Scene of the Crime

Wow, MGM attempting a film noir! And with Van Johnson of all people. Wasn't off-putting, but you could understand why this was not Van's thing. Also MGM was moving into a territory there was not masters at. Good attempt, but MGM was always visually the squeaky clean studio, so Scene of the Crime (1949) lacks the gritty feel that's so important in a great noir.

Toothless and insincere, with a plot that's barely worth paying attention to. Van Johnson comes up short, he doesn't handle the hard-boiled lingo very well. But some of the accoutrements are hot stuff. The photography is excellent, the dialogue crackles, there's some nice touches and awesome supporting roles. There's a lot to love but after a while the ho-hum story becomes harder to care about. I really wanted to like this more, but despite its flaws there's definitely some worthwhile elements.