Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply Perfect

Absolutely Fantastic

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Copyright 31 January 1949 by Roberts Productions, Inc. A joint presentation of the Enterprise Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Released through M-G-M. New York opening at Loew's State on 25 December 1948. U.S. release: December 1948. U.K. release: 4 July 1949. Australian release: not recorded. 7,065 feet. 78 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Joe Morse, lawyer for Ben Tucker's numbers syndicate, has helped arrange for a fixed lottery on July 4, the day when superstitious bettors will always bet on 776. That number has been set to win, which will wipe out the small independent numbers banks and allow Tucker to take over. However, Joe's older brother, Leo, runs one of these small banks, and Joe fears that the strain will kill Leo, who has a weak heart. NOTES: First film directed by Abraham Polonsky, one of the most famous of Hollywood's blacklisted writers. It was 20 years before he was allowed to direct another film: "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here".COMMENT: Film noir was never flavor-of-the-month at M-G-M. In Australia, for example, the distributor didn't even bother to hold a trade or media screening, let alone notify the trade papers of a release date. "Force of Evil" is of course a gem, a little masterpiece of film noir, with a powerful performance by Garfield and strong support by Thomas Gomez — probably his best performance ever — and Roy Roberts and Marie Windsor. Newcomer Beatrice Pearson is suitably colorless — she made only one more film, Lost Boundaries (1949) — and there's an appropriately seedy roster of character players. Abetted by George Barnes' atmospheric lighting and Richard Day's gritty sets, Polonsky's involving direction drives the hero's predicament home with palm-sweating force. Garfield is ideally cast to engage audience sympathy. The actor's natural charisma combines with Polonsky's tight direction to give a sense of participation that's almost overwhelming.OTHER VIEWS: This film is a dynamic crime-and-punishment drama, brilliantly and broadly realized ... A sizzling piece of work. (Bosley Crowther in The New York Times).

An unethical and cynical lawyer called Joe Morse (John Garfield) , with an older brother he wants to help , becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket . But his elder brother Leo (Thomas Gomez) is one of these small-time operators who wishes to stay that way , opting not to deal with the mobsters (Roy Roberts , Paul Fix) who control the big-time . His employees are like family to him as his secretary, Doris Lowry (Chamberlain) , is like a daughter , then Joe falls in love for her . As the ambitious attorney attempts to save his brother from the mob boss's takeover of the numbers operation . The upright , though criminal brother refuses the help of the amoral advocate at law and he is ultimately forced to confront his conscience . This enjoyable film contains emotion , thrills , suspense , charming intrigue about corruption , and a lot of elements of Noir cinema . Main actor and screenwriter/director were pursued by American government during ominous period of Mccarthismo. Thought-provoking writing credits , written by Polonsky ; being based on a novel novel "Tucker's People¨ by Ira Wolfert . Very good and sizzling acting by John Garfield as a corrupt lawyer . Garfield had a sad as well fruitful life , as he signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield . Won enormous praise for his role of the cynical Mickey Borden in ¨Four Daughters¨ (1938). Appeared in similar roles throughout his career despite his efforts to play varied parts , being his best film : ¨Body and soul¨ . He played in adventure movie as ¨The sea Wolf¨ , historical as ¨Juarez¨ , drama as ¨Tortilla flat¨, a cameo in ¨Jigsaw¨ and the noir classic ¨The postman always rings twice¨. Active in liberal political and social causes, he found himself embroiled in Communist scare of the late 1940s. Though he testified before Congress that he was never a Communist, his ability to get work declined. While separated from his wife, he succumbed to long-term heart problems, dying suddenly in the home of a woman friend at 39. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Excellent support cast gives magnificent acting such as Thomas Gomez as Leo Morse , Marie Windsor as Edna Tucker , Roy Roberts as Ben Tucker, Paul Fix as Bill Ficco and introducing the attractive Howland Chamberlain . Atmospheric and appropriate cinematography in black and white by George Barnes who along with James Wong Howe , John Alton and Nicolas Musuraka are the main cameramen of Noir genre . In order to show cinematographer George Barnes how he wanted the film to look, Abraham Polonsky gave him a book of Edward Hopper's Third Avenue paintings . Thrilling as well as evocative musical score by the David Raskin (Laura) . Adequate photography in black and white filled with lights and shades , portentous interpretations and dark as well as twisted intrigue have made this a film nor classic . The motion picture was well directed by Abraham Polonsky and it was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994 . Director Polonski was removed from the credits for a time after release, due to the blacklisting of supposed Communist sympathizers at the time . Polonsky was named as a member of the Communist Party by Hollywood 10 member Edward Dmytryk in Dmytryk's 1951 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee , when the blacklisted director "named names" to revive his Hollywood career and effect a return from exile in Europe . After being named by former fellow O.S.S. member Sterling Hayden, Polonsky himself was arraigned before HUAC in 1951 . He was blacklisted and went into exile . As director and screenwriter , Polonsky was an "auteur" of three of the great film Noirs made in the last century: Body and soul (1947) screenplay , directed by fellow CPUSA member Robert Rossen, who kept his career by "naming names" , Force of evil (1948) which he wrote and directed , and Odds against tomorrow (1959) which he wrote using a front . Blacklisted after his uncooperative appearance before HUAC in April 1951, Polonsky did not get a chance to direct another film until 1968, when he helmed the production of the revisionist Western Tell them Willie Boy is here (1969), which he turned into an indictment of genocide . It wasn't until 1968 that he was credited on a film, for the screenplay for Don Siegel's exegesis of police corruption, Madigan (1968). Polonsky has a short career and after the release of the well-reviewed "Willie Boy," he helmed his last failed picture , the more light-hearted Romance of a horse thief (1971).

