TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

clanciai Some have called this film the best of all noirs, and there are many reasons for it. Edmond O'Brien, who usually played seconds, is here the lead, feeling bad on a small vacation trip and learning he has been poisoned and having only few days left to live - and he can't understand why, since there is no reason. He starts pulling loose ends, which throw him into a maze of complications of what was originally only a minor intrigue, perhaps even only a mistake.The most impressing element of the film though is its composition. It starts very merrily with an extremely happy party with many lovely girls and charming women, leading eventually to a joint where the party continues, and where a strange man puts something into his drink. You only see his collar. There it begins. The collar will only reappear in the end.The race for him to find out what has happened continues throughout the film at a constantly higher gear, and there are some very nasty villains involved too, and many doubtful ladies. This film actually has everything associated with a noir and to the brim, and the conclusion is, mildly speaking, deadly.You leave the film shaken and very much disturbed, while perhaps the most rewarding lesson of the film is the insight into the fact that it is in death that you discover life. I would give 11 if it were possible.

csab-39797 I've seen most Film-oiNoirs but when I stumbled across D.O.A. I wasn't expecting much since I'd never heard of it. Well 15 min in I was hooked. The concept of the story nont only drags you in like a true who done it story but it makes you think "what would you do?" "How would you act?" It's crazy to think of. Anyway I highly recommend this film .. It's fast paced and keeps your attention if you're not a film noir fan.j

Uriah43 "Frank Bigelow" (Edmond O'Brien) is a single man who works in a small town in California as an auditor and also and serves as a notary public as well. Anyway, this film begins with him walking into a Los Angeles police station and telling the chief of police that he would like to report a murder. He then goes on to say that he is the victim. Obviously, wanting to hear more the chief asks him to sit down and once he does Frank begins to tell the story of how he was given a toxic dose of poison while at a nightclub in San Francisco which has eventually led him to where he is. Now as far as the overall movie is concerned I thought that it had all of the elements of a classic film noir from the 50's--good mystery and plenty of suspense along with some decent acting by both Edmond O'Brien and Pamela Britton (as Frank Bigelow's secretary "Paula Gibson"). In any case, all things considered I rate this film as above average and recommend it to anybody who might be interested in this particular genre.

Scott LeBrun The excellent Edmond O'Brien stars in this nifty story as Frank Bigelow, a small town tax accountant who goes on vacation in San Francisco. During a night of partying, he is stealthily administered a slow acting luminous toxin, which will kill him at any time during the next two weeks - possibly within the next 24 hours. Once he finds out, the panicked Frank becomes coldly determined to find out who could possibly want him dead. After all, who is he? A small time accountant. Soon he will be encountering an assortment of suspect individuals, and running for his life."D.O.A." benefits from a snappy (and not too hard to follow) screenplay by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene, not to mention a real grabber of an opening. Frank goes to the police station, where the following exchange occurs: "I want to report a murder." "Who was murdered?" "I was." From then on, you know you're going to have a fun time with this briskly directed (by Rudolph Mate) and paced film. Its action scenes and atmosphere are top notch, and there's an undeniable tension building throughout the scenario. Once Frank learns that he has been poisoned, that's when the story really kicks into gear.O'Brien is completely believable as an average guy turned tragic hero. Pamela Britton is appealing as the co-worker who loves him, and the rest of the cast is equally fine. Particularly noteworthy are the charismatic Luther Adler as a smooth criminal named Majak, and the young Neville Brand - in one of his first films - as a trigger happy, psychotic, ultra creepy muscle man. Brands' character Chester is so eager to end Franks' life even earlier that it's scary. The ladies are lovely: Ms. Britton, Beverly Garland, Lynn Baggett, Laurette Luez.This is a real corker, one worth watching for any lover of classic cinema. It's just too bad that it ended up in the public domain, where the many bargain basement DVD releases don't do it any favours.Remade in the 1960s (as "Color Me Dead") and the 1980s.Eight out of 10.