Force of Evil (1948)
The Cinema Museum2 Dugard Way, London
Wed 14 Oct · 19:30 · £10
About this event
Director Abraham Polonsky, and starring John Garfield, Thomas Mitchell, Marie Windsor and Beatrice Pearson. Digital presentation. Unscrupulous New York lawyer Joe Morse (John Garfield) has the opportunity to make it big by teaming up with a cutthroat gangster to consolidate a numbers racket. The only hitch is Morse’s brother refuses to involve his bank in the plan. Having received an Oscar nomination for his script of Body and Soul (1947), Polonsky also wrote the script of his directorial debut. Having produced one of the high points of the film noir genre, he fell foul, like his star, of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to “name names”, he was blacklisted. After 21 years, he finally directed his second feature, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969). Then, while directing his next film Romance of a Horsethief (1971), he developed a severe heart problem, and after surgery was advised not to direct again. One of the great might-have-beens of Hollywood.
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