atrpm

Never saw this before, but it's not a bad series. Reminds me a lot of the long-running radio show, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, which went off the air in September 1962. It's a great concept for a show: an insurance guy who has a different adventure with each client, and who's always on the side of decency and honesty.

This movie could have been quite good. As it is, however, the music is often quite out of place for 1941 and the story doesn't get moving until well after an hour has gone by. That said, it is an important film because not many American films have ever mentioned the violation of Japanese-Americans' civil rights during the war years.

This film has lots of good ingredients. Good acting, reasonably good cinematography, and nice old cars. But the principal relationship, between Granger (O'Brien) and his moll, just does not work. He is enraged for pretty much the whole movie, and there is very little to like in the Granger character. Yet a beautiful, sensitive woman (whose presence is often signified by a gentle violin tune) decides she loves him. Huh? What's to love? The principal element of suspense (will he get caught and by whom) is barely exploited for much of the film. In the end, one just doesn't much care what happens to anyone in this film. That doesn't make it a film noir; it makes it dull.