cult film freak: EDMOND O'BRIEN KILLS THE BAD COP NOIR 'SHIELD FOR MURDER'

Title: SHIELD FOR MURDERYear of Capture & Release: 1954 Bullet Holes: ****

By the time this SHIELD FOR MURDER hit theaters, Edmond O'Brien had put on a few pounds, resembling Tyrone Power had he eaten Tyrone Power and with the lean, strict, tough years behind he was perfect as a character he'd have, a few years prior, spent an entire movie trying to bust...

Starting out with a MURDER where only one hidden witness knows the truth, O'Brien's crooked cop Barney might not have stooped this low... intentionally killing a lowlife criminal who happens to have a ton of cash from the big numbers racket mobster he ripped off...

Marla English reflecting in SHIELD FOR MURDER

Unless he felt he was above the law since he was the law, and Detective Barney Nolan not only has a bad temper but a reputation that proceeds him – the believers are young cop John Agar who he mentored since youth as well as token ingenue Marla English as Patty Winters, a nice looking dame he can't trust to work in public...

So he dreams of stowing her cozily into a tract house in the budding suburbs with the help of his victim, now donning empty pockets in the morgue and, with the exception of Emile Meyer's quick lecture, and a newspaper reporter morally hounding his cop friend, Barney seems to have gotten away with it...

Edmond O'Brien in SHIELD FOR MURDER with Marla English

SHIELD FOR MURDER is intense, and not just when it's supposed to be. When the stakes are raised and the suspense antes up as tables turn into the third act are taut but not as effective as when Barney's completely in the clear...

O'Brien's expressions alone, eyes either narrowed or bulging, even while romancing "other girl" barfly-type Carolyn Jones, makes him far from the usual ambiguous Noir centerpiece and yet a residual of sympathy remains in his hopeless desire in keeping a crime covered up, and the fact he killed a bad guy in the first place...

Edmond O'Brien in SHIELD FOR MURDER

What does fit the particular genre are the low budget sets, from the police headquarters desks that seemed dragged in for a day's shoot, a boom microphone shadow that puts all visible booms to shame and covering up the flaws is terrific acting albeit too backed by a loud dramatic soundtrack...

In one scene he goes through a guilt-driven transformation that'd be more effective for O'Brien without the musical bombs bursting behind him. But flaws aside, this is a sparse and effective one-man show about a multi-flawed cop that, like even Film Noir protagonists, simply wants a short cut for the good life i.e. the impossible American Dream.