Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

dougdoepke A criminal gang conspires to steal a big sum from one of its members through an elaborate plan to return him from the dead.Margot (Gillie) doesn't explode until the end when we find out what a psychopath she really is. No doubt about it, she's in the same vicious league as Annie Laurie Starr of Gun Crazy (1949). The storyline here is about as unrelenting as a windstorm in Chicago. No, there's no redemption for any of this crew. Credit screenwriter-actor Nedrick Young for the unregenerate character concepts. I suspect no studio of the time would touch such uncompromising material. Likely, the lurid content also kept the crime drama off Late Shows, as was apparently the case.Margot is one heckuva spider woman, with the car keys or without them. If she isn't playing games with her dead husband (Armstrong), she's ruining the life of Dr. Craig (Rudley, in a fine performance). Then too, the doc really should be ignoring her well-turned ankle instead of lusting after it. Too bad he realizes this too late. The movie's not a complete success. Some plot developments, like returning from the dead through better chemistry, are a stretch, while director Bernhard adds little to the styling. At the same time, supposed gang leader Edward Norris makes little impression. But maybe that was supposed to be since he's not really the leader. Anyhow, the noir's a sleeper, with something of a wacked-out screenplay, but definitely worth catching up with.(In passing—good to see the Runyonesque Sheldon Leonard playing it straight and picking up a payday, even as a cop, no less.)

morrison-dylan-fan Being in the mood for a short burst of Film Noir a month ago,I decided to take a look at a title that a very kind IMDber had sent me.Finding myself really enjoying the movie,I got a disappointing surprise,when my DVD player stopped playing the film 45 minutes in.Trying on 3 other DVD players,I as shocked to find that none of them were able to play the full feature.Desperate to see the full film,I started to search everywhere online for the title,and was delighted to recently stumble on the title,which led to me getting ready to see the full decoy finally take place.The plot:Rushing into the flat as Dr. Lloyd Craig drops to the ground from a gunshot,police officer Joe Portugal finds Margot Shelby taking her final breaths,as Shelby attempts to get hold of a sealed box laying on the side.Picking up the box,Portugal asks Shelby to tell him how she got hold of the box.The past:Successfully robbing $400,000,gangster Frank Olins soon finds the law catching up with him,and showing their appreciation over Olins refusal to reveal where the cash is hidden,by sending him to death row.With her boyfriend only having a few days to go before he's sent to the gas chamber, Margot Shelby begins making plans on how to get Olins out of jail,and also get him to reveal where the cash is hidden.Catching the attention of small time gangster Jim Vincent,Shelby using all of her cunning skills to make Vincent believe that if he helps her to find the location of Olins cash,then he will get half the amount.As Olins takes his finally steps to the gas chamber,Shelby begins to talk to a Dr working at the morgue called Lloyd Craig,who tells Shelby about a drug that can bring the dead back to life.View on the film:Burning down the good ol' country gal image she had shown in the British Comedy Tawny Pipit,the graceful Jean Gillie (who tragically died of pneumonia 3 years later,age 33) gives a tremendous performance as Margot Shelby,with Gillie showing a red mist to cover Shelby's eyes,as she gets closer to tracking down the money.Along with the red mist,Gillie also shows a real skill in keeping Shelby's cards close to her chest,as she begins to put her plan in to action.Wrapped around Shelby's fingers, Edward Norris gives a masterful performance as Jim Vincent,with Norris showing Vincent's low-life roots to become brittle,as he is taken in by Shelby's charms,whilst Herbert Rudley gives an excellent,twitchy performance as Lloyd Craig,who Rudley shows is desperate to get back to his comfort zone.For the superb screenplay by Stanley Rubin and Nedrick Young give the title a distinctive Gothic Horror edge,which allows for the writer's to create a deep feeling of the characters entering a sinister world.Strongly linked to the Gothic Horror edges,the writer's inject a deep decaying root into their Film Noir world,by showing the relationship between Shelby,Vincent and Craig to be one that is built on a pack of lies,which lead to an extremely cynical final note.Returning to the US with his then-wife Jean Gillie,director Jack Bernhard gives the title a real sense of elegance,thanks to Bernhard closely working with cinematographer L. William O'Connell to cover the movie in shimmering low-light,which along with showing the characters attempting to hide their true motives,also allows Gillie to look like a ravishing Femme Fatale.Digging into the titles Gothic Horror streak,Bernhard gives the film a harsh,cold atmosphere,by allowing the 'red mist' from Shelby's eyes to be cast across the screen,as Decoy shows itself to be a marvelous Film Noir,that the viewer won't want to recoil from.

secondtake Decoy (1946)This kind of death row movie makes you appreciate how hard it is to pull off a great movie. Here, all the flaws show, almost textbook perfect. The acting struggles between pretty good (the lead female, the femme fatale one, Jean Gillie) to pretty awful (including, unfortunately, the lead male, a doctor, Herbert Rudley). The detective who shows up now and then (Sheldon Leonard), is actually pretty strong, a coldhearted, no-nonsense type, charmless, perhaps, but with some acting subtlety. (Leonard was a smart guy, actor and director for a lot of classic entertainment television years later.)But in "Decoy," notice how the archetypal elements are all there. The plot is as interesting as many melodramas, if a bit far-fetched in the one detail that is its hook. But there is no Joan Crawford to raise the whole thing up. Cinematographer Bill O'Connell did do the astonishing original 1932 "Scarface" and he makes this movie excellent in the night scenes, but much of the rest of it is merely functional. The director, Jack Bernhard in his first film (in a five year career), could have made more of all of this. When an actor flinches in reaction, it's obviously an overreaction a better director would have reshot. The music swells and soars. The prison priest is sombre. The nurse calls the doctor "darling" even though he's in love with someone else. But still, there are moments, and it has a great period feel to it whatever its flaws. And a line now and then pops up, crude and noirish. "Come here baby, I want to look at ya." Or the Frankenstein-like, "I'm alive, I'm alive!" Headlights signal across a lonely highway, men struggle with their unexplained passions, good women give bad women the eye, and innocent people die needlessly. The key brief moment that rises above is a man's grappling with being alive at all. And there is that box of money out there which everyone wants, and he's the only one who knows where it is, while he's actually alive and kicking.It's all in a day's work. Don't expect a cult marvel--it's no "Detour," not at all "Gun Crazy," to name two B-movie classics. It's a creaker with some involving moments, getting better in the second half, and with a campy last three minutes (the woman's laugh is worth the whole thing). But by the end, you might have to remind yourself about the beginning, before the big flashback.

GManfred Really enjoyed this dark-horse noir picture from Monogram. Had never heard of Jean Gillie before and the website says she died 3 years later after making just one more picture. She was perfect as the gun moll from hell in "Decoy", and raises a crummy gangster picture into the 'must-see'category.The main premise of the story defies belief, but as with countless others that have some intrinsic value you just have to go with it - and it's only 75 minutes long. I thought the overall production values were quite good for a Monogram cheapie. Sheldon Leonard as the Police Sgt. was over-the-top but Robt. Armstrong was better than usual.And I wanted to start a new paragraph to tell you that Marjorie Woodworth, of whom I had never heard, wins the Hand-Painted Mustache Cup as the Most Beautiful Actress Who Can't Act A Lick - she was the receptionist/nurse for the criminal doctor, played by Herbert Rudley. Breathtaking to look at and a breathtakingly bad actress."Decoy" is not really a good movie but it has a cachet about it that you will like. It is well worth your time if you can find it.