The Man in the Net

Plot synopsis:
Commercial artist John Hamilton (Alan Ladd) and wife Linda (Carolyn Jones) leave New York and move to Stoneville, Connecticut, in the New England countryside, to escape the bustle of the city and because of John's growing concern about Linda's alcoholism.
John quickly befriends the town's children, but he's treated like an outsider by many of the adults. Linda misses their social life in New York, as well as the salary John made there.
She insists they attend a party at the home of Brad (John Lupton) and Vickie Carey (Diane Brewster), where the guests include another married couple, Roz (Betty Lou Holland) and Gordon Moreland (Tom Helmore), the wealthy father of Brad Carey. A scene is created by an intoxicated Linda, who insults John and lies that he gave her a black eye, confessing to Vickie after the party that she actually fell while drunk. In anger, she tells John she's been having an extramarital affair with a local policeman, Steve Ritter (Charles McGraw).
John agrees to go to New York for a job interview arranged by his wife behind his back. When he returns, Linda is nowhere to be found. A suitcase belonging to her is spotted by a city dump. Unable to find John's wife, police and neighbors suspect him of murder. Villagers stone his house. Ritter arrives to arrest him. John flees and is given refuge by the children, who know of a secret cave.
Evidence is found linking Linda to another man. A tape recording is left as bait, and John, who suspects someone else, is surprised when Brad turns up looking for the tape. It reveals he's the one Linda had the affair with and the one who physically abused her, but John soon discovers that it was Mr. Carey who actually killed Linda to cover up for his cowardly son.

Tags: neo noir, murder

Review:
Alan Ladd gives up the city life and rat race for himself and also for dipsomaniac and nymphomaniac wife Carolyn Jones.
Where Ladd paints out in the woods with his only true friends the town children.
Jones on the other hand gets an affair going with one of the town movers and shakers.Jones winds up very dead when Ladd makes an overnight trip to New York.
Local cop Charles McGraw thinks Ladd did it as does most of the town, his only friends are the children and Diane Brewster, one of the suburban wives.
In fact Man in the Net plays like an expanded version of one of his half hour TV stories.
In that one he's also a husband on the run after his wife has been killed.
Back then though Ladd put a lot of passion into his role of John Morrison, returning war veteran.
As John Hamilton though he seems just tired and bored.One thing that doesn't ring true is the lynch law mentality that takes over this suburban town.
That plays more like a western than a modern story.
Again, maybe Alfred Hitchcock could have made it more believable.It's kind of cute and fun to see the kids outsmart the grownups including the local law for a good deal of the film.
With both its star Alan Ladd and its director Michael Curtiz nearing the end of their careers, The Man in the Net has a valedictory feel that surely wasn't intended.
Behind the camera, Curtiz fares a bit better; the old pro (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) knows how to shape a story and sustain tension, but he didn't bother to plaster over the cracks in the far-fetched screenplay by Reginald Rose.Ladd plays a commercial artist who has moved to rural Connecticut to pursue his dream of becoming a serious painter; another reason for leaving New York's `rat race' was the gin-fueled nervous breakdown of his wife (Carolyn Jones).
She takes her revenge in a clandestine affair (all the while trying to look and act like Bette Davis as Rosa Moline in Beyond The Forest).
When Ladd takes a commuter train into the city to turn down the job and incidentally to visit her psychiatrist (isn't it customary for the patient to go?), he returns to find all his paintings slashed and a typewritten note telling him she's left for good.
The townspeople, who range from rural bumpkins to the country gentry, jump to the conclusion that the aloof Ladd murdered Jones.
They profess shock at Ladd's revelation that she was a drinker, even though she has already staged a drunken scene at a big party where the hosts know her well enough to have a `special tomato juice' waiting for her.
Then we're asked to buy the spectacle of this Connecticut town, in 1959, turning into a Balkan village, with a lynch mob gathered in pursuit of a short, middle-aged white male.
