They Made Me a Fugitive [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

Revenge on the wet streets of Soho, with a fine performance by Trevor Howard.......2007-10-04

This is a fine example of the gritty gangster movies Britain produced in the late Forties and early Fifties. We're talking wet cobblestone streets at night in Soho, brutal black marketeers who don't mind beating a woman with a studded belt, betrayal and revenge. Note that elements of the plot are discussed.

Clem Morgan (Trevor Howard), a bored ex-RAF man, is recruited by a friend, Narcy (Griffith Jones), to join his gang of black marketeers. Narcy deals in everything from whiskey to cigarettes, using his funeral business, The Valhalla of Undertaking, as a front. Narcy runs the show. He doesn't like opposition, he doesn't mind force, he has a mean streak, he enjoys a bit of cruelty. When Narcy moves to drugs, Clem says he wants out. Narcy says, "Sure," and arranges a frame-up that sends Clem to Dartmoor for 15 years on a manslaughter rap for the death of a bobby. When Clem realizes Narcy had framed him, he escapes from a work gang and heads for London and a showdown. As he says, "When a bloke gets put away for 15 years he doesn't curl up with a good book. He gets bitter. He gets a pain in his guts. He wants to lay his hands on the double-crossing swine who put him in."

Clem's only ally is a former girl friend of Narcy's, Sally (Sally Gray), and gradually the two of them become close. Clem's purpose now is not just to get his own back at Narcy, but to get Narcy to confess that he was innocent of any crime. And the police? They're close on Clem's trail. They may think Narcy was behind things, but there is no evidence that would clear Clem.

The end of the movie is bleak. Narcy is dead, but justice hasn't triumphed. With his dying words Narcy continues to implicate Clem. The detective superintendent takes Clem's arm and moves him away from Narcy's body. We'll look at all the evidence again, he tells Clem, and maybe there'll be something. Clem turns to Sally. "You must forget about me, Sally," he says. "It'll be easier than you think."
"I'll wait for you, Clem.".
"That's what I was afraid of," he says, and he's led off.

The movie is well-acted, moves briskly and has two excellent set pieces. In the first, Clem after breaking out of prison meets a woman who takes him into her home, says she'll help him and only asks one favor. The discussion of the favor over the dining room table while Clem eats is almost as odd as the favor itself, but not as deadly. The second is the climax that takes place in the Valhalla funeral parlor. It's rough and violent. Much of the action takes place in and around caskets and on the wet slate roof of the building two stories above the street.

Trevor Howard has always been an actor I've admired. He made some excellent British films in the Forties and early Fifties, went to Hollywood and then gradually settled into a long series of star character parts in mostly A-list but not very good or interesting movies. He brought a lot of skeptical intelligence to his roles, and perhaps this quality limited Hollywood's interest in him as a lead actor. At any rate, if you want to see why Trevor Howard became a star, start with these British films: Brief Encounter, Green for Danger, I See a Dark Stranger, The Clouded Yellow and They Made Me a Fugitive. Then move on to two magnificent performances in The Heart of the Matter and Outcast of the Islands. Unfortunately, Outcast of the Islands is not available, but snap it up if it ever comes out on DVD.

The DVD of They Made Me a Fugitive is not great but is certainly much better than average. There are no extras.