D.O.A (1950)
Director:
Rudolph Mate
Starring:
Edmond O’Brein
Pamela Britton
D.O.A came out in 1950. The film is very highly regarded, but it’s also completely free. This film fell into the public domain long ago, so you can download a copy of this film from multiple different sites. You can go to the Internet Archive and watch it right now, as well. Don’t let the fact that it’s free fool you, this film is well worth watching.
The Plot
This film has a great opening premise. The main character is going in to report his own murder. He’s been poisoned with a radioactive substance that is slowing killing him, and there is no antidote to it. He relates the story that led him to this point, and it’s a wonderfully noir affair.
Bigelow is on vacation when someone exchanges drinks with him. The drink that Bigelow got, in many film noir offerings, may have contained a mickey, but this is way worse than that. There is a small quantity of a radioactive isotope in it and, unwittingly, Bigelow drinks it down.
It doesn’t take long for Bigelow to feel the effects. The doctor figures out what’s going on almost right away. Bigelow is being killed, slowly, by the radiation, and there’s nothing that can be done for him. Though he’s a dead man, he does have a little bit of time.
This is, already, probably one of the most effective ticking clocks you’ll find anywhere in film. It doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination or suspension of disbelief to understand why Bigelow’s time is limited.
Bigelow works as an accountant and also happens to be a notary public. As is oftentimes the case in film noir plots, this all connects him to the underworld and, unfortunately, Bigelow doesn’t realize it until it’s too late for him.
He happened to notarize a bill of sale for some stolen iridium. This connected him to the crime enough that the mob characters involved in it decided to off Bigelow. Of course, this isn’t much of a connection, but the film addresses that later with another layer of intrigue.
Bigelow gets caught by the mobsters, who certainly want to off him now that he knows everything. Obviously, given that he’s relating the story of his own murder to the police, the mobsters don’t kill Bigelow. He manages to save another man who has been poisoned with the same substance. He also finds out, of course, that the plot goes deeper than he thought.
Bigelow manages to uncover an affair and a murder disguised as a suicide as he investigates the entire story. He relates all this to the police and then finally succumbs to the poison within him, falling dead on the desk.
The Definition of a Hidden Gem
When you’re looking for movies to rent online or to stream, be sure to check this one out and don’t let the fact that it’s free dissuade you. This film is creative, fun and really quite dark at the same time. It takes a murder story in a different direction and, for that reason alone, it’s certainly worth watching. Even the most diehard fan might get tired of the same old detective characters in film noir, and in D.O.A, there’s something much different on tap for the audience.
Bigelow is not a hard-boiled detective who knows how to understand the underworld. He’s an accountant. While film noir is almost always filled with tension, sometimes the characters—particularly when they’re the tough-beyond-tough sorts—take away from that tension, as the audience knows that they can probably handle whatever comes their way. In The Big Sleep, for instance, we’re pretty certain that Bogart is up to the challenges that the twisting and turning plot throws his way.
In D.O.A, Bigelow isn’t as tough as the average film noir protagonist. There is an element to this story that would be right at home in a Hitchcock film: Bigelow is a man who is way out of his league and who doesn’t really understand what’s happening to him.
Appreciating This Film Noir
D.O.A is a very well-made film. There are plenty of shots that are dreamlike enough to keep the audience unbalanced, particularly when Bigelow is at the hospital. The chiaroscuro in this film is superb and will appeal to anyone who loves the look of film noir as much as they do the plot.
Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about D.O.A, however, is that it’s really a poorly-known film that surprises with how well made it is. There are plenty of mediocre black-and-white films airing on public access stations all over the nation and it’s usually apparent why their copyrights slipped: they’re not really worth any money. Where D.O.A is concerned, however, the viewer is treated to a fine film that slipped between the copyright cracks and that is now available freely to anyone. The black-and-white format makes it relatively unimportant that the viewer has this film on DVD, BluRay or any of the other expensive formats, so go ahead and download a copy to enjoy. It’s an excellent noir that’s free to watch, free to copy, and free to distribute.
Oscar Night 