Luckily for Ladd, he's forged bonds of trust with a bevy of children whom he's forever sketching in the bosky glades (this seems a stretch, as he appears as stiff and uncomfortable being with them as they do being in front of a camera).
There's enough going on in Man in the Net to keep you watching, including Charles McGraw as a surly sheriff, but it's not fresh enough to make you suspend your considerable disbelief..
Alan Ladd sleepwalks through one of his last roles....
There's a nice New England feel in the Connecticut opening scenes of THE MAN IN THE NET and director Michael Curtiz makes striking visual use of the B&W camera in artfully photographing a country farmhouse with its rustic interiors full of paintings supposedly done by local artist ALAN LADD.Ladd's wife, CAROLYN JONES, doesn't share his passion for the arts, staging quite a scene with neighbors when she breaks into a birthday party with a shiner and accuses her husband of mistreating her during one of their arguments.
It provides a nice set-up for someone to eventually murder her, making Ladd look like the main suspect.Alan Ladd, only 46 at the time, seems almost lifeless and delivers a completely stiff performance that has him befriending neighborhood kids in such a fashion that they become willing to help him avoid detection when the villagers turn on him.
The children are not exactly adept at delivering most of their lines.DIANE FOSTER does a nice job as a decent neighborhood woman who helps Ladd prove his innocence and CHARLES McGRAW, JOHN LUPTON and TOM HELMORE are fine as other suspects in the supporting cast.But for a man accused of a crime he didn't commit, Ladd has all the facial animation of a department store mannequin.Trivia note: The bit about the slashed paintings reminds me of the Ronald Colman/Ida Lupino flick THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, but Jones' emoting in the party scene is on the level of Bette Davis at her histrionic overkill..
Script without a Net. After seeing the excellent "13 West Street" (1962), with Alan Ladd, I had high hopes for "The Man in the Net".
This movie had, I thought, MORE going in: like, famed Director Michael Curtiz, and co-star Carolyn Jones.
They were not at their best.As others have noticed, Ms. Jones does a totally-out-of-the-blue Bette Davis impression.
Mr. Ladd, great in "13 West Street" and one of the only things worth watching in "The Carpetbaggers"(1964), is not very good.
Despite the weakness of the premise, there are some interestingly played scenes; the film does have a structure, which is easy and somewhat satisfying to follow, despite the implausibility.
**** The Man in the Net (1959) Michael Curtiz ~ Alan Ladd, Carolyn Jones, Diane Brewster.
Good drama about a man chased by hot headed vigilantes and the police for a crime he claims to be innocent of.
Along the way he is aided by a group of kids who believe in his innocence.
Mediocre, one of Ladd's last films.
Like a lot of classic film stars, Alan Ladd's career ended on a low rather than a high note, and one of his last films, 1959's Man in the Net, is a good example of this.
It was also one of the last films for director Michael Curtiz who directed such classics as "Casablanca." It's a poor effort from such an accomplished man.Ladd plays an artist who has left the pressure of NYC and his full time job in order to paint.
He spends most of his time in the woods, painting, while a group of local kids play nearby and talk with him.
His major problem isn't the brushes and colors, though, it's his wife (Carolyn Jones), an alcoholic who wants to return to the social atmosphere that helped her drinking along in the first place.
Here in the boondocks, she's hooked up with the ritzy set, to Ladd's displeasure.When he returns from a business trip to New York City, his wife is missing, there is blood on his painting clothes, his paintings have been destroyed, and everybody thinks he's responsible.
With the help of the children he has befriended, he eludes the police and is able to get the proof he needs to exonerate himself.With a tighter script and someone other than Ladd, this might have been a decent movie.
The kids are adorable, and that angle of the script plays out nicely.
Ladd, unfortunately, sleepwalks through the role and at times, actually looks like a blind man.
There was never anything spectacular about Ladd's acting - what he had was a presence, a toughness, and good looks.
These are all gone, and in their place is a puffy, heavy-lidded, slow man.In contrast, the striking Carolyn Jones is full of energy in her role.