If Dutch Schultz was not the top Jewish racketeer of the 1930's he certainly was the most infamous. A sort of John Gotti of his day, "the Dutchman" loved the limelight and portrayed himself as a public benefactor instead of the sadistic skinflint he really was.Yet with all his eccentricities, Schultz was the first to see that the dimes and nickels poor people bet on the Numbers could add up to millions a year if properly organized. When several of the Harlem Numbers bankers couldn't pay off the winners and turned to Schultz for a bailout, Schultz provided the financing but took over the banks, and most of the profits, wisely leaving the street-level organizations with their controllers and runners intact, just as in the movie.And just as in the movie, Schultz employed an accountant, one Otto Berman, said to be a mathematical genius, to fix the winning Number by placing a bet at the racetrack just as betting closed so as to throw the "handle" off a heavily bet number.In 1943, long after Schultz had been killed in a mob rubout, sports writer and war correspondent Ira Wolfert wrote a novel loosely based on the crime career of Dutch Schultz. Wolfert also collaborated on the screenplay of "Force of Evil" which was based on a part of that book. Wolfert undoubtedly is responsible for the strikingly clever tone of the narration and much of the dialog's eloquent yet realistic style."Are you telling me, a corporation lawyer, that you're running a legitimate business here?" demands the protagonist of his numbers banker brother, in exasperation at his stubborn refusal to accept a mob takeover.This picture is 63 years old. An issue arises early on of remarkable relevance today: how close a mob lawyer can get to his clients before the law treats him not as legal counsel but as a participant in the criminal enterprise. "Lawyers are nor protected from the law," as one character succinctly puts it.When attorney Bruce Cutler was disqualified from representing John Gotti on just those grounds, Gotti's lucky charm deserted him and the former "Teflon Don" died in a Federal prison.John Garfield was a fast talker and he never lost nor tried to hide his Lower East Side accent. Yet because he had stage experience every word of every line is understood. He did not mumble or swallow his words--so different from some of the so-called movie stars of today. Accordingly the former slum kid and inmate in reform school John Garfield is believable in perhaps the only role of his short film career where he wears a finely tailored suit, compete with vest and watch chain in the style of the time.

Force of Evil (1948)John Garfield is the centerpiece of this high end crime film, and he's the problem. He's a great understated actor, sympathetic, gentle, and not quite the right man for this role as a sharp, ultimately cruel lawyer named Joe Morse in a sprawling criminal enterprise. So in scene after scene, what could have had a film noir or gangster edge ends up strained in a more normal dramatic way. The script might be one of the problems--some forced metaphors about death, or canned lines that are too profound for their own good.But these are not the only problems here. The direction, I suppose, under Abraham Polonsky, is the reason it has an odd flow to it. (This is his only film of note.) Many decisions seem steadily mediocre, like having Morse do voiceovers that aren't quite styling enough to work as style and are a slow way of telling the events. Morse is connected with an overly sweet girl who isn't really his type and romance doesn't make sense. And there are some editing gaffes that don't help. Larger still, this is an impersonal plot, with no clear protagonist or antagonist, just a numbers racket that is being undermined by some unseen politicians and some gangsters who aren't quite sure what's going on (really--even Morse is lost).Beatrice Pearson plays Morse's girl, and it's sad to say she just can't act at the same level as Garfield, and many of the other bit actors. But Morse's brother played by Thomas Gomez is a strong and sympathetic type, and he pulls off several amazing scenes. The camera-work is smart and generally intense enough, with high or low angles at key points, if sometimes a little obvious. The city (Manhattan) is a good backdrop, giving it a very nice ambiance, both night and day.Well, the movie has an outsized reputation. The shining moments and dark moods and the better final twenty minutes don't make up for the general messiness on many levels.