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Cornered

1945 1h 42m Mystery & Thriller List
Tomatometer 4 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
During World War II, Laurence Gerard (Dick Powell) of the Royal Canadian Air Force was taken captive by the enemy, but now that the fighting is over he has begun a quest for vengeance. Laurence's wife was murdered while he was a hostage, and his desire to right this wrong takes him from Europe to South America. The supposed killer is a Nazi sympathizer named Jarnac (Luther Adler), but word has it that he is dead. Laurence, however, believes his target is alive and hiding out in Argentina.

Critics Reviews

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James Agee The Nation Murder, My Sweet gave a Raymond Chandler story the combination of skinned knuckles and big-city sentience proper to it; Cornered, without losing much if any force as melodrama, is much more elaborate, self-assured, and ambitious. Jun 23, 2021 Full Review John J. Puccio Movie Metropolis ...basically, we have a revenge plot, with a reckless, impetuous man willing to go to any lengths to find the man he's after. Rated: 6/10 Jul 16, 2010 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 17, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A humorless, no-nonsense revenge thriller directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Adrian Scott. Rated: B+ Dec 6, 2001 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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ashley h Cornered is a decent film. It is about a Canadian flyer who finds out that his wife has been murdered by a French collaborator. Dick Powell and Walter Slezak give good performances. The screenplay is a little in places. Edward Dmytryk did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the drama. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member In Murder My Sweet, Dick Powell plays Phillip Marlowe with great humor and grit. It may be sacrilege, but I would actually rate his performance higher than even Bogie. In Cornered, Powell plays his role with the same kind of no nonsense grit but the noirish script doesn't allow for his same moments of wry humor. He hunts his prey, the alleged killer of his wife, with the single minded forward march of the Allies in WWII. The exotic ports of call gives Cornered a bit of the Casablanca charm along with a rather strikingly modern feel often lacking in classic noir. Like Murder My Sweet, Powell's character shows he can take his beating as well as dish them out adding to the appeal of his performance. I highly recommend this film particulary if you felt you didn't quite get enough of Powell, the former song and dance man, in Murder My Sweet. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review bill t Though absolutely overidden with plot and too many characters, this was a fun one to lightly follow. All I know is some ex-soldier goes to Buenos Aires to find out who killed his wife, who I guess was a foreign agent. From there, people you can't trust, lies and deceit are at every corner, and that's what generally makes this hard to follow, as you don't know what to believe, and who people are. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I was over all disappointed with this film. It had a great plot idea and Dick Powell was great in the film-noir genre, but it contained long uneventful periods without mystery. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Dick Powell has Terminator-type relentlessness in this revenge, antifascist story. The story has a few hiccups along the way. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member I found some of the accents hard to understand and the fact that the main characters name was so similar to the man he was hunting for just confused me. It was ok but not worth a 2nd look. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Cornered

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis During World War II, Laurence Gerard (Dick Powell) of the Royal Canadian Air Force was taken captive by the enemy, but now that the fighting is over he has begun a quest for vengeance. Laurence's wife was murdered while he was a hostage, and his desire to right this wrong takes him from Europe to South America. The supposed killer is a Nazi sympathizer named Jarnac (Luther Adler), but word has it that he is dead. Laurence, however, believes his target is alive and hiding out in Argentina.
Director
Edward Dmytryk
Producer
Adrian Scott
Screenwriter
John Paxton
Production Co
RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 1, 2018
Runtime
1h 42m