She was very good at playing neurotic party girls and straying wives, though she's remembered today as Morticia on "The Addams Family" TV show.All in all, "The Man in the Net" plays like a television drama, with the suburbanites going after Ladd like they all live in the wild west.
Someone commented that today he would be suspicious for hanging out with children, and that aspect dates the film as well.
It's a shame, because the nicest aspect of the movie was the way the kids rallied around him and helped him.If you loved Ladd in "This Gun for Hire," "The Glass Key," "The Blue Dahlia," and "Shane," skip this.
Part of this are completely terrific, but then there is Alan Ladd....
The Man in the Net (1959)What a great movie with a flawed Alan Ladd bringing it down.
This is toward the end of his career, and he plays his part, of a man falsely accused of a crime, with such deadpan reluctance, you think he's being forced to act.
The movie around him a late 50s modernity mixed with old school Hollywood pace and mise-en-scene, thanks to veteran director Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce").
The real star is the almost unknown Carolyn Jones--almost unknown, except as Morticia in The Addams Family (mid-60 television, for the uninitiated).
She played a number of important secondary roles films of the 1950s, but also had a t.v. career, and who know why she never quite made it.
But, she shows up here right away and is astonishing, like a young Bette Davis, even with the same wide eyes and snappy mannerisms.
She plays Ladd's wife, and at first she seems merely feisty.
And then it cracks open from there, and Jones makes the character cunning and yet also weirdly enchanting.The other fascinating turn to the storytelling is the role children play in it all (a little ironic given that the movie promotions say loudly: not appropriate for children).
At first the group of five kids, all under 10, are part of the innocence of this little Connecticut town far from the ravages of New York.
Then a lot of adult stuff happens, the good stuff really, the stuff that Curtiz has the best feel for.
In fact, as the townspeople become more and more childish (and cruel), the kids become reasonable and mature.But then there is Ladd.
Even physically he seems a bit awkward, making me think he was getting old, even though he needed to be in his 30s or 40s for the part and was only 45 at the time of shooting.So, this is an odd beast of a film, but a truly interesting one.
Certainly anything by Curtiz is worth a look, and the direction, per se, is actually first rate, if we can overlook his handling of his lead male.
And the cinematographer is the wonderful John Seitz,which helps with a lot of the scenes (the cave scenes, the party).
The movie almost has the potential to be a cult classic, like "Night of the Hunter," but Ladd never was as commanding as Robert Mitchum, was he?.
Classic Alan Ladd Film.
Alan Ladd, (John Hamilton) plays the role of an artist who decides to leave New York and the rat race mainly because his wife likes to drink and is getting out of control where she has to see a doctor for help.
Carolyn Jones, (Linda Hamilton) plays John's wife and lives in a very quiet town in New England where John paints pictures of children all day and never seems to sell a picture.
One day John receives a letter offering him a job in New York City with an Art Firm for $30,000 dollars but refuses to take this position because of his wife's chemical dependency.
In real life, Alan Ladd is really doing all the boozing and you can see it in the close up's of his face and eyes are puffy.
The children in this picture take complete control over the entire film and gave great supporting roles in trying to hid and help John Hamilton from the police..
So we like his character and wish the best outcome for the trouble he gets in.
But LLadd seems to be walking through it.Carolyn Jones is pretty good as his alcoholic wife.
She had an odd look that Hollywood didn't seem to know how to use.
(Well, not till "The Addams Family." And it's a shame that's what she's remembered for.) Around this time several movies about adults' friendships with precious children came out.
It was probably viewed as charming at the time -- sort of like a man's friendship with dogs or kindness to his own children or to orphans.Today, for better or for worse, a man who spent much of his time with preteen children would be highly suspicious to his neighbors.
In the movie, Ladd's character is hounded by the townspeople for possibly having killed Jones.
Today he wouldn't have lasted that long in a suburban area like this, hanging around with children..
Sad Alan Ladd.
I am a fan of Alan Ladd and did find this film entertaining, but it was really second rate to say the least.
Ladd looked stiff and unhappy the entire film.
