Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

arthur_tafero This noir whodunnit is manned by Burgess Meredith, who gives a textured performance, and an early career appearance of Claire Trevor, who would go to greater things. Even Sheldon Leonard, as a deadpan cop, is mildly amusing. The amnesia plot, however, wears a bit thin on the nerves, as it so cliched. and was done too often in noir.For a B film, this is not too bad. It keeps your interest for over an hour and is decently paced by the director, Jack Hively. Initially, one thinks the protagonist is the target of gangsters, but we find out quickly it is just trigger-happy cops. There is no explanation, however, as to why Jack transforms into Naehring for a year, and dumps his loving wife for that same year. Despite that hole in the plot, the film is entertaining.

boblipton This movie hits all the buttons for Film Noir, and I'm willing to call it so. there are lots of earlier movies with elements that finally fused together to make Film Noir, and many movies that almost hit it around this time (like THE MALTESE FALCON), but Noir was a movement, and it's not leaders that make movements, it's followers, like Jack Hively, the B director of this one.Burgess Meredith is walking down the street when he is knocked down by some rubble from a demolition job. When he gets up, he finds a cigarette case and hat with the wrong initials, and when he goes home, wife Louise Platt tells him he has been missing for more than a year. He goes to the office to get his job back, only to find Sheldon Leonard in hot pursuit. When he goes back to the part of town where he regained his memory, there Claire Trevor is, telling him to get off the street. He's her man and he's wanted for murder.It's based on one of Cornell Woolrich's overwrought crime novels and, as usual, Burgess Meredith plays a nice, amiable fellow, rather wasted. Claire Trevor has all the good lines, and Sheldon Leonard is fine in a straight role. Despite that voice, meant for Runyonesque hoods, he was a good actor.If the answer to the mystery is milked a bit to make the movie last a few minutes longer, the answer still came as a surprise to me. I expect you'll enjoy it, not only for its early, pure Noir, but for a fairly played, if mildly hysterical, mystery.

Spikeopath Street of Chance is directed by Jack Hively and adapted to screenplay by Garrett Fort from the novel "The Black Curtain" written by Cornell Woolrich. It stars Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor, Louise Platt, Sheldon Leonard, Frieda Inescort and Jerome Cowan. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl.After being felled by falling wreckage from a New York building, Frank Thompson awakes in the street to find he has some sort of amnesia and his life may not be as he thought. As he starts to piece together his life he comes to realise he may have committed a murder and is actually on the run!An early entry in the original film noir cycle, Street of Chance takes what would become a familiar film noir theme, amnesia, and seasons it with betrayal and the vagaries of fate. It's also a point of interest to note that it's the first filmic adaptation of one of noir hero Woolrich's literary works, while the visual marker set here by Sparkuhl (Among the Living) signposts the influence of German Expressionism on the noir film making style. The visuals range from low lighted cramped rooms to the various diagonal and vertical shadows that psychologically patternize the spaces inhabited by the lead characters.The story itself is not so hot, once the narrative settles into a steady and unspectacular rhythm, as the key ladies in Frank Thompson's life come into play, there's a distinct lack of mystery or suspense. Which is a shame as the acting is of good quality even if the principals aren't asked to stretch their respective thespian skills. Still, with the visuals so strong and the satisfying Woolrich feel to proceedings (though the finale is changed here from that of the novel), it's worth seeking out by noiristas. 6.5/10

robert-temple-1 This film has no connection whatever with a film of the same title released in 1930, and starring William Powell. This film is about a man, played by Burgess Meredith, who at the beginning of the film is shown being hit on the head in the street by a collapsing builder's rig. He is apparently uninjured, but in fact he is concussed and believes he is named Frank Thompson. He pulls a cigarette case out of his pocket and he is puzzled that it bears the initials D.N. He notices that those same initials are inside his hat. He rushes 'home' only to discover that the apartment is empty. He discovers that his wife has moved away, and his 'return' to the building is greeted with surprise. He traces his wife and she welcomes him enthusiastically, but when he starts talking about how she reminded him not to forget his muffler on the way to work that morning she points out that it is summer, not winter, and that she has not seen him for a year, since he left her without explanation. These amnesia stories are always very intriguing, since loss of awareness of one's own identity is a kind of metaphor for the existential condition. As Paul Gauguin said: 'Who are we …?' In fact, the true nature of identity is one of the deepest of all mysteries. That is why I have a particular fondness for amnesia films. The central weakness of this film is that Burgess Meredith, however good he is at looking confused because of his amnesia, lacks romantic appeal entirely. Thus, when the lovely Lousie Platt as his wife professes her undying and passionate love for him, and is ecstatic at his return, I stirred uneasily. Burgess Meredith just is not the kind of guy that women slobber over. Then Meredith discovers what the initials D.N. stand for: he has for the past year been living a different life under the name of Danny Nearing. And as Danny, he has been then object of the hysterical affection of film noir glamour gal Claire Trevor. Now, come on! What is the casting gag here? Did somebody with a really wicked sense of humour decide to pair these two? It's like throwing a cold, wet, and limp dishrag into the arms of hottie Claire. Burgess Meredith has about as much erotic intensity as a clam. And he is also the object of the apparent violent hatred of a man who seems to be a gangster, played by the ever-ominous Sheldon Leonard, who shoots at him as he scurries up a fire escape with Claire. The fact that Leonard turns out to be a policeman rather than a hood is only small comfort, since, as we soon discover, 'it's complicated'. The film is based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, one of Hollywood's major mystery writers, known for instance for NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948, see my review). The director was Jack Hively, who did three 'Saint' films. This film would have been so much better with a more appropriate leading man. I hate to be so critical of Burgess Meredith, who was such a fine actor in so many films, but here the error in casting is simply disastrous. Otherwise, putting that central calamity aside, the film is entertaining and of interest.