Like so many movies from the late 40s and early 50s, "Pitfall" is labeled as film noir when it really isn't one. It's really just a domestic drama that morphs into a crime thriller in its last few minutes. It's fairly slow and a bit talky. But its frank treatment of middle class malaise and infidelity at a time when an idealized version of the American dream was being sold to Americans wholesale makes it an almost fascinating artifact from late 1940s cinema.
Dick Powell is the solid and reliable family man who's landed so deeply in a rut that he can barely see out of either side. He gets it on with Lizabeth Scott (because who wouldn't?) while perfect 1950s housewife Jane Wyatt stays at home with the little boy. But everything threatens to unravel when Scott's ex-con boyfriend decides he wants revenge on the man who stepped out with his girl while he was in prison and threatens to unbalance Powell's picture postcard home life in the worst way imaginable.
Notable about "Pitfall" is that Powell seems almost more concerned about his wife finding out he had an affair than he does about being killed, which feels authentic. When caught up in a tangled web of lies, I think human instinct is that almost any outcome would be preferable to being exposed. "Pitfall" is candid about infidelity in a way that was rare for pictures of this time period, but almost as shocking is its acknowledgement that the so-called American dream post-WWII Americans were told they should be content with was actually a big bore.
Powell is sardonic; Scott is sexy; Wyatt is dull. And Raymond Burr is creepy, just....creepy.
Grade: B
Dick Powell is the solid and reliable family man who's landed so deeply in a rut that he can barely see out of either side. He gets it on with Lizabeth Scott (because who wouldn't?) while perfect 1950s housewife Jane Wyatt stays at home with the little boy. But everything threatens to unravel when Scott's ex-con boyfriend decides he wants revenge on the man who stepped out with his girl while he was in prison and threatens to unbalance Powell's picture postcard home life in the worst way imaginable.
Notable about "Pitfall" is that Powell seems almost more concerned about his wife finding out he had an affair than he does about being killed, which feels authentic. When caught up in a tangled web of lies, I think human instinct is that almost any outcome would be preferable to being exposed. "Pitfall" is candid about infidelity in a way that was rare for pictures of this time period, but almost as shocking is its acknowledgement that the so-called American dream post-WWII Americans were told they should be content with was actually a big bore.
Powell is sardonic; Scott is sexy; Wyatt is dull. And Raymond Burr is creepy, just....creepy.
Grade: B