to put in a few one-liner jokes and satire such as "Now, wait a minute! Don't holler 'til you hurt!".

When I saw the title for this film, I was also thinking of other titles that would work for this such as, "Domino Effect," or "Snowball," since Dan is 'put through the ringer' so to speak and the situations he ends up in are increasingly disastrous from taking $20 from an employer to becoming a getaway driver.

Overall, I found this film very interesting story-wise, but over the course of the movie, it did get better so it was worth watching.