Fair film, but if you are a fan of Alan Ladd, you should find it at least entertaining..
Not great, but far better than the average Alan Ladd film of the time.
While this was a far cry from Alan Ladd's best films (such as THIS GUN FOR HIRE and THE GLASS KEY), it is better than most of the films Ladd was making towards the tail end of his career.
Ironically, a major plot element of this movie is Ladd's wife's alcoholism!
Carolyn Jones (yes, that's Morticia from the Addams Family) plays the exceptionally flaky wife who is both chemically dependent and appears to have many features of a Borderline Personaliy--a personality that craves excitement, addiction and self-destruction.
Psychologically speaking, this makes the movie very exciting to therapists, though the average person might think that she overplayed her part--though she captured the volatility of these types of individuals well and Borderline Personalities ARE seemingly impossible to believe due to their shallowness and volatility.It's obvious that Ladd can't stand his wife, but he stays with her because he married her and he tries to be a good husband.
His wife, on the other hand, has little commitment to him and eventually her wicked and dangerous ways result in her murder.
Unfortunately, he did such a great job that EVERYONE thinks he's the murderer and he spends most of the film trying to prove his innocence and avoid a lynch mob!
His assistants in this endeavor are local kids who like him and can't believe he'd hurt his wife.
Overall, the film is pretty exciting and different and well worth a look--particularly if you are a fan of Alan Ladd..
The estates of Reginald Rose and Hugh Wheeler should be looking at Gillian Flynn's novel and ask how much of this this film influenced her novel.
We have a neurotic somewhat psychotic wife, Carolyn Jones here channeling Bette Davis, upset and angry with her husband because he refuses to return to New York.
She makes a scene at a party implying her husband is a wife beater.
The big difference is the band of local children who believe John, Alan Ladd, is innocent and join forces to protect him and help prove he is innocent and if his wife is dead then there must be another killer.
And yes, in this film she really was killed.
What I find most amusing about the film is its being set in a mythical town in CT that seems a lot like Westport in the 1950's except for the townspeople who have a lynch mentality and don't want to hear the facts that would clear John.
Intense and suspenseful Alan Ladd drama..
This movie is directed by the acclaimed Michael Curtiz.
THE MAN in the NET is a suspense driven drama starring Alan Ladd as John Hamilton, an accomplished commercial artist that leaves the hustle and bustle of New York and relocates in a small community in Connecticut.
His wife Linda(Carolyn Jones)is not so happy with this move.
He has concerns about her alcoholism, but she misses the night life and her social functions, along with John's salary potential.At a party, a drunken Linda claims that her husband is a wife beater to try and spoil her husband's reputation.
When John is tricked into going back to New York for a job interview, he returns finding his wife gone.
The local police finds her luggage near a garbage dump and immediately John is suspected of killing his wife.Rounding out the cast: Diane Brewster, John Lupton, Tom Helmore and Charles McGraw..
A Lynch Mob in Connecticut?
You betcha...wow what a bad film.
I'm gonna try my best though.I'll say right off that Alan Ladd just looks terrible in this.
He was in his mid to late 40's and he looked like he was in his 60's.
His scenes where he runs looks like he's an old man.
I don't know if he wasn't athletic or he was under the influence of something but this performance reminded me of the last film Montgomery Clift did.
With the exception of Shane and a few film noirs in the 40's, Alan Ladd was not a very good actor.
Just terrible all the way through.A struggling, use to be art director at an ad firm decides to move to Connecticut country with his wife.
She had a breakdown in New York and he wants to see if the country will help.
She's feels trapped in the country and wants to go back to New York but he insists on a Psychiatrist visit.
He gets a job offer from his previous company with better money but he would rather just paint and try and sell his stuff.
Then the Connecticut lynch mob appears and they want this guilty rascal for all it's worth.
It's just a B film all the way folks.
The only stand out performance is Carolyn Jones' portrayal of the psychotic alcoholic wife.
I mean I thought it was Alan Ladd but nope.