So much average

A different way of telling a story

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Edmond O'Brien is one of my favourite actors of the period, and if you need any startling evidence of why, just check out his performance here in Rudolph Mate's heartily original noir-shocker, 'D.O.A.'. Another great reason to check the film out, the Polish-born director, made a smooth transition from being a great cinematographer, and this is probably his most shining triumph helming a picture.If you have ever wondered why 'film noir' has been considered such a consistently rewarding and enthralling body of cinematic work, like the earlier 'Pre-Code' era, check this one out, and others of its ilk. A sheerly delightful film that holds up well today.Though I haven't checked its 80's remake out, I'm not too curious about it, other than the slight curiosity from its notoriety of it being the film in which Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan met and eventually decided to marry. Other than that, I'm more than content simply watching this.

This one plays out like a science fiction mystery-thriller with it's "luminous poisoning" idea. Seems they could have found real poisoning idea for this film - like he's being poisoned slowly over time and goes to the doctor because he's getting sicker or something. This film's fictional poison and it's cure are a silly idea for a realistic crime-mystery. I can easily buy into this idea for sci-fi but not for a supposedly realistic crime-drama. I also think the idea of a fictional cure is worse than the idea of a fictitious poison - I guess they wanted an "all's well that ends well" finale that didn't pan out for our lead. The film has it's good points: it's interesting watching this poor guy uncover who poisoned him and why. But that's about it. The film is not as good as it's made out to be in my opinion but worth a watch.5/10

The film noir genre threw out plenty of gems during its peak in the 1940s and early 1950s and this is one of them, a solid detective story with a great premise. In it, a man must discover the person responsible for his own murder, a plot point realised thanks to the presence of a slow-acting poison that gives him only a day or two to live.D.O.A. presents a bleak and icy narrative that has a strong degree of pessimism to it, thanks to that excellent premise. But there's more to it than that, as the actual detective story is compelling in itself. The protagonist finds himself drawn into a murky world of smuggling and corporate corruption, while at the same time coming into contact with some decidedly shady characters.The best thing about the film, for me, (aside from that premise) is the presence of Neville Brand's Chester, a character who could have been portrayed as an ordinary henchman but who, thanks to his psychotic nature, becomes the real highlight; Brand effortlessly exudes an air of pure evil in what was his first role. The rest is good too, of course, particularly Edmond O'Brien's tough-but-sympathetic lead, leaving this one of the highlights in a crowded genre thanks to that perfect 'ticking clock' premise.

It was not uncommon for films noir to begin with narration by a dead or dying man; think of William Holden's voice over narration as we see him floating dead in a swimming pool at the start of "Sunset Boulevard," or Fred MacMurray's confession while nursing a bullet wound in "Double Indemnity." But "D.O.A" is the only noir I've seen about a dying man solving the mystery of his own murder.That dying man is played by Edmond O'Brien in a marvelously sweaty performance. His character takes a break from the small legal services business he runs to spend a couple of days in San Francisco, enjoying some extra-curricular female activity out of sight of the girlfriend back home who's pressuring him to marry her. While in that most noirish of noir cities, he's poisoned one night in a jazz club, collateral damage in a tangled criminal plot that finds the plot's mastermind doing away with anyone who could serve as a witness. I spent some time trying to unravel the plot itself, but quickly gave up. As with most movies like this, the specifics don't much matter. All you need to know is that some really bad guys are up to no good, and O'Brien's character is caught up in their misdeeds through a dumb twist of fate -- he notarized some bills of sale that could link the criminal to his activities. You might think that the film would be about O'Brien racing the clock to find his killer, discovering in the last minutes that there's an antidote that can save him and give us a happy ending. But you'd be wrong. This is a dark, cynical noir -- O'Brien is dead from the moment he ingests the poison, and his actions for the rest of the movie are those of a drowning man frantically trying to save himself because he doesn't know what else to do with his final moments on Earth."D.O.A." looks like it was made for about five bucks, but it nevertheless managed to line up some formidable talent behind the screen. The director was five time Oscar nominated cinematographer Rudolph Mate, while the actual cinematography was provided by Ernest Laszlo, who would go on years later to win an Oscar himself. Dimitri Tiomkin provided the musical score, and while the music has been criticized for being at odds with the film's tone, I thought its at times jaunty incongruity added to the off-kilter mood of the film.Grade: A-