The Clay Pigeon (1949)

Very well executed

Really Surprised!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Our hero's a creep, comes off obnoxious and entitled--treats the lady like trash . . . yet . . . she believes he didn't really murder her husband in the Japanese prison camp and so will help him because . . . because he's such a jewel? And the Japanese torturer just happens to go to a CHINESE restaurant at the same exact moment our hero and his deluded lady friend are eating there! How'd he get into the U.S.? A couple of nice touches amid the tedious unfolding: 1) The above-mentioned Chinese restaurant in L.A.'s Chinatown seemed authentic (maybe even location?). By the way, our hero and lady stiffed the restaurant--they ran out without paying (he could've tossed some bucks on the table--always a cool maneuver and one I like to employ myself wherever possible). 2) Very moving was the exchange with the Japanese mom about her son who died fighting in the 442nd Regiment. (I'm glad the lady got an acting gig, but where was Anna May Wong? She would've been perfect.)

It's never good in these type of mysteries when the viewer gets way ahead of the protagonist. It's even worse when the clues are slapping the fall guy, the clay pigeon, in the face and yet he still can't see them. Bill Williams and Barbara Hale keep getting ambushed by murderous thugs. Only one guy, Williams's fellow ex-POW, Dick Quine, knows where they are because Williams keeps calling him on the phone. Yet neither Williams nor Hale tumbles upon the idea that maybe the bad guys always know where to find them because Quine is tipping them off. Duh! And then there's the wild coincidence of Williams running into his old Japanese prison camp guard within a couple of hours after they arrive in Los Angeles. Worse, this Japanese guy seems to be an insider within the local Chinese community, even though the Chinese and Japanese hated each other (google Nanking). The only real pleasure here was spending time at the China City Plaza in L.A.'s Chinatown.

Starts off well as amnesiac vet (Williams) is chased by mysterious forces including not so mysterious Naval Intelligence. Now he's got to unravel the puzzle before it catches up to him. Good thing he gets help from dead buddy's wife (Hale). That chase sequence from San Diego to LA is particularly well done, and in good noirish fashion. Then too, the fight in Hale's apartment almost had me yelling for help. Only a devoted married couple like Williams and Hale could make it so physically realistic. However, once events locate in LA, the story settles into a more familiar pattern. Unfortunately, a compromised script prevents the promising start from reaching front rank. Paradoxically, the screenplay is from ace writer Carl Foreman (High Noon; Bridge on the River Kwai, et al). I can only surmise that the brief running time (63-minutes) and a tight B-movie shooting schedule forced him to compromise the narrative in implausible fashion. For example—Hale's quick turnaround with escaped fugitive Williams, especially when she thinks he's responsible for her husband's death; the chance encounter with Japanese ex-prison guard Richard Loo; the cops unexplained boarding of the train in the middle of nowhere when they planned to wait in Glendale; but most of all, the angelic mother who allows a fugitive stranger she's just let in the door to hide in the same room as her infant son. These devices may expedite the plot, but they also come across as just that, plot devices-- too many, in my view, for what is also a pretty dense narrative. At the same time, guessing the mystery's real culprit becomes pretty easy, thereby undermining the suspense. Also, director Fleischer shows little of the personal engagement that distinguishes his other noirs. All in all, the movie adds up to an average programmer that unfortunately promises more than it delivers.

Bill Williams was a reliable actor who specialised in "nice guy" roles. His main claim to fame was his marriage to Barbara Hale (TV's Della Street) and after their marriage they were paired in films like "A Likely Story" and "The Clay Pigeon". "The Clay Pigeon" was a better than average programmer with class A credentials - director Richard Fleisher (he later directed "Compulsion" and "The Boston Strangler") and screenwriter Carl Foreman ("Champion" and "The Men").Seaman James Fletcher (Bill Williams) awakes in the United States Naval Hospital from a coma, to find hostility among the staff - one of the other patients even tries to strangle him. He can't understand why then overhears he is to be charged with treason. He knows, deep down, he could not have been guilty of such a crime and escapes to try to find out the truth. His memory starts to return and he looks up an old friend - Mark Gregory. He is made welcome by Martha Gregory (Barbara Hale) but he happens to see an article in the papers - police are searching for him in connection with Mark Gregory's death!!! After a tussle with Martha - she had been secretly trying to ring the police, he gets in contact with Ted Niles (Richard Quine) - the three of them had called "The Three Musketeers" during the War, and Ted grudgingly agrees to help him. Williams plays James in a very aggressive way - I can understand Martha's reluctance to believe him at first.Something doesn't add up and it doesn't take long to realise who the real villain is - James and Martha are deliberately run off the road when they are on their way to Ted's. James is also experiencing black- outs and flashbacks. He was tortured and flogged by a Japanese prison guard, nicknamed "The Weasel" (Richard Loo, who was kept pretty busy during the 1940s, playing assorted POW guards and heavies). They finally get to L.A. but while at a Chinese restaurant James sees "The Weasel" and also encounters the same two goons who tried to run them off the road. They still count Ted as their friend and he tells them he will put a private detective on "The Weasel's" trail - or does he!!!This is an excellent little film and for 63 minutes the pace doesn't let up. Beautiful Barbara Hale had quite a dramatic role that required more of her than being mere set decoration. Richard Quine had been a child actor but had turned his talents to directing as well as acting. He was also married to the tragic Susan Peters. Martha Hyer had one of her early bits, as a brunette, as Miss Harwick, Wheeler's receptionist.Recommended.