Crossfire (1947) ***1/2

More of a message movie than a film noir, Edward Dymtryk's Crossfire (1947) is nonetheless a strong picture with moody low-key lighting, based on a book by writer and soon to be director Richard Brooks, featuring a trio of famous Roberts and a sultry but sad Gloria Grahame. 

The anti-Semitism theme can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but the drama is well done, and it's no surprise that the film was nominated for best picture (despite being a B movie), being one of the first films to deal with this issue post World War II. Brooks' novel had the victim as a homosexual but the Hays Code (unsurprisingly for them) forbade any mention of homosexuality because it was seen as a sexual perversion at the time, so the theme of homophobia was changed to racism. 

This was my second time viewing Crossfire and what caught my attention this time around was how good Grahame and Robert Ryan's performances are. In particular, Ryan so convincingly portrays a murderous racist but in real life was a committed liberal progressive who detested any form of bigotry—a dichotomy that a talented actor such as he overcomes with ease.

You can find my Film Noir Feature Films Ranked list here.