Fred MacMurray clearly has not learned his lesson in Pushover where another fatale scrambles his brain and career with a promise of happily after after. While no Double Indemnity it is a more than passable suspense tightly edited with its fair share of tense moments.
After a huge bank haul cops put a 24/7 surveillance on the thief's moll Lona Mc Clane (Kim Novak). One of the squad, detective Sheridan (Mac Murray) gets too close however making him a "pushover " for the experienced Lona.
Released a month before Hitchcock's Rear Window, Pushover establishes a similar beach head with the cops observing from an apartment across the courtyard the comings and goings of Lona along with her neighbor, a nurse (Dorothy Malone) next door. The voyeuristic overtones are cleverly handled by director Richard Quine who economically leaves the uncouth to a couple of reliefs who have half a minute of screen time allowing Sheridan to focus on getting Lona out of her fix and his partner (Phil Carey) to carry on a chaste observation of the nurse next door.
Novak in her debut is surprisingly effective, especially when she has to get tough. Outstanding as he was in Double, MacMurray is miscast here, lacking the intensity of a more suitable Kirk Douglas. There is simply no passion in the clinches or spark in the coupling.
Quine keeps the pace and suspense at a decent pitch within the limited space of the apartment building but Sheridan's bungling towards the climax becomes far fetched as the film collapses under the weight of a mawkish poorly composed final scene.
After a huge bank haul cops put a 24/7 surveillance on the thief's moll Lona Mc Clane (Kim Novak). One of the squad, detective Sheridan (Mac Murray) gets too close however making him a "pushover " for the experienced Lona.
Released a month before Hitchcock's Rear Window, Pushover establishes a similar beach head with the cops observing from an apartment across the courtyard the comings and goings of Lona along with her neighbor, a nurse (Dorothy Malone) next door. The voyeuristic overtones are cleverly handled by director Richard Quine who economically leaves the uncouth to a couple of reliefs who have half a minute of screen time allowing Sheridan to focus on getting Lona out of her fix and his partner (Phil Carey) to carry on a chaste observation of the nurse next door.
Novak in her debut is surprisingly effective, especially when she has to get tough. Outstanding as he was in Double, MacMurray is miscast here, lacking the intensity of a more suitable Kirk Douglas. There is simply no passion in the clinches or spark in the coupling.
Quine keeps the pace and suspense at a decent pitch within the limited space of the apartment building but Sheridan's bungling towards the climax becomes far fetched as the film collapses under the weight of a mawkish poorly composed final scene.