''The Man Who Cheated Himself'' is a 1950 American

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

noir directed by

Felix E. Feist Felix Ellison Feist (; February 28, 1910 – September 2, 1965) was an American film and television director and writer born in New York City. He is probably best remembered for ''Deluge (film), Deluge'' (1933), for writing and directing the fi ...

and starring

Lee J. Cobb Lee J. Cobb (born Leo Jacoby; December 8, 1911February 11, 1976) was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his starring role on the television series '' The Virginian''. He often played a ...

Jane Wyatt Jane Waddington Wyatt ( ; August 12, 1910 – October 20, 2006) was an American actress. She starred in a number of Hollywood films, such as Frank Capra's '' Lost Horizon'', but is likely best known for her role as homemaker and mother Margaret ...

and John Dall.

Plot

Wealthy socialite Lois Frazer, divorcing her fortune-hunter husband, Howard, finds a gun he had bought. She kills him with it in front of the new man in her life, Lt. Ed Cullen, a homicide detective with the San Francisco police. Cullen takes control, discarding the weapon and moving the body. Cullen ends up assigned to investigate the case, assisted by kid brother Andy, who is new to the homicide division and delays his honeymoon to keep working on his first big case. The gun is found and used in another killing by a young punk, Nito Capa, and Cullen—with few options to save himself and his paramour Lois—tries to pin both crimes on him. However, Andy keeps connecting Ed to the first murder, catching him in a number of evasions and lies. In desperation, Ed knocks Andy out, ties and gags him, and calls Lois and tells her they need to flee. Police roadblocks seal off the city, but Andy has a hunch where Ed took Lois to hide, at the abandoned ruins of Fort Point under the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...

where Andy and his brother played together when they were children. Their escape plan almost works, but they are ultimately arrested. Outside the courtroom, Ed sees Lois affectionately offering to do anything for her lawyer if he can keep her from being convicted. Defeated, Ed offers her a cigarette and they share a final goodbye gaze.

Cast

as Lt. Ed Cullen *

as Lois Frazer * John Dall as Andy Cullen * Lisa Howard as Janet Cullen *

Harlan Warde Harlan Warde (born Harlan Ward Lufkin; November 6, 1917 – March 13, 1980) was a character actor active in television and movies. Career Warde showed up in supporting roles as detectives, doctors, and ministers. Warde made five guest app ...

as Howard Frazer *

Tito Vuolo Tito Vuolo (22 March 1893 – 14 September 1962) was an Italian-born American actor, best known for his supporting work playing often stereotypical Italian characters. Prior to his film career, he toured the United States as a stage actor. His wi ...

as Pietro Capa *

Charles Arnt Charles E. Arnt (August 20, 1906 – August 6, 1990) was an American film actor from 1933 to 1962. Arnt appeared as a character actor in more than 200 films. Arnt was born in Michigan City, Indiana, the son of a banker. He graduated from ...

as Ernest Quimby (as Charles E. Arnt) *

Marjorie Bennett Marjorie Bennett (15 January 1896 – 14 June 1982) was an Australian actress who worked mainly in the United States. She began her acting career during the silent film era. Early life Bennett was born in York in Western Australia. Her sis ...

as Muriel Quimby * Alan Wells as Nito Capa

Production

The film was initially known as ''The Gun''. It was the first independent production from Jack M. Warner and started filming on location in San Francisco on 15 May 1950. It was to be distributed by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. It was Cobb's first film since his Broadway success in ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...

''. By June, the film was released by Fox. In August 1950, it was retitled ''The Man Who Cheated Himself''. The film was shot at

General Service Studios Sunset Las Palmas Studios, formerly General Service Studios and Hollywood Center Studios, is an American independent entertainment production lot located at 1040 North Las Palmas Avenue in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. It has stage f ...

Reception

Critical response

Film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a positive review, writing in 2005, "In an engaging film noir efficiently directed by Felix E. Feist ... ''The Man Who Cheated Himself'' is the perfect film for the beginning of the bland

Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

years." According to Fabio Vighi (2012), " great example of the coincidence of law and crime is in theB-noir ''The Man Who Cheated Himself'', particularly in the scenes with the two brothers: on the one hand, the law as neutral, non-pathological instrument (the 'good cop' played by the younger brother); on the other hand, the law as crime (the older cop, played by Lee J. Cobb). The latter is not the generically corrupt cop but a detective who is driven, like few other noir detectives, by the femme fatale he is besotted by ... 'You said it, she's got under my skin' are his final words to his brother." (159)Fabio Vighi, ''Critical Theory and Film: Rethinking Ideology Through Film Noir'' (London: Continuum, 2012).

References

External links

* * * *
''The Man Who Cheated Himself''
informational site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Cheated Himself 1950 films 1950 crime drama films 20th Century Fox films American crime drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films directed by Felix E. Feist Films set in San Francisco 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language crime drama films