I Walk Alone

Plot synopsis:
Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) and Noll "Dink" Turner (Kirk Douglas) are rum-running partners during Prohibition. They get into a shootout with some would-be hijackers after their liquor, attracting the attention of the police. The two men split up, but not before making a bargain that if one is caught, he will still get an equal share when he gets out of jail. Frankie is sent to prison for 14 years. When he is finally set free, he goes to see Noll.
In the interim, Noll has built up a swanky nightclub. When the impatient Frankie shows up there, Noll stalls, sending him to dinner with his singer girlfriend Kay Lawrence (Lizabeth Scott). Noll instructs Kay to find out what Frankie is after. He learns that Frankie expects him to honor their old bargain. He tells his old partner that the deal only applied to their old nightclub, which shut down years ago. Dave (Wendell Corey), the only member of the old gang Frankie trusted, had him sign legal papers to that effect some time ago. Frankie's share by Noll's reckoning is less than $3000. Furious, Frankie slugs Noll and leaves to recruit men to take what he figures he is owed. However, Noll had Dave tie up ownership of the nightclub between several corporations, with bylaws that make it impossible for him to hand over anything. Furthermore, the men supposedly backing Frankie actually work for Noll. Frankie is beaten up and left in the alley.
Meanwhile, Noll informs Kay that he intends to marry wealthy socialite Alexis Richardson (Kristine Miller), explaining that he is doing so to ensure the success of the nightclub with which he has become increasingly obsessed. He sees no reason they cannot continue their relationship. Repulsed by the idea and strongly attracted to Frankie, Kay quits and, overcoming Frankie's suspicions, joins his side.
Dave, aghast at how Frankie has been treated, tells him that he is willing to pass along what he knows, which is enough to bring Noll down. However, he foolishly tells Noll what he intends to do, and is killed by Noll's henchman. The murder is pinned on Frankie.
Evading a police manhunt, Frankie and Kay go to Noll's mansion. Though Noll is waiting with a loaded gun, Frankie manages to take it away from him. The three drive to the nightclub. By threatening Noll, Frankie extracts a written confession from him, which he gives to the police when they show up. Noll is taken away, but gets free and goes gunning for Frankie. He is shot dead by a policeman.

Tags: murder

Review:
I suspect the screenplay was tailored to showcase producer Wallis's top 3 new stars, especially Scott who gets a lot of romantic dialog along with sultry screen time.
It's the kind of movie where the stars are more memorable than the story.Scott and Douglas, for example, really shine.
For his part, Lancaster does well enough with his distinctive looks, but Frankie is a less showy role than the other two.Anyway, one thing for sure—producer Wallis certainly had an eagle eye for new talent, as this movie more than demonstrates..
Three of the stars from DESERT FURY (1947) – Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey – were reunited in another, marginally superior noir that is most notable today for marking the first of seven screen pairings between Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.
Although it was still very early in their careers, they had already become typecast as, respectively, the jilted, ex-con hero and the suave, slimy villain and this film has them reprising those characterizations – albeit less effectively than their prototype seen earlier in THE KILLERS (1946) and OUT OF THE PAST (1947); the same goes for Scott and Corey who both share a divided loyalty towards the two male leads.
I WALK ALONE can also be said to have kick-started the directorial career of former technician Byron Haskin which lasted for twenty versatile years; unfortunately, that fact is borne out by the surprising lack of pace (which makes the film seem longer than its 98-minute running-time) and a rather weak climactic confrontation.
Even so, the film is most interesting in the way it depicts the change in crime syndication (from streetwise toughness in the bootlegging Depression days to business acumen in the capitalist post-WWII era) that occurred during the fourteen years Lancaster spent behind bars: this is highlighted in a sharply amusing sequence when accountant Corey wrecks Lancaster's dream of owning half of Douglas' business empire (as they had verbally agreed on all those years before) by disclosing in "double-talk" the complex legal relationship that exists between the various companies owned by Douglas!.
Burt Lancaster has been in prison since the days of Al Capone, and when released he sets out to claim his share of ill-gotten gains from his former partner, Kirk Douglas.
Kirk is pleasant at first, lulling Burt with wine, gourmet food, and the company of his mistress Lizbeth Scott, but he has no intention of sharing anything.
