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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: December 6, 2005 Distributor: 20th Century Fox Director: · Otto Preminger Cast: · Dana Andrews · Gene Tierney · Karl Malden Related Sites: · IMDB Grade: C-

"Dana Andrews. A detective who could kill a man with his fists. And one night… he did!"

And thus spake the trailer for "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

I can’t say that I’m any kind of expert on film noir or that it’s one of my favorite genres. Oh sure, there’s "The Maltese Falcon," "Pickup on South Street," & "Touch of Evil," but perhaps more often than not, these films were like the ubiquitous western, recycling stories and flattening once fresh styles.

Otto Preminger had great success with "Laura," and this film reteams Dana Andrews ("Best Years of Our Lives") and Gene Tierney ("Night and Day"). The basic premise is this: A detective (Andrews) with a yen for violence kills a crook and tries to frame it on a bigger crook while falling in love with the dead crook’s moll (Tierney). It’s easy to grasp so that just leaves the director, Preminger ("Anatomy of a Murder"), screenwriter, Ben Hecht ("Scarface" "Kiss of Death") and cinematographer, Joseph LaShelle ("Laura") to do their stylized nourish magic. However, this is not Preminger’s nor Hecht’s nor LaShelle’s best work. It’s basically a dated, forgettable, old film. I can understand why noir completists will be happy to have this released, but it didn’t do anything for me.

Perhaps of greater interest to me, Eddie Muller, an actual film noir fan, expert, and restorist, provides a nice commentary explaining the film’s context and making it seem a little better than it actually is. A pre-Streetcar Karl Malden has a nice role as the self-righteous cop that serves as counterpoint to Andrews’s morally ambiguous character.

I recommend seeing any other of the films I mentioned above before seeing "Where the Sidewalk Ends." Clearly, Fox is emptying vaults and throwing old noirs out there to see what sticks. I'd see all the classics first.

Other extras include a still photo gallery and some fun trailers: