Director: Samuel Fuller
Year Released: 1953
Rating: 3.5
Exceptionally captivating and complex story of a pickpocket (Richard Widmark, born to play this role) and how he mistakenly lifts a top-secret microfilm from a woman's purse and is pursued by the police, the woman and other shady types. The mood, the tone, the pacing - everything is shaped exquisitely by Fuller, who even makes the Communist angle of the movie work (if the film were made in the 40's, it would have been the Germans, in the 80's, the Russians, now the Iranians, in the future, who knows - Hollywood needs a 'stock ethnic enemy' to pull when needed). There are two particularly great moments: the opening theft, which is shot by Fuller to be something sexual more than criminal, and the other is an undeniably clever bit with a dumb waiter. Thelma Ritter, one of the finest character actors, draws pathos as a snitch that lives in a ramshackle little apartment and sells gaudy neckties; Widmark, as despicable - yet human - as he is, isn't even the movie's real antagonist!