What starts out as a buddy relationship becomes a battle of wits and wills as the two fight for control of Kirk's nightclub, lots of money, and Lizbeth.This is no "Double Indemnity", but the two main characters are written and acted well enough to hold our interest.
Lancaster has a more violent, less sympathetic character, but has fun playing a brute who's forced to actually think for the first time in his life.Not a great film, but an enjoyable one.
Two young hoodlums (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) are running illegal booze into another county during prohibition and get chased by the cops.
14 years later, Lancaster is out and finds that Douglas has gone legit and is the owner of a major nightclub and doing quite well.
Part of Douglas's plans include using his own mistress (Lizabeth Scott) to lead Lancaster on.
Frankie (Burt Lancaster) is released after 14 years in prison and is met by old friend Dave (Wendell Corey) who sets him up with a place to stay.
He senses that Dave is uneasy with him and discovers that Dave is working for his old partner in crime, Noll (Kirk Douglas), who is now running a successful nightclub.
Kay switches allegiance when she hears of Noll's intention to marry Mrs Richardson (Kristine Miller) and Dave also has 2nd thoughts about Noll....The film is well-acted but Lizabeth Scott seems slightly out of place as a world-weary nightclub singer.
The acting honours go to Kirk Douglas and Wendell Corey.
My favourite part of the film is the sequence where Frankie confronts Noll with a team of heavies in order to get what he feels is his share of the nightclub.
What was interesting to see unfold (in this almost 60 year old film) was how challenging the crime corporations are in pinpointing the vastness of what exactly they own.
The screenplay and the directing may seem a bit hackneyed to some,but Lancaster's problems,trapped in the mystery of economics and club management are rather intriguing.The essential lies elsewhere:watching the Lancaster/Douglas team is enough to satisfy the cine buff;they are so good than even when they work with inferior material,they are still better than most of the rest.
Douglas is icily suave,treating his old pal to a meal of canard à l'orange with vintage Champagne.But if looks could kill,his certainly would.Lancaster is a mistreated,thrown into jail (14 years!),cheated good guy ,but who will play fair game till the end.Between these two men ,there's of course a woman:unlike today's female parts,this one is not sacrificed .Lizabeth Scott's performance is first-class and on a par with the two male parts.Too bad her career should have ended so prematurely.She easily equals Laureen Bacall,she's even more human.It's strange how Douglas 's first parts were often villains (this movie,the loves of Martha Ivers) which culminated with Billy Wilder's highly superior "the big carnival".This movie proves that three good leads can give a banal plot substance..
After fourteen years in prison for bootlegging, Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) is released and returns To New York to meet his friend and partner Noll "Dink" Turner (Kirk Douglas).
Dink uses his mistress Kay Lawrence (Lizabeth Scott) to learn what Madison´s real intention are and his friend Dave (Wendell Corey) to explain that he has the right of less than US$ 3,000,00.
Madison is not convinced and when Dink decides to get married to Mrs. Alexis Richardson (Kristine Miller), Kay teams up with Madison to retrieve his share."I Walk Alone" is a film-noir with Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in the lead roles.
But Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott with her beauty ahead of time and the female fatale of this film, and the ambitious scum character performed by Kirk Douglas make this film engaging.
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas alone make a great combination.
Throw in Lizabeth Scott, who practically owns the archetype of a film noir leading woman (which isn't to say she's the best at it, for sure).
In fact, they work a time warp into the story by having Lancaster play bootlegger who was jailed in the early 1930s, and just got out in 1947.
I Walk Alone (1948) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) gets out of prison after fourteen years and heads to see his old partner Dink Turner (Kirk Douglas).
The story itself really isn't anything original and it doesn't take long for you to realize that Lancaster isn't going to be getting what's coming to him and the film takes way too long for this obvious set-up to take place.
It's rather amazing to see how well they play off one another in their film film but Lancaster was always terrific at playing the wronged tough guy and Douglas is just so snake like that you can't help but love to hate him.
Lizabeth Scott is good in her role as the woman in love with Douglas but who quickly starts to fall for Lancaster.
