A Filmmaker's Review: "Quicksand" (1950)

I'm not going to lie, I had never even come across this movie before I just ended up finding it one day. It seemed like something I'd enjoy and so I went ahead and watched it. It's not very long but it is very, very good. Initially, I thought it was just going to be another film noir - but no, it's actually a crime/comedy film. It's hilarious.

It has a snowballing effect of crime as one man who only needed $20 and picks it out of the cash register where he works ends up needing to give someone a brand new car, owes someone $3'000 and almost gets himself killed after it reports that he had strangled his boss. It all has a lot to do with a wicked, but strange woman who kind of just turns up in his life and she ends up doing what she will - it becomes a very dangerous game indeed.

The first thing I really enjoyed was the way in which it depicted the storyline. It wasn't very matter of fact instead, everything was connected. As I said, it was like a snowball effect. One thing happens because of another and at the end of the day, it's all gonna roll up and implode into one big problem. This is exactly what it does but because of this, it also makes the film not only watchable but absolutely hilarious.

When it comes to the genre of crime, we have a very obvious theft going on. The theft of money, the theft of the car, then there's attempted murder and battery. After this, we have the strange love story behind it with that evil woman who seems to do everything that the main character does not want. For example: she spends what she believes is her share of the £3K on a new coat and leaves him with not enough to pay for the car he stole for Peter Lorre's character.

Most of the events in this story take place because someone saw the main character do whatever he was doing. However, I think that most of the events that do take place in the film take place out of desperation. The entire film seems to be about desperation and what someone would do in a time where they need to act quickly and swiftly.

I absolutely think that Mickey Rooney was the best person for the role. Apart from him I think that Cary Grant would've been able to pull it off as well. They needed someone who wasn't a rich kid and didn't sound like they were in Hollywood - hence Mickey Rooney or Cary Grant. But personally, I didn't think the blonde lady who played his girlfriend did a very good job. I think that it needed someone darker than that, someone who could do the twisted role better like either Janet Leigh or Kim Novak. They would've been great or even Bette Davis. I don't think that the blonde lady was too convincing. Personally, Kim Novak would've been my initial choice - Even though she was pretty young at that point - she would've been real good for the role. She was in Vertigo (1950) and played a very similar character, however Bette Davis was a darker sort of character, Janet Leigh I think would've been a bit too young at that time since she didn't play Marion Crane until 1960.

The themes of this movie were very clear: money, theft and romance. When it comes to Peter Lorre's character as well, he displays most of these through himself. I have to admit, when you see Peter Lorre's name on a film you know it is going to be good. Peter Lorre's character, no mater how sporadic, was a brilliant character because of the way it was designed. The character was designed in the way in which it represented every major theme in the film without sticking around too long. That was the only thing wrong with the film - it needed more Peter Lorre.

The reason I wrote it out as 5 out of 5 was because there was nothing so wrong with the film to deduct a mark or so. The only thing I would've deducted a mark for was the blonde woman but she fit well into the film with Mickey Rooney - I would've just cast it differently if I were choosing. However, everything else was right there - the dialogue was witty and clever, the themes were brilliant and clear, the storyline was laugh-out-loud criminal and the entire thing was structured amazingly. The film is absolutely brilliant, I highly suggest that you see it. It's available on Amazon Prime with the Prime Membership for free.