Nonureva Really Surprised!

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Scotwon "Trapped" has the darkness of both cinematography and spirit that distinguishes film noir. A story of thieves and counterfeiters and undercover cops, it grabs attention and holds it until the surprising and violent end. The script is tight and believable. One of the best things the film has going for it is that it was the first large role for the very talented but tragically doomed Barbara Payton. In "Trapped" she is the girlfriend of counterfeiter/thief Tris Stewart. The character Payton plays is Meg Dixon who calls herself Laurie Fredericks. Unlike the typical film noir femme fatale, the strikingly beautiful blonde is not so much nasty and cold-blooded as foolishly devoted to her criminal boyfriend. She adopts a criminal lifestyle out of love for him. Played by the handsome Lloyd Bridges, Tris Stewart is an utterly amoral psychopath motivated by sheer greed along with his own love for Meg/Laurie. Perhaps the only weak link in the film is John Hoyt as undercover cop John Downey. We should sympathize with Downey as the chief representative of the law but Hoyt's character appears so cold and calculating that he does not seem much better than the crooks he is trying to catch. However, this is a minor flaw in a fine film.

mark.waltz Money counterfeiting is the subject of this enjoyable, if predictable, crime drama where a convicted counterfeiter (Lloyd Bridges in a very serious role) is offered the possibility of early parole if he helps the Department of the Treasury capture and convict those who have continued Bridges' counterfeiting racket while he's been behind bars. Of course, Bridges isn't on the up and up as he utilizes this plan to escape from prison and reconcile with his former girlfriend (the gorgeous Barbara Payton) who has divided loyalties of her own.Practically every government bureau has been a part of a documentary style crime drama or film noir where it is obvious that the writers are showing that "You can't get away with it", and here, that is obvious from the start as to the theme of the movie. The film starts off with the plight of a struggling restaurant owner who discovers that the $20 bill she took in earlier was a fake and how that money could make or break her. It is obvious that when the feds confront Bridges in prison to bargain with him that he won't follow through with his agreement and that adds a sense of falsehood to the plot.There's a few exciting chase sequences and some wonderful moments of dialog between Bridges and the bleach-blonde Payton, some tense moments where the undercover fed's cover is blown, and a stunningly violent conclusion. This makes the film overall acceptable, but it has been done many times before and since, and much better.

blanche-2 "Trapped" is a typical late '40s B movie. This one concerns a sting organized by the Treasury Department in order to track down some counterfeit plates.The beginning is told in documentary style, which was done quite a bit during that period. In the story, the Department enables Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) to escape from prison to lead them to counterfeit plates, funny money which has again surfaced after a period of several years. They bug the apartment of his old girlfriend Meg (Barbara Payton) and ultimately send in an agent (John Hoyt) who is supposed to be one of the gang. He's established an identity in the club where Meg works. Once Stewart tracks down the plates, he learns they've been sold, and it will cost him $25,000 to buy them back.It's fun to see the actors driving around old Los Angeles, though this is a fairly routine drama with very over the top music. When Bridges makes his entrance, it's almost Superman music. He was certainly a hunky young man as well as a handsome older one.Barbara Payton, whose career at this time was actually on the way up, does a good job as Meg. A few years later, she hit the skids, due to a series of unfortunate romances. She was juggling the abusive Tom Neal and Franchot Tone at the same time; Neal and Tone got into a huge fight during which Tone was badly injured and hospitalized. This hurt her reputation, and the rest is a sad story of abuse at the hands of Neal, drunkenness, prostitution, and bad checks.Despite this being formulaic, it will hold your interest.

evening1 An excellent thriller on the slimy subject of counterfeiting.Lloyd Bridges, 36 at the time, is as sexy as he is scary in the role of a violent, gum-chewing con who thinks he's two steps ahead of the feds while being drawn into their clutches. Barbara Payton is gorgeous as Tris's cigarette-girl moll in her first leading film role. I looked Payton up on Wikipedia and was surprised to learn she wound up as a prostitute who had to sleep on park benches. What a fall from glory...This taut drama takes us back to the days when $20 was considered a large bill and people played the rumba on their phonographs. The film crackles with hard-bitten dialog, and, with Kansas City as its sometime locale, features a lovely jazz soundtrack.The stentorian, documentary-like voice-over's a little trite, but this film is quite gripping. ----------------------------------------------- "These are my old-age pension: The only thing better than money are the plates that make 'em!"