Pitfall

Pitfall (1948):The title's abyss, pitilesslymoral, sprawls horizontally
rather than vertically, a lateraltrack following disheveled Dick Powell
bottoming out, wanderingthe streets after confessing murder and adultery
to wife Jane Wyatt. Fate may be at play, yet Andr� de Toth'sgrip is less
determinist thanhumanist,airtight but wounded,each pawn in thegrid
allowed trenchantspace todeepenthe fallout of their ownactions. It's
allsetearly on at thebreakfast table, "average American, backbone of the
country" Powell feeling menopausalcalcificationsettling in, the Boy Most
Likely to Succeednow staring atfriedeggs,schedules,middle-class
captivity. Revolt is sailingoff to South America, adream-call
semi-answeredwhenhisinsurancecompany dutiesleadhim to Lizabeth Scott,
an embezzler's reluctantly keptgal;tagged "little man with abriefcase,"
Powellshares aride on her confiscatedboat, but then back toland and
reality for somepetting on her sofa. Nospiderynoirdame, vulnerable,
luckless Scott learns of Powell's family and sendshim back tosuburbia,
though thedramahas alreadywelled waist-deep --lovelorn shamus Raymond
Burrpummels Powell outsidehis garage for moving in on the shapelysource
ofhis obsession, and,when Powell returnsthe favor, Burrtakes to paying
visits to Byron Barr, Scott'sjailedlover,poisoninghis mind with
suspicion. Homes are invadedwhile comicbooks give nightmares -- De Toth's
surfaces are nomore stable than Lang's, and post-wardomestic bliss,
frustrations and anxieties beneath thesheen, is not just threatened but
questioned over the course of the affair-cum-murder. Darkness isto be
sealed as soon as it isexposed for the system to carry on, and Powell and
Wyatt mustact out acold ritual of forgiveness and lies; Scott, meanwhile,
islast seen sent tothe face the law the couplehas justevaded, onefinal
glimpse burned in Powell's memory as theystruggle to rebuild theillusion
long imploded by thedirector. With John Lidel, Jimmy Hunt, and Ann Doran.
In black andwhite.