As one would expect, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster manage to be somewhat entertaining, but they are greatly hampered by a lackluster and painfully predictable script, perfunctory direction, and a leading lady who isn't capable of creating the type of tension and chemistry which her role requires..
Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott continue to make a great couple, as they found each other in "Desert Fury".
The great scene in the film is his scene, when Kirk forces him to lecture Burt on bureaucracy leading up to the crisis of Burt's own character and integrity assassination.
As a singer she was worse than Ida Lupino.It's neither Burt's nor Kirk's best film, but both are excellent as former gangsters trying to resettle after the second world war, Burt after 14 years in prison and Kirk firmly established as a syndicate mobster.
It just can't end well when the two meet again after 14 years when one let the other down.It was probably his performance here that gave Wendell Corey his only significant lead in a noir a few years later, ("The File on Thelma jordan",) but he was best as a supporting actor and will be remembered best as such - while both Burt and Kirk never stopped rising as stars..
Often on every friday or saturday night I' have to watch a noir movie, never on working days, my choice is easy explained which these specific days matches with the noir atmosphere offered in such genre, the clash between the two true legends of the high path of Hollywood, Lancaster plays a tough guy who after to serve a sentence of the fourteen years on prision is back to this old partner where he has 50 per cent of the famous Regent nightclub, in other hand Kirk Douglas already a rich socialite is no longer wants to carry on with old pal which hasn't a proper profile, to offer to high society, the time changes, Burt Lancaster was made for this role almost as early character Sweede on The Killers Lizabeth Scott has an average singer in an unconvincing acting on real and boring old songs, unlike Wendell Corey in an outstanding another great performance as skillful bookeeper, highly underrated noir!!!resume:First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.
Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster.
It feels as though Burt Lancaster is the tougher man in this film as he gets to punch Kirk Douglas and win.
There is tension between Lancaster and Douglas but their scenes together are just talking heads.
It's a shame, as with a few minor changes, this one easily could have earned an 8 or possibly a 9.After 15 years in prison, Frankie (Burt Lancaster) is released and he beats a path to the nightclub run by Noll (Kirk Douglas).
However, despite having a very successful club and lots of dough, Noll isn't about to give half of his fortune to Frankie--no matter what they agreed to.
There's quite a bit more to the film than this--including a third guy, Dave (Wendell Corey) whose loyalties seem all over the place as well as a dame (there's always a dame...played by Lizbeth Scott).There's a lot to like in the film--particularly the acting.
When he is released from prison, Dave , a mutual friend who now works for Turner is sent to meet the ex-con and help him settle down.Frankie, who wants to be paid for the time he spent in jail, has a lot to square away with his former friend.
"I Walk Alone", directed by Byron Haskin, is a good example of those films that came out after WWII.
"I Walk Alone" marks the first time Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas appeared together in movies.
The story here overtly bridges the gap between the 1930s gangster film and the new post-war noirs.
Neat idea.Particularly clever and effective is a tense confrontation between stoolie Lancaster and Douglas in ascent, which underscores just how corporate and despicable gang activity had become in the intervening years.
Condescending Kirk Douglas and Wendell Corey explain it to him point by point, humiliating him and gaining the upper hand.
But in a distinctly non-noir angle, Lancaster never gets the jump on anyone, and requires the pity of a doting, supportive woman (Lizbeth Scott) for the entirety of the movie.
Both Lancaster and Douglas, who co-starred in a number of films over the next two decades, were famous for tough exteriors hiding sensitive natures Lizabeth Scott, who appeared in films with one or the other, though never again with both together, was less versatileLike Lauren Bacall and Ella Raines (other actresses in the Veronica Lake mold), her career revolved on the archetypal vamp foundations: a bone, a rag, a hank of hair, and a voice that sounded as if it had been buried somewhere deep and was trying to claw its way out The film's plot had ex-convict Lancaster seeking revenge on nightclub owner Douglas who had cheated him, while Miss Scott was a singer whose song 'Don't Call It Love' pretty well stated her case as one who felt misunderstood and left out The physical similarities of the three made the roles interchangeable and the plot hard to follow  which perhaps is why it has become a classic of the film noir.
It is also one of the first pairings of Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in film.
Douglas and Lancaster were so well balanced in their movies that they were interchangeable.
His partner Burt got caught, and was sent to prison for 14 years (actually rather lucky for him - a cop was killed).
One of the best moments early in the film is when Lancaster sees newspapers and magazines that show Douglas swanning with the swells (even wearing top hat and overcoat in a rotogravure shot).
Not quite like the good old Dillinger days, or even Al Capone.Other films had touched upon the "legitimization" of mob money as time passed.
But even he tries to pick up a better public image - you see him practicing his putting in his office at one point.Lancaster confronts Douglas in his nightclub, only to be brought into the modern world of organized crime.
Lancaster is left without cash, and led a chase as well by Douglas using Lizbeth Scott as femme fatale bait.
He is ably matched by Burt Lancaster, his pal, who took the wrap for both of them and as a result served 14 years in prison.
During those years prohibition ended and Lancaster returns thinking he'll have part of Douglas's lucrative lounge business with Lizabeth Scott, whose career suffered from the rumors that she was a lesbian.Lancaster didn't realize the intricate corporate set-up that Douglas had established to keep him out.Douglas resorted to thievery, viciousness and ultimate murder along with framing Lancaster for the murder of the quiet, soft-spoken bookkeeper, played very well by Wendell Corey.This is a wonderful crime drama film and your interest shall be sustained until the very end..
Lancaster is "old technology" coming back from 13 years in prison.
I Walk Alone takes the plot premise of Warner Brothers Angels With Dirty Faces and refines it quite a bit with far more character development than James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart were allowed to do with their characters in that other film.This was the first co-starring film of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in the salad days as Paramount contract players.
Of course they would do better collaborative films in the future, but I Walk Alone was a pretty good way to start the team identification.
Lancaster is an old time prohibition bootlegger who has just finished a fourteen year stretch in prison.
Like Cagney he took the fall and like Cagney he wants his share of the business just like he left off.But in the intervening years which also included the Great Depression and World War II, Kirk Douglas in the Bogart part no longer runs a cheap speakeasy.
He's the proprietor of a successful Stork Club like nightclub with Lizabeth Scott singing there nightly.
The film really belongs to Kirk Douglas.
Kirk just thinks he's the smartest guy around and everyone else is dumb, that's his downfall.I Walk Alone is a nice noir thriller from Paramount and the beginning of the partnership of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas of whom columnist Hedda Hopper labeled the Terrible Twins..
Having spent 14 years in prison for crimes during prohibition, the melancholy Burt Lancaster has returned home to try to muscle in on what he rightfully believes is partially his, now controlled by old pal Kirk Douglas who has turned their previous illegal enterprise into a corporation.
Lancaster takes it into his own hands to try to force his way in, but as Douglas charmingly tells him, only the board of directors can approve such changes.
Sudden betrayal leads to Lancaster being accused of murder, and along with Scott, Lancaster must find a way of clearing his name and see justice finally served, in this case, a cold dish as justice through revenge is normally presented.Along with "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers", "Desert Fury" and many others, this is a series of Hal B.
Douglas, smiling and sly, is a great villain, while Corey is appropriately stone cold as a character barely living whom Lancaster notices seems older than him even though he's younger.
Unfortunately, her role is underdeveloped, and she pretty much disappears from the second half of the film.Having seen Lancaster (in a good guy role), Scott (in a very similar part) and Corey (in a supporting role with homosexual overtones) in the color film noir "Desert Fury", I wanted to see how this would compare, and found it to be even better.
97 minutes.SYNOPSIS: After serving time in jail, Frankie Madison demands a half-share in a nightclub from his old partner, Noll Turner.NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Coronet on 27 October 1945, closing after only 25 performances.
COMMENT: The writers have come up with a few fascinating new angles on the classic convict-seeks-revenge plot, turning what could have been merely another gangster story into an engrossing film noir that rivets the attention from start to finish.
Even the usually insipid Lizbeth Scott turns in a half-decent performance and if Wendell Corey is as wooden as ever at least he is a pleasant walnut burr.
This was the first of seven teamings for Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster and they started as they meant to go on, Kirk the smooth schemer and Burt the starry-eyed bruiser and a good time is had by all not least